Tristan Caro
Tristan is a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology and received his PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on quantifying microbial activity in situ in natural environments including the serpentinite-hosted aquifers in the Samail ophiolite of Oman. He also studies soil and permafrost regions and specializes in the physiological and geochemical impacts of energy-limited, slow-growing microbial communities.

“Dissolved inorganic carbon supports robust anabolism and methanogenesis in actively serpentinizing rocks” watch here

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Tianze Liu
Tianze Liu is a research associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He received his PhD in geophysics from Stanford University in 2020 and was a Green Postdoctoral Scholar at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from 2020 to 2023. He is a seismologist by training and is interested in using seismological techniques to study subsurface fluid flow and fluid-rock reactions across broad spatiotemporal scales, with a current focus on the reactive fluid transport in actively serpentinizing rock formations.

“Seismic Evidence for Sustained Gas Migration in a Serpentinizing Aquifer” watch here

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Renée Tamblyn
Renée is an Ambizione fellow at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She combines metamorphic petrology, geochronology and geochemistry to investigate the Archean water cycle and melting processes in the Early Earth.

“Hydrated komatiites: The Archean record of seafloor rock-water interaction” watch here

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Serhat Sevgen
Serhat is a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment at the University of Calgary (Canada). His research focuses on experimental aqueous geochemistry to investigate the kinetics of mineral transformation reactions. He also studies Archean rocks, integrating high-resolution analytical techniques with computational modeling to trace the fingerprints of serpentinization in early Earth environments.

“Geochemical controls on cation substitution and hydrogen generation during serpentinization of Archean komatiites“

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Eirini Poulaki
Eirini is an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University. Eirini’s research is centered around understanding the nature of fluid-rock interactions and the feedbacks between fluids and deformation in subduction zones and mid-ocean ridge settings. She uses a wide range of field- and lab-based techniques, including geochronologic and geochemical analyses, (micro)structural observations, oxygen isotopic data, and SEM (EBSD/EDS) analyses.

“Felsic intrusions facilitate mantle exhumation along oceanic detachment faults at a continent-ocean transition drilled during IODP Expedition 402 in the Tyrrhenian Sea“

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Olivier Sissmann
Olivier Sissmann is an expert in the field of geochemistry. He works at IFP énergies nouvelles, where he focuses on fluid-rock interactions with strong focus on natural hydrogen. He was also part of the of IODP cruise 399, where he studied the role of serpentine in an altered mantle section. In his talk, he will focus on hydrogen formation within oceanic rocks.

“Geologic Hydrogen and the first bricks of life : from the bottom of the oceans to the heart of continents“

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Anne-Line Auzende
Anne-Line Auzende is a researcher at Université Grenoble Alpes. In her work she focuses on the nano-scale of serpentine. With various analytical methods she investigates properties and characteristics of serpentine and links the microstructure observations with larger scale processes.

“Linking the nanostructures of serpentine minerals to large scale processes” watch here

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Alissa Kotowski
Alissa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University. In her research she focuses on the flow behavior of solid earth materials including ice and silicate rocks, but with emphasis on initiation and maintenance of subduction plate boundaries on the modern earth and deep in Earth’s history.

“Limited role for serpentine in accommodating slip on infant subduction interfaces” watch here

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Jessica Warren
Jessica Warren’s research addresses the formation and evolution of tectonic plates. She works at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Delaware, in the area of plate creation by melting and melt extraction, deformation at localized plate boundaries, and modification of plates during collision and volcanism. She focuses on peridotites and integrates geochemical, petrological, rheological, and structural techniques to constrain the dynamics and evolution of the mantle.

“Limited role for serpentine in accommodating slip on oceanic transform faults” watch here

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Samuele Papeschi
Samuele Papeschi is a researcher at CNR-IGG in Firenze (Italy). He is working on fluid-rock interaction in subduction zones with s strong focus on carbonation. Carbon isotope analyses and microCT imaging, combined with thermodynamic modelling enable him to answer his research questions.

“Fluid-mediated carbonation and mélange formation in a serpentinite subduction channel” watch here

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Toshiaki Omori
Toshiaki Omori has a background in information science and physics. He has been conducting interdisciplinary research between geosciences and information science and is currently working at Kobe University.

“Data-driven super-resolution of X-ray CT Images of rock samples by
sparse representation: applications to the complex texture of serpentinite“

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Céline Martin
Céline currently works at the American Museum of Natural History. She is interested in fluid-rock interactions related to serpentinite dehydration. In her latest research she analyses Boron isotopes. Her work helps us to understand better fluid pathways in subduction zones.

“Fluid paths in subduction zones: insights from boron isotopes in serpentinites“ watch here

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Orlando Olivieri
Orlando is a PhD student at the University of Bologna. He is part of the DeepCarbon Lab and focuses on the high-pressure serpentinization. In his work he combines spectroscopic and isotopic analyses on exhumed high-pressure rocks to reveal methane and hydrogen fluxes in subduction zones.

“Mapping fluxes of CH₄ and H₂ in exhumed metamorphic complexes”

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Lisa Mayhew
Lisa Mayhew is a Research Associate in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on characterizing mineralogical transformations that occur during water/rock reactions and the potential for these processes to support subsurface life. At present Lisa is a Return Sample Scientist on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission where she participates in mission planning including in-situ rover data collection, sampling, and tactical and strategic decision making.

“Exploring for signs of water/rock reaction in Jezero crater, Mars with the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover“

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Eric Ellison
Eric Ellison is a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on iron mineralogy and redox changes during low-temperature serpentinization and aqueous alteration, especially the controls on hydrogen production. He is currently studying the potential for stimulated geological hydrogen production from serpentinites in the Oman ophiolite.

“Serpentinization and Hydrogen Production Processes in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman: Implications for Stimulated Hydrogen Production“

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Lisa Eberhard
Lisa Eberhard is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utrecht. She is interested in fluid-rock interaction with a particular focus on (de)hydration and (de)carbonation of ultramafic rocks. Her current research is focused on the mutual influence of of stress, strain and mineral reactions. To answer her research questions she performs high-pressure experiments, combined with chemical and structural analyses in the micro- and nanometer range.

“Stress-induced serpentine dehydration – an experimental approach“

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Katsuyoshi MICHIBAYASHI
Katsuyoshi Michibayashi is a professor at Rock and Mineral Laboratory of Nagoya University, Japan and is interested in rock and mineral fabrics and rheology of crust and mantle. He is a co-proponent of the Oman Drilling Project (OmanDP) accomplished in 2016-2018 and is trying to extract mantle fabrics from heavily serpentinized peridotites obtained by OmanDP.

“Legacy of mantle flow preserved within heavily serpentinized peridotites in the cores of Oman Drilling Project“

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Francesco Ressico, Veronica Peverelli, Zeudia Pastore
This research is part of a project entitled Deep serpentinization, H₂ and high-pressure abiotic CH₄ (DeepSeep), funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project aims at improving our understanding of the processes of aqueous alteration of mantle rocks in subduction zones, to define its characteristic patterns relative to shallow equivalents, to assess its potential to produce deep energy sources such as H₂ and abiotic CH₄, and to define the geochemical fingerprints of these deep gases. This joint presentation will introduce a multidisciplinary study conducted on the blue schist-facies Monte Maggiore ultramafic body, Alpine Corsica. Teamwork integrating petrography, geochronology, and rock magnetism is used to show that the dominant component of serpentinization of the Monte Maggiore body is related to subduction zone processes, in contrast with previous assumptions pointing to subduction of oceanic serpentinized peridotites, and to estimate the cumulative production of H₂ generated during this process. 

“Tracing hydrogen production and fluxes during serpentinization in subduction: a combined approach using petrography, geochronology, and rock magnetism“

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Elizabeth Fones
Elizabeth Fones is a postdoc at the University of Washington. She earned her PhD in Microbiology from Montana State University, where she characterized adaptations and activities of microbial life in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman, as a member of NASA’s Rock Powered Life team. Currently she studies bacterial longevity with Dr. Carrie Harwood.

“Mechanisms enabling microbial cells to cope with carbon and energy stresses imposed by serpentinizing environments“ watch here

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William Orsi
Microorganisms influence the composition of the atmosphere, the cycling of elements within and through ecosystems, and the functioning of ecosystems. Microorganisms are also the most metabolically flexible, and the most taxonomically and evolutionarily diverse organisms on Earth. Yet deciphering how that diversity influences biogeochemical processes at larger scales is a challenge, because of the overwhelming complexity of microbial communities makes it difficult to quantify how microbial taxa assimilate and transform elements in the environment. Prof. William Orsi (LMU, Munich) uses a combination of methods that blend traditions from microbial ecology including stable isotope probing, genomic, and gene expression tools to explore how the diversity and physiology of microorganisms shape the biogeochemistry of marine ecosystems. His research is derived primarily from field observations, as well as DNA and RNA stable isotope labeling experiments. He is interested in the biological and biochemical mechanisms underlying the biogeochemical cycling of carbon by microbial communities in ecosystems, and how this relates to the life histories of the responsible species.

“Hydrogen utilization by endolithic life in ultramafic ocean crust“ watch here

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Rémi Coltat
Rémi Coltat is a postdoc at IACT (Spain). The focus of his research is on investigating the interactions between fluids and the oceanic lithosphere, particularly in regards to mantle exhumation and the formation of mineralized deposits on the seafloor. He employs a multi-disciplinary approach that combines field and structural geology, metamorphic petrology, and in-situ and bulk rock geochemistry, as well as stable isotope analysis of elements such as S, Se, Fe, Cu, and Zn. His goal is to understand the connection between extensional tectonics and fluid circulation, the hydrothermal conditions that affect fluid-rock interaction, and the origin and transportation of fluids and metals. He has previously studied both ancient – ophiolites – and modern oceanic systems on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is currently participating in oceanographic scientific cruises as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program.

“Petro-geochemical and isotopic constraints on the magmato-hydrothermal history during mantle exhumation at mid-ocean ridges (MARK area, 23°N, ODP Leg 153)“ watch here

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Clifford Patten
Clifford Patten works at the University of Innsbruck. His research focuses on Ultramafic-hosted volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. He is interested in the mobilisation of metals during the formation and evolution of the oceanic crust. Therefore, he combines field observations with geochemical analyses.

“Ultramafic-hosted volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits: an overlooked sub-class of VMS deposit forming in complex tectonic environments“ watch here

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Matthew Tarling
Matt Tarling is a field-based structural geologist and currently a post-doc at McGill University. Using a field to nanoscale approach, he studies serpentinites from the perspective of understanding deformation in large faults and shear zones. In this talk, he will discuss leveraging the combined mineralogical and structural complexity of deformed serpentinites to better understand steady-state deformation processes in serpentinite faults.

“Serpentinite rheological behaviour captured in micro-structural and -mineralogical complexity“ watch here

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John M. Aiken
Dr. John M. Aiken is a computational scientist who has experience across disciplines in using machine learning, statistics, and software development to reach solutions. He has worked on a variety of problems and enjoys learning new topics and new technology that connect across disciplines. At Expert Analytics John works on problems related to global scale spatio-temporal modeling and CO₂ sequestration. John is also affiliated as a Researcher at the University of Oslo in the Njord Centre for Studies of the Physics of the Earth.

“Constraining Peridotite Alteration Rates with AI and ML“ watch here

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Andrew McGaig
Andrew McCaig is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds, and a co-chief scientist of IODP Expedition 399 “Building Blocks of Life, Atlantis Massif”. He is interested in serpentinization, hydrogen generation and melt-rock interaction within the mantle mantle section.

“Preliminary results from IODP Expedition 399: a new 1268m hole in serpentinised mantle rocks” watch here

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Benjamin Tutolo
Benjamin Tutolo from the University of Calgary is working on a wide range of systems. With his group he is developing experiments and numerical models on reactive transport systems. The release of hydrogen during serpentinization on the Earth as well as on Mars is one of his research interests. With the analyses of natural hisingerite samples he gives new constraints in chemical processes on Mars.

“Observational constraints on the process and products of Martian serpentinization” watch here

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Susan Lang
Susan Lang is working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on the interaction between geological environments and microbial communities habituating them. She analyses samples from the serpentinising environments at the Lost city and Von Damm hydrothermal vent fields for abiotic carbon synthesis as well as organic acids. With her research she also aims to better understand where and how life on Earth started.

“Carbon cycling is fundamentally different between mafic and ultramafic hydrothermal systems” watch here

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Mathilde Cannat
Mathilde Cannat works at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in the marine geoscience. Her work concentrates on the structure of the oceanic lithosphere as well as tectonic, magmatic and hydrothermal processes at the mid-ocean ridges. Especially her work on slow-spreading ridges has a major impact on our understanding of exhumation and serpentinization of mantle rocks in extensional regimes. In this presentation she will present her research on the Southwest Indian Ridge showing the tectonic context of serpentization and new results on geological settings of the Old City vent field.

“Serpentinization in mid-ocean ridge detachment fault systems” watch here

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Coralie Vesin
Coralie Vesin is a PhD candidate at the University of Bern. She is interested in serpentinization processes at the ocean floor. With oxygen isotope analyses and fluid-mobile elements she deciphers multiple stages of fluid uptake. In her presentation she will show part of her PhD work.

“Tracing fluid uptake of abyssal serpentinisation: an in situ oxygen isotope and trace elements approach on serpentine phase“

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Frieder Klein
Frieder Klein is interested in the chemical interactions between aqueous fluids and rocks in a broad array of geodynamic settings on Earth as well as on other planets. In his research he integrates field geology, geochemistry and spectroscopy with laboratory experiments and thermodynamics modelling to address the fundamental problem of how fluid-rock reactions work. In his presentation, Frieder Klein will talk about serpentinization as a fundamental key in planetary processes.

“From Icy Moons to Earth’s Abyss: Serpentinization as a Key Planetary Process“

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Nicholas Tosca
Nicholas Tosca is head of the Tosca Lab at the University of Cambridge. His research group focuses on the co-evolution and interaction of life and environments throughout the history. Nicholas Tosca performs laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling. Comparing the results with natural rocks on Earth and other planets, such as Mars, helps to understand which environments are supportive for microbial life.

“In-situ evidence for serpentinization of the Maaz Formation, Jezero Crater, Mars” watch here

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