Transition to a low-carbon future requires technologies based on critical metals and sustainable energy production. Geological systems associated with convergent plate boundaries host considerable amounts of mineral resources and significant geothermal energy potential, both controlled by super-hot (>350C) fluids at depth. The development of supercritical geothermal resources is a global challenge that cannot be solved by a single country alone. The SCAR project will bring together leading research groups in metallogenesis and mineral extraction (British Geological Survey and Mexican Gold Corp) and geothermal systems (Autonomous University of Mexico, University of Michoacana and the Italian National Research Council) to evaluate the inter-dependency between super-hot fluids, mobilisation and distribution of critical metals (Te, Bi and In) and heat flow. We propose a collaboration focussed on the Tatatila-Las Minas Cu-Au deposit (in the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt) which can provide data essential for modelling the potential and efficiency of simultaneous extraction of metals and energy from super-hot geothermal systems. A UK-Mexico collaboration aligns well with UK Government initiatives of setting up new partnerships to boost sustainable economies. Dr Alicja Lacinska, lead proposer of SCAR, is a New Investigator whose ambition is to forge new international partnerships to deliver high quality crosscutting science in anticipation of future large-scale metallogenic-geothermal initiatives worldwide.

This ambitious project will enable a step change in understanding of the sporadic but large flows of sediment, climatically-important organic carbon, and pollutants through submarine canyons, which connect continental shelves worldwide to the deep-sea. >9000 large submarine canyons occur on all the world's submerged margins, often dwarfing river systems in scale. Such canyons can transfer large quantities of natural sediments, organic carbon and nutrients that sustain important ecosystems, and are increasingly recognised as hotspots for seafloor pollution that threatens the biodiversity they host. The sediment flows that travel along canyons can be fast and dense, breaking cables that underpin global communications. It is therefore important to understand when and how such flows are triggered, the amount of material that is transported, and crucially, how these vary between types of canyon. Monitoring of turbidity currents has focused on 'land-attached' canyons fed by rivers or long-shore drift, where powerful turbidity currents have been shown to effectively transport sediment and carbon over 1000s km. Despite accounting for >70% of canyons worldwide, land-detached canyons (that lie far from shore) remain un-monitored, exposing a major gap in our understanding of global particulate transport. This bias results from a long-held view that land-detached canyons are disconnected from sediment inputs during present day sea levels. New measurements in Whittard Canyon (in the Celtic Sea, 250 km from shore) challenge this paradigm, revealing that land-detached canyons can feature turbidity currents of similar frequency and power to major land-attached canyons. These surprising new results raise the following questions, and motivate our project, which aims to determine the mechanisms and fluxes of particulate transfer via land-detached submarine canyons to the deep-sea for the first time. How can frequent turbidity currents occur if a canyon head lies far from present day sediment supplies? We will deploy an array of sensors on the continental shelf and within the Whittard Canyon head to measure the conditions before and coincident with turbidity currents, and will repeatedly map the seafloor to identify how and where sediment is transported to the canyon head. We will then make the first source to sink measurements along a land-detached canyon, and the second of any major deep-sea canyon worldwide, hence in itself this will represent a significant scientific milestone. What is the nature, concentration and burial efficiency of organic carbon or pollutants, and how does this compare to land-attached canyons? We will analyse seafloor and sediment trap samples to determine what quantities of organic carbon and pollutants are transported along the canyon, and to what extent they remain effectively locked up in the seafloor as a result of burial. Phytoplankton blooms occur at the head of Whittard Canyon during spring and summer, when turbidity currents are most frequent, providing fresh (marine) organic carbon in a similar manner to how river floods convey fresh carbon to land-attached canyons. We also observe mobile litter accumulations so will test to what extent turbidity currents transport pollutants as well as organic carbon and how its distribution relates to seafloor biodiversity hotspots. As well as posing an ecological threat, pollutants such as microplastics may effectively act as 'tracers', evidencing contemporary canyon flows. What volumes of natural and anthropogenic material are transferred via land-detached canyons? Global budgets exist for particulate transport to and across the ocean, but none include land-detached canyons. We will provide a first order calculation to assess the global significance of land-detached canyons, first assessing the contribution to deep sea transport across the Celtic Margin, and then up-scaling our results to determine what is missing from existing global budgets.

In the lower atmosphere ozone (O3) is an important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and is an air pollutant responsible for several billion pounds in lost plant productivity each year. Surface O3 has doubled since 1850 due to chemical emissions from vehicles, industrial processes, and the burning of forests. Tropical ecosystems are responsible for nearly half of global plant productivity and it is in these tropical regions that we are likely to see the greatest expansion of human populations this century. Alongside this growing population, we see the expansion of O3 precursor emissions from urbanization and high-intensity agricultural areas. Sugarcane is an important tropical and bioenergy crop, supplying raw material for sugar, ethanol (biofuel) and energy production and contributes to the bioeconomy of both São Paulo state (SP) and Brazil. While the São Paulo state is responsible for over half of Brazilian sugarcane production, sugarcane-derived products account for 17% of the Brazilian energy matrix. In a global context, biofuel production is one major land-based carbon-neutral approach to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and thus help society to achieve the challenging Paris accord of limiting climate change to below 2oC. Over the two last decades, SP state has experienced large-scale conversion of pasture (natural C4 grass) to sugarcane fields. At the same time air quality measurements demonstrate O3 concentrations across much of SP above those known to be harmful to plants. This project will make the first comprehensive set of measurements of O3 effects on plant functioning and growth in tropical grasses, both cultivated (e.g. sugarcane) and natural (e.g. used as pasture) using our unique tropical experimental facility in Cairns, Australia. Here we expose tropical grasses to different levels of ozone, to derive relationships between O3 dose and productivity loss. In addition, we investigate the role of drought on the O3 sensitivity of tropical grasses. Finally, we will use this information to assess the impact of regional O3 concentrations and changing land-cover (from natural C4 pasture to sugarcane) for southern Brazil and engage with relevant stakeholders from both policy and academia.

The main aim of this project is to explore novel emergent phenomena in far from equilibrium quantum systems across different fields of research: from solid-state light-matter systems such as superconducting circuits, semiconductor micro-structures and quantum spins to ultra-cold atomic gases. Such cross-fertilisation between traditionally distinct areas is an essential ingredient in successful approach to understanding far from equilibrium collective processes together with the development of new efficient theoretical tools. EPSRC Physics Grand Challenge Survey has identified that "compared with that of equilibrium states, our understanding of states far from equilibrium is in its infancy" and that "on the theory front, there are significant gaps in knowledge, especially in quantum theory". At the same time the problem is "of considerable scientific and technological importance" and "with unforeseeable potential for applications". We shall study exotic quantum orders, bistabilities, pattern formation and other collective phenomena in state-of-the art light-matter systems. An important aspect of our project is to focus on systems, or their features, which in the longer run could lead to potential device applications: from polariton lasers and LEDs, low threshold optical switches, optical transistors, logic gates and finally polariton integrated circuits to quantum computers. Our theoretical analysis will be linked directly to the experiments of our project partners worldwide.

The conditions in which materials are required to operate are becoming ever more challenging. Operating temperatures and pressures are increasing in all areas of manufacture, energy generation, transport and environmental clean-up. Often the high temperatures are combined with severe chemical environments and exposure to high energy and, in the nuclear industry, to ionising radiation. The production and processing of next-generation materials capable of operating in these conditions will be non-trivial, especially at the scale required in many of these applications. In some cases, totally new compositions, processing and joining strategies will have to be developed. The need for long-term reliability in many components means that defects introduced during processing will need to be kept to an absolute minimum or defect-tolerant systems developed, e.g. via fibre reinforcement. Modelling techniques that link different length and time scales to define the materials chemistry, microstructure and processing strategy are key to speeding up the development of these next-generation materials. Further, they will not function in isolation but as part of a system. It is the behaviour of the latter that is crucial, so that interactions between different materials, the joining processes, the behaviour of the different parts under extreme conditions and how they can be made to work together, must be understood. Our vision is to develop the required understanding of how the processing, microstructures and properties of materials systems operating in extreme environments interact to the point where materials with the required performance can be designed and then manufactured. Aligned with the Materials Genome Initiative in the USA, we will integrate hierarchical and predictive modelling capability in fields where experiments are extremely difficult and expensive. The team have significant experience of working in this area. Composites based on 'exotic' materials such as zirconium diborides and silicon carbide have been developed for use as leading edges for hypersonic vehicles over a 3 year, DSTL funded collaboration between the 3 universities associated with this proposal. World-leading achievements include densifying them in <10 mins using a relatively new technique known as spark plasma sintering (SPS); measuring their thermal and mechanical properties at up to 2000oC; assessing their oxidation performance at extremely high heat fluxes and producing fibre-reinforced systems that can withstand exceptionally high heating rates, e.g. 1000oC s-1, and temperatures of nearly 3000oC for several minutes. The research planned for this Programme Grant is designed to both spin off this knowledge into materials processing for nuclear fusion and fission, aerospace and other applications where radiation, oxidation and erosion resistance at very high temperatures are essential and to gain a deep understanding of the processing-microstructure-property relations of these materials and how they interact with each other by undertaking one of the most thorough assessments ever, allowing new and revolutionary compositions, microstructures and composite systems to be designed, manufactured and tested. A wide range of potential crystal chemistries will be considered to enable identification of operational mechanisms across a range of materials systems and to achieve paradigm changing developments. The Programme Grant would enable us to put in place the expertise required to produce a chain of knowledge from prediction and synthesis through to processing, characterisation and application that will enable the UK to be world leading in materials for harsh environments.