PROJECT

Whole Earth Carbon

Whole Earth Carbon from Past to Present

Whole Earth Carbon from Past to Present is an edited volume that will tell the story of what our international community of deep carbon scientists have learned over the last decade, including: the magnitudes of fluxes of carbon between reservoirs; the different structural forms of carbon deep in the crust, mantle and core; the nature of carbon-bearing fluids; the extent and form of the deep biosphere; and how this picture of deep carbon has evolved over billions of years. The book will include applications of new instrumentation and monitoring that have arisen from DCO research, as well as links to online digital datasets and visualizations.

Slated for public release in October 2019 by Cambridge University Press, the open-access book will showcase the cross-cutting research themes that have led to fundamental shifts in our understanding of the quantities, movements, forms, and origins of carbon in Earth’s system through space and time. As well as summarizing advances made in each area, the book will address the limits to knowledge for each research topic. Predictions of future developments and questions will round out the narrative.

Whole Earth Carbon will be more than just a book. Online, it will have digital links to datasets, models, and other online content such as videos, images, and infographics. The book will be openly available to encourage readership and integration of its accompanying materials into curriculum and textbooks. This expansive volume and accompanying materials will be released in conjunction with the Fourth International DCO Science meeting in October 2019.

The open access volume, Carbon in Earth, edited by Robert M. Hazen, Adrian P. Jones, and John A. Baross, may be of particular interest to those awaiting Whole Earth Carbon. Carbon in Earth, published in 2013, is a summary of what had been learned during the first five years of DCO about Earth’s deep carbon. Whole Earth Carbon builds upon this knowledge to reveal what has been learned over the last five years of the decadal program.  

About the Editors

  • Dr. Beth Orcutt
    Beth Orcutt Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, USA
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    Dr. Beth Orcutt
    Beth Orcutt
    Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, USA

    Dr. Beth Orcutt is a senior research scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. She is a marine microbial biogeochemist who explores life below the seafloor in sediments and the oceanic crust. Orcutt's research focuses on understanding how microbes thrive in these deep-sea environments, and how their life impacts the cycling of elements on Earth. She is interested in which microbes can live on basalts and sulfides at the seafloor, and which geochemical processes occur on the rock surfaces. She is a member of the Deep Life Community and Task Force 2020.

  • Isabelle Daniel
    Isabelle Daniel Université Claude Bernard Lyon, France
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    Isabelle Daniel
    Isabelle Daniel
    Université Claude Bernard Lyon, France

    Prof. Isabelle Daniel’s research interests focus on geobiology and minerals/rocks under extreme conditions. In her work, she employs advanced in situ experimental and analytical methods such as Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. She investigates serpentinization and serpentine minerals, fluid-rock interactions at high pressure and microorganisms under extreme conditions. Daniel is a faculty member in Earth Sciences at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 in France, where she is also affiliated with the Laboratoire de Geologie de Lyon and chairs the Observatoire de Lyon. Because of the depth and breadth of her research, Daniel serves as chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the Deep Energy Community and as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the Deep Life Community. She is also active in the DCO’s Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community.

  • Rajdeep Dasgupta, Rice University
    Rajdeep Dasgupta Rice University, USA
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    Rajdeep Dasgupta, Rice University
    Rajdeep Dasgupta
    Rice University, USA

    Professor Rajdeep Dasgupta is an experimental petrologist at Rice University, USA, where he has led an independent research group since 2008. He held a two-year post-doctoral research fellow position at Columbia University before joining the Rice University faculty. His research group uses experimental approaches to understand the chemistry of Earth and planetary interiors, with a particular emphasis on the role of magma and magma generation on the differentiation and chemical evolution of terrestrial planets involving atmosphere, crust, mantle, and core. Dasgupta has received the James B. Macelwane medal and the F.W. Clarke Medal, both recognizing his excellence as an early career researcher, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.Harper Collins Publishers will be publish Symphony in C in the UK market.

Updates

Authors Meet at AGU

Editors Beth Orcutt, Isabelle Daniel, and Rajdeep Dagsupta met with lead authors of Whole Earth Carbon in New Orleans prior to the beginning of AGU's Fall meeting to scope out content and graphic needs to ensure their compilation covers all of DCO's findings in a coordinated fashion. 

Cambridge University Press Awards Contract

Contract signed!  Cambridge University Press accepts the proposal for Whole Earth Carbon. A formal contract between the editors and publishers is signed to begin the book preparation process.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Orcutt B, et al
Chapter 2 The fate of carbon during early Solar system and magma ocean processes Dasgupta R, et al
Chapter 3 Carbon versus other light elements in the core Li J, et al
Chapter 4 Carbon bearing phases throughout the mantle Stagno V,  et al
Chapter 5 Recent advances in understanding deep mantle from diamond Shirey S, et al
Chapter 6 Carbonated mantle melting and CO2-rich magmas on Earth Yaxley G, et al
Chapter 7 Carbon in fluids – fate during fluid-rock interactions Shock E ,et al
Chapter 8 Carbon dissolution in silicate melt from reducing to oxidizing conditions Brooker R, et al 
Chapter 9 Physical properties of carbon-bearing melts and fluids Gaillard F, et al
Chapter 10 Carbon flux through subaerial volcanoes and diffuse degassing Werner C, et al
Chapter 11 Carbon cycle in the convecting mantle Hauri E, et al
Chapter 12 The fate of carbon in subduction zones Galvez ME, et al
Chapter 13 Carbon cycle feedback between short-term and long-term cycles Lee C-T et al
Chapter 14 Diversity, fate, and reactivity of organic carbon at depth Cole D, et al
Chapter 15 Biotic versus abiotic carbon in the subsurface: an isotopic perspective Young E, et al
Chapter 16 New perspectives on abiotic hydrocarbon synthesis and processing Andreani M, et al
Chapter 17 Carbon in the deep biosphere: forms, biogeochemical cycling, and fates Lang SQ, et al
Chapter 18 The biogeography, ecology, and evolution of deep life Magnabosco C, et al
Chapter 19 The genetics, biochemistry, and biophysics of carbon cycling by deep life Lloyd K, et al
Chapter 20 The energetic limits of life LaRowe D, et al
Chapter 21 Deep carbon through deep time: Data-driven insights Hazen RM, et al 
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