Integrated monitoring of the Earth System in Spain: Seismic network of observation and research

Explora, Caracteriza y Visualiza

El objetivo del proyecto es el desarrollo de sistemas de reconocimiento del terreno con técnicas geofísicas, para su aplicación al reconocimiento previo de la zona del frente de avance en construcción de túneles con la resolución requerida para anticipar la existencia de cambios en las propiedades del terreno y/o estructuras geológicas o potenciales vías de circulación de fluidos.

Investigación y monitorizacion de fallas sismogenicas en sondeos para la elaboracion de una propuesta de perforación al ICDP para perforacion en el SE peninsular

Researchers

• Maria Jose Jurado Rodriguez, ICTJA-CSIC, Barcelona, España

PROJECT INFO

• Project Leader: Maria Jose Jurado Rodriguez

Environmental impacts of Quaternary eruptions in the Central Andes: modeling for the prevention of the effects of future eruptions

Many volcanic eruptions have occurred during the Quaternary in the Andes and particularly in the area of northern Argentina and Chile with the generation of environmental impacts of diverse magnitude. QUECA Project is addressed to the analysis of the environmental impact of Quaternary eruptions of the central Andes, with particular consideration of the Holocene events by the involvement of men, to extract patterns to model the prediction and prevention of the effects of future eruptions in environment, focusing on its geographic and temporal scope. The average rate is about one eruption per year  in the Southern Cone. Project is focused in  the most factible scenarios, including those that have a local impact, effusive (lava fields that can affect human sttlemensts and agricultural fields and water courses, by deviation or interruption), and regional impacts due to explosive eruptions (ash deposits).

Cross-border network of instruments and experts for the determination and management of water, carbon and energy fluxes and stocks in agricultural and grassland ecosystems of the Pyrenees, in a context of climate and land-use changes

FLUXPYR is a network of infrastructures and multidisciplinary experts from France, Spain and Andorra who contribute to the evaluation and management of the impacts of climate and landuse changes on Pyrenean ecosystems and their inhabitants.

Structure and low-temperature thermochronology in the western Cantabrian Mountains

The objective of this proposal is to determine the structure and thermal evolution, uplift and exhumation history of upper crustal rocks in the western Cantabrian Mountains. The aim of the project is to obtain models of landscape evolution that help identify the implication and interactions of key acting upper crustal processes that control mountain growth next to an incipient subduction margin. The research proposes the integration of structural, geomorphological and thermocronological studies in the western Cantabrian Mountains. The region is underlined by Variscan basement uplifted during the Cenozoic compression along the northern margin of the Iberian plate. The compresion caused limited shortening in the upper crust and limited subduction along the margin. The landscape of the western Cantabrian Mountains is at an early stage of mountain growth and may have been evolving during the past 50 Ma next to a very slow convergent margin.

Estructura sísmica de la corteza bajo la cordillera del Rif

The basic aim of the project is to characterize the crustal structure in the Northern part of Morocco, especially beneath the Rif Cordillera, based on the acquisition of new wide-angle seismic profiles and on the integration of the various seismic data sets now available. In this way we envisage to overcome one of the marked failures existing at present to constrain any evolutionary model of the complex interaction zone between the European and African plates: the lack of reliable results on the architecture of the crust in the southern flank. The proposal involves the recording of three profiles of wide-angle reflection/refraction seismics, through the internal and external units of the Rif Cordillera and their transition to most eastern domains and to the Atlas. In all these transects, whose length oscillate between 250 and 300 km, seismic stations will be installed with a density of one instrument per 750-1000 m, and 3 to 4 shots will be fired throughout each profile. The high amount and density of new data will allow building up models of internal distribution of seismic velocities that document the crustal structure and its lateral variations. This information can be regarded as a `missing link’ among a series of recently acquired data sets in diverse projects.

Interpretación de la fase de inestabilidad precursora de la erupción del Hierro 2011

The recent submarine eruption of El Hierro was preceded by three months of unrest during which there was a significant increase in surface deformation and seismicity. The availability of a  continuous record of seismic and deformation signals from the onset of the unrest to the beginning of the eruption, as well as rock samples from different stages of the eruption, offers a unique opportunity to know geological processes that have occurred to give rise to the eruption, whose analysis will reveal how Canarian basaltic magma prepare to erupt. In addition we will be able to export that experience to other areas with similar characteristics, which will contribute significantly to improving predicting this type of volcanic eruptions, and thereby reducing the risk they represent.

Seismic characterization of the crust and lithospheric mantle beneath the High Atlas

The objective of this complementary action, associated with the Project “TopoAtlas” (CGL2006-05493/BTE) is to estimate the crust and lithosphere-mantle thicknesses beneath several points in the High Atlas and to evaluate the seismic velocities changes of the lithospheric mantle along the Atlas chain and the margins to correlate with the temperature, density and composition variations. In order to do that, we propose the deployment of 4 broadband stations along the axis of the Atlas Mountains for at least one year, seizing the opportunity of the recent broadband stations deployment in the project “SIBERIA” to study the Rif and the Moroccan margin. These estimations will constrain the geodynamic numerical model that we are developing on the “TopoAtlas” project and, therefore, we will get a better understanding of the several processes that shaped the tectonic and relief characteristics of the chain.

Impact in Aquifer media and Soils of non-conventional water (treated-desalinated) use and sewage sludge application: laboratory and field investigations

The project aims to investigate the effects and the extent -along the unsaturated zone, and also on underlying aquifers- of the use of treated wastewater and sludge on soil porous media in areas where reuse of water usually take place.

Tectonic-climatic interactions in arid orogen-basin systems

Arid climate within some orogens such as the Zagros Mountains is a phenomenon that modifies the balance between the tectonic processes that generate topography and the erosion/transport processes that remove it. Sediment trapping in intramountain basins can modify the evolution of tectonic deformation. Inversely, it is well known that arid climate results from the topographic blockage of incoming humid wind into the orogen (orographic precipitation).

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).