BRINES

BRINES is a Doctoral Network proposal that integrates an international group of geo-, bio- and climate scientists, to train 12-15 earth system doctoral candidates. Using newly acquired exceptional sedimentary records and innovative technical tools developed by both our industrial and academic partners, the aim is to train a new generation of researchers to analyse and model an extreme environmental event that occurred in the Mediterranean 5 million years ago: the formation of a salt giant. By developing and testing new climate model code for salt giant-related processes, BRINES will quantify the global climate impact of this extraordinary ancient event and evaluate the consequences of human activities involving salt minerals today. These include potential climate perturbations caused by an ancient gypsum giant currently emerging from beneath thawing permafrost in Arctic Canada, and the extensive use of gypsum in construction. The scientific partnership that underpins BRINES is well established having grown out of two recent, European-led international scientific drilling expeditions. However, key aspects of the industrial and policy impact of the project are yet to be fully explored and integrated. The funding we are requesting from ANR-MRSEI is to support this development. In particular, we need to explore the potential impact BRINES research may have for environmental policy relating to ocean alkalinity enhancement geoengineering solutions for reducing greenhouse emissions and expand the network to include industrial partners from national/international gypsum companies. Salt giants perturb the climate via two independent processes: 1) the hypersaline water generated when evaporite minerals form/dissolve is much more dense than seawater, modifying ocean circulation patterns; and 2) the precipitation/weathering of evaporites changes ocean chemistry with consequences for the carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2. Current earth system models do not include either of these processes. BRINES will address this challenge through an interdisciplinary, intersectoral research and training programme designed to support the skill requirements of each individual research project and foster collaboration. All partners will contribute to network-wide technical and transferable skills training, and a rich programme of international secondments that include private sector placements in gas storage, subsurface and aquatic technology, gypsum production, biostratigraphy and marine environmental consultancy. We aim to expand these secondments and training through the inclusion of partners in policy and industrial gypsum use. The aim is to provide a programme of training that will enable researchers to respond to the rising demand for quantitative, interdisciplinary scientists and help meet the environmental challenges associated with Europe’s climate ambitions.