Geochemical indicators in biogenic carbonates from experimental cultures. Application to the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of lacustrine sequences

The geochemical indicators in biogenic carbonates from sedimentary sequences are common tools for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Their use has resulted in a milestone for establishing the base levels of the climate change without anthropic influence.

Geosciences in Iberia: Integrated studies of topography and 4-D evolution ‘Topo-Iberia’

Topo-Iberia is a proposal that involves more than 100 PhD researchers from 10 different groups. It corresponds to the willingness and interest of the Spanish scientific community to establish an integrated framework to develop multidisciplinary geoscientific studies in our country. The ‘micro-continent’ formed by the Iberian Peninsula and its margins constitutes a most suitable natural laboratory, well identified by the international scientific community, to develop innovative, frontier research on its topography and 4-D evolution. The objective of Topo-Iberia is to understand the interaction between deep, surficial and atmospheric processes, by integrating research on geology, geophysics, geodesy and geotechnology.

Study of climate, society and environment interactions in a NE Iberian Peninsula basin during the Holocene based on palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data integration

Future scenarios suggest that climatic and land-use changes will have a strong influence both on the natural environment and on human societies. In the context of this, the long-term study of past human-environment interactions is regarded as one of prime importance to understanding and modelling possible future environmental and social change.

Plate re-organization in the western Mediterranean: Lithospheric causes and topographic consequences (TopoMed)

Spanish Team: La Tectónica del arco de Gibraltar y la Cordillera del Atlas: causas litosfericas y efectos topográficos

The motion between Africa and Europe in the western Mediterranean region has been taken up by subduction. Over the last 30 million years the location of the subduction zone has migrated from present-day southern France and eastern Iberia to the south-southeast towards North Africa and present-day Italy, with sideward expansions to form the Gibraltar and  Calabria arcs. This process is now coming to an end. TopoMed investigates the intriguing processes accompanying these last stages and the possibility that a new subduction zone is being created along the North African margin. The results of this project are important for assessing the future geohazards potential of the region.

Environmental characterization of Miocene lacustrine systems with marine-like faunas from the Duero and Ebro basins: geochemistry of biogenic carbonates and palynology

The biogenic carbonates, particularly the ostracod and mollusk shells, reflect the isotopic features and temperature of the water where they form. Moreover, the trace element uptake in the shells is a function of the environmental features and biological processes.

Sculpting the Earth’s topography: insights from modelling deep-surface processes

TOPOMOD is a training project designed for a team of early-stage and experienced  researchers to investigate and model the origin and evolution of topography of the continents over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. TOPOMOD will carry out 15 cross-disciplinary research projects in well-chosen key areas from the Mediterranean, the Middle and Far East, west Africa, and South America, with new developments in structural geology, geomorphology, seismology, geochemistry, InSAR, laboratory and numerical modelling of deep mantle to surface process.

Tratamiento y reutilización de aguas residuales

El proyecto CONSOLIDER “Tratamiento y Reutilización de Aguas Residuales para una Gestión Sostenible (TRAGUA)” fue seleccionado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia en la convocatoria 2006 de programas CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010.

Network of European Research Infrastructures for Earthquake Risk Assessment and Mitigation

NERA (2010-2014) is an EC infrastructure project that integrates key research infrastructures in Europe for monitoring earthquakes and assessing their hazard and risk.

1^stInternational Congress on Management and awareness in protected volcanic landscapes (VOLCANDPARK)

This Action is addressed to contribute organizing and hosting the first international meeting on protected volcanic landscapes, which aims to organize a discussion forum on the management, dissemination and tourism in protected volcanic areas, in order to share experiences of agencies and people who manage and work in protected volcanic areas, identify how scientists and extension workers communicate and interpret the knowledge derived from protected volcanic areas, and to collect and disseminate experiences on management , education and geo-tourism in protected volcanic area.

Propiedades físicas de la litosfera en la Zona Centro Ibérica (Península Ibérica)

The lithosphere beneath the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ) features different character and nature than the lithosphere beneath the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Ossa Morena and South-Portuguese Zones, OMZ and SPZ).

Propiedades ópticas de materiales optoelectrónicos y fotovoltaicos

The advances in solid state lighting and laser technologies have brought about a tremendous expansion of the optoelectronic marke. The blue and near ultraviolet range of the spectrum is well covered by GaN, Ga-rich InGaN and AlGaN alloys. In the blue to green range InxGa1-xN alloys with x< 0.3 play a dominant role. The revision of the band-gap value of InN (0.64 eV) triggered a worldwide research thrust into narrow-band-gap III-nitride alloy systems which cover the spectral region from 1.9 μm (InN) up to 0.36 μm (GaN) and 0.2 μm (AlN). These materials are attracting much interest for their applications in optical communications and photovoltaics. The performance enhancement expected in nanostructures has also driven a surge in research on group-III nanocolumns (NC) and quantum well (QW) structures. Despite the success in achieving device operation, many fundamental properties of these systems are still poorly known.

Volcanic Unrest in Europe and Latin America: Phenomenology, eruption precursors, hazard foreCast, and risk mitigatiOn

Our knowledge of the causative links between subsurface processes, resulting unrest signals and imminent eruption, today, is inadequate to deal effectively with crises of volcanic unrest.The VUELCO project consortium has come together for a multi-disciplinary attack on the origin, nature and significance of volcanic unrest from the scientific contributions generated by collaboration of ten partners in Europe and Latin America. Dissecting the science of monitoring data from unrest periods at six type volcanoes in Italy, Spain, the West Indies, Mexico and Ecuador the consortium will create global strategies for 1) enhanced monitoring capacity and value, 2) mechanistic data interpretation and 3) identification of reliable eruption precursors; all from the geophysical, geochemical and geodetic fingerprints of unrest episodes.