Dr. Emily Cooperdock
Brown

Topic: Does Mantle Weathering Help Maintain a Habitable Planet?

Academic host: Spencer Zeigler

Abstract: Weathering of mantle rocks exposed at (or near) Earth’s surface has garnered significant interest because of its potentially vital role in the water cycle, long-term CO2 storage, H2 production for clean energy, and as a possible breeding ground for the first life on Earth and other planets. Mantle minerals carried to the Earth’s surface through tectonic processes are unstable in the presence of fluids. As mantle minerals break down, they consume greenhouse gases (CO2 and H2O) and produce fuel for microbial communities (H2 and methane). We do not know well how these processes have been naturally regulated over Earth’s history because we do not know when or for how long these mineral reactions occur. Here I will integrate multiple datasets from the Samail Ophiolite (Oman and UAE) that highlights the reactive and episodic nature of these systems. Although many open questions remain, we can begin to quantify mantle exhumation and the timing of key mineral reactions associated with serpentinization and mantle weathering.