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Collaborative Research: NSF GEO-NERC: The Cracking of a Craton: Understanding Volatile Rel — NSF Award to University of California

The oldest and most stable parts of the Earth’s continents are called cratons. When continents break-up, or rift, these stable crustal areas split apart and allow magma to rise from Earth’s deep interior. This forms new crust. When this happens, reservoirs of economically valuable volatile elements like helium and hydr

Award titleCollaborative Research: NSF GEO-NERC: The Cracking of a Craton: Understanding Volatile Rel
Award ID2618910
AwardeeUniversity of California-Santa Barbara
CitySANTA BARBARA
StateCA
Amount obligated$211,902
Principal investigatorTobias Fischer
ProgramPetrology and Geochemistry
Start date01/01/2026
AbstractThe oldest and most stable parts of the Earth’s continents are called cratons. When continents break-up, or rift, these stable crustal areas split apart and allow magma to rise from Earth’s deep interior. This forms new crust. When this happens, reservoirs of economically valuable volatile elements like helium and hydrogen get stuck underneath the craton, forming a reservoir. Geologically important volatiles like carbon dioxide also get stuck, but how and why this happens is not well understood.
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