The Deep Carbon Lab hosts an international and multidisciplinary team including undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and faculty members. We combine our backgrounds in order to reach common scientific interests.
Alberto VITALE BROVARONE (PI)
My research interests center on fluid-rock interactions, metasomatism, and the evolution of volatile elements (most notably carbon and hydrogen) from the seafloor to high-pressure conditions in subduction zones. I am interested in the control exerted by seafloor hydrothermalism and fluid-rock interactions on the petrological and geochemical evolution of the Earth, and finally on how these processes control geo-(bio)chemical processes at different depths, scales and over the geological timescales.
Recipient of a 2024 Premi Antonio Feltrinelli Giovani (Antonio Feltrinelli Young Award) for Geosciences.
Orlando OLIVIERI
Orlando is working on the spectroscopic and isotopic characterization of metamorphic methane (CH4) through the study of fluid inclusions trapped in high-pressure rocks. He is also developing fluid inclusion extraction protocols and taking care of our Picarro carbon isotope analyzer.
Veronica PEVERELLI
Veronica is a geochemist and petrologist interested in the role of fluids in petrological processes. She uses U-Pb geochronology of epidote and titanite to date production and migration of fluids produced during serpentinization in subduction zones. She also employs Raman microspectroscopy and unconventional stable isotope geochemistry to determine the physico-chemical conditions of these fluids. Veronica has experience with U-Pb geochronology and Pb-Sr-O-H isotope geochemistry to investigate fluid circulation in the granitic continental crust in orogens, and with halogens to trace mantle fluids.
Francesco RESSICO
Francesco is a PhD student involved in the ERC DeepSeep group. His work centers on the study of magnetite formation, evolution and distribution in high pressure serpentinites in order to provide insights on hydrogen fluxes at depth in subduction zones. His research integrates investigations on boron isotopes, iron partitioning, quantification of magnetite via AI-based image analysis and thermodynamic modeling of fluid-rock interactions (using the EQ3/6 packages).
Ritabrata DOBE
Ritabrata is a structural geologist and petrologist who joined the Deep Carbon Lab in April 2023. His main research theme is focused on understanding the rheological impact of infiltrating reducing fluids in various sections of the Earth’s crust. His research involves studies on the genesis of reducing fluids, their pathways of transport within the Earth’s crust and their impact on modifying the deformation behaviour of constituent components of the Earth’s crust, using Electron Backscatter Diffraction in conjunction with structural modelling and geochemical tools.
Zeudia PASTORE
Zeudia is leading a fellowship on the magnetic signature of rocks that experienced fluid-rock interactions in deep subduction zones. Zeudia uses geophysical methods on multiple scales (from the micron to the kilometer scale) to study rocks' physical properties and is particularly interested in the potential for deep fluid-rock interactions to generate natural hydrogen.
Kevin WONG
Kevin is a petrologist with broad research interests who is presently working on estimating hydrogen and methane fluxes on a global scale from mantle wedge serpentinization during subduction. To achieve this he combines tectonic plate reconstruction software with models of subduction zone thermal structure to create frameworks of subducting slabs. These slab frameworks form the basis of computed geochemical reactions between subduction zone fluids and the mantle wedge via (py)DEW-EQ3/6. He brings his experience in both plate reconstruction and petrological modelling to DeepSeep, having previously worked on global-scale tectonic carbon cycling and basaltic magmatic processes in the Ethiopian Rift.
Thomas GUSMEO
Thomas is a geologist with a PhD in Tectonics of inverted sedimentary basins. His expertise includes thermochronology, structural geology, basin analysis, and petrography. Currently he is the manager of the Deep Carbon Lab, in charge of the supervision and maintenance of all the facilities within.
Claudia I. ROIG GONZÁLEZ
Claudia is a petrologist and geochemist interested in using stable isotopes to track surface fluids that are channelized via faults and fractures in extensional detachment fault systems. She uses high resolution microstructural analysis and microanalytical techniques such as SIMS, EPMA, SEM (BSE, SE, EDS, CL), and EBSD to understand the relationship between microstructures/textures in silicate minerals from mid-crustal rocks, and oxygen isotope signatures to reconstruct deformation histories and crustal strength behaviors over a range of temperatures, depths, and/or fluid sources. Currently, Claudia is working on methane and hydrogen fluid inclusions in C-rich minerals from metapelites to understand CO2 storage in metamorphic terranes.
Hanh-Tu Ella DO
Ella is a PhD student whose work investigates hydrogen-rock reactions that can generate water in the deep crust and upper mantle. She uses high-pressure piston experiments to quantify production of redox-related water, hydrous minerals, and light hydrocarbons. Analytical methods, including gas chromatography and carbon isotope analysis, will be used for comparison with natural samples representative of anhydrous settings. This geochemical experimental approach aims to constrain how H2-fluids control the water budget of crustal or mantle rocks.
