Deep Earth and Planets

 

In spite of their massive effects, these phenomena originate at the atomic level. Therefore, the understanding of multi-scale geological processes that occur in the deep planetary bodies, as well as their effects on the dynamics of the shallow domain, can only be accomplished by merging direct investigations at variable spatial resolutions (from the lattice-grain scale, 10^-9 -10^-3 m) to the mountain belt (10^3 -10^6 m) and, eventually, by comparing terrestrial phenomena with those observable on other planetary bodies. 

Such an integrated approach is based on the analyses of geologic material brought to the Earth’s surface by exhumation processes or recovered by means of drilling projects, or from satellite and other geophysical data. Hence, a wide range of disciplines are involved, namely Mineralogy, Petrology, Geochemistry, Structural Geology, Geophysics, Geodynamics, and Satellite Remote Sensing.

Within the Program "Deep Earth and Planets ", the following research lines can be listed:

  • Mineralogy under ambient and extreme conditions, minerogenesis and ore deposits (contacts: Fabrizio Nestola, Paolo Nimis, Luciano Secco)
  • Petrology and Geochemistry of magmatic and metamorphic systems, deep Earth volatile cycle  (contacts: Omar Bartoli, Bernardo Cesare, Manuele Faccenda, Fabio Ferri, Andrea Marzoli, Christine Meyzen, Raffaele Sassi, Richard Spiess, Dario Visonà)
  • Structural Geology, tectonism and geodynamics (contacts: Alessandro Caporali, Giulio Di Toro, Manuele Faccenda, Silvana Martin, Giorgio Pennacchioni, Dario Zampieri, Matteo Massironi)
  • Physical chemical processes in seismic faults, stress and strain in seismic areas  (contacts: Alessandro Caporali, Giulio Di Toro, Silvana Martin, Giorgio Pennacchioni).
  • Planetary Geology and analogs (contacts: Matteo Massironi, Fabrizio Nestola, Christine Meyzen).