ChroMCrust
Financiado
The Chromite Record of Mafic Crustal Growth
Understanding Earth's crustal growth is crucial to understanding the evolution of its tectonics, the birth of the first continents, and the fundamental changes that transformed Earth into a habitable planet. However, much of our u...
Understanding Earth's crustal growth is crucial to understanding the evolution of its tectonics, the birth of the first continents, and the fundamental changes that transformed Earth into a habitable planet. However, much of our understanding of Earth's crustal growth is predicated on a single mineral - zircon - that is strongly biased towards detecting felsic crustal growth. This is particularly problematic for the early Earth, where average crustal compositions were far more mafic than today, and the very first protocrust may be entirely undetectable using conventional methods. I propose to access the mafic to ultramafic crustal growth record using detrital chromite preserved in sedimentary rocks from Archaean Cratons. Like zircon, chromite chemical compositions reflect the magmas that they crystallised from, and can be used to identify the provenance of the mafic portions of a sedimentary rock. Furthermore, they can be dated using Re-Os isotopes, to identify the age of eroded mafic terranes. This project has three main objectives:
1. Develop techniques to identify the age and composition of chromite sources in ancient sedimentary rocks.
2. Use a range of detrital chromite samples from sedimentary sequences in the Superior Craton, to reconstruct a mafic-ultramafic crustal growth curve for the craton.
3. Search for evidence of Earth's mafic protocrust in some of the oldest known chromite-bearing sedimentary rocks.
These achievements will open a new avenue for studying sedimentary provenance, unlock the archive of mafic crustal growth throughout Earth history, and provide insights on the nature and survival of Earth's earliest crust. The techniques developed will be broadly applicable, paving the way for a better understanding of Earth's crustal evolution.
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Duración del proyecto: 61 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2023-08-13
Fecha Fin: 2028-09-30
Fecha Fin: 2028-09-30
Línea de financiación: concedida
El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2023-08-13
Línea de financiación objetivo
El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-2023-STG:
ERC STARTING GRANTS
Cerrada
hace 2 años
Presupuesto
El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a
1M€
Líder del proyecto
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5