Research projects

Paleoceanography of Brazilian Equatorial Margin (BEM)

This project will apply paleomagnetic, micropaleontological, mineralogical and chemical analyses on carbonate sediments, in order to perform detailed paleocenaographic reconstructions of the evolution of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin (BEM) for the Eocene-Oligocene period and compare this results with the modern oceanographic setting. bemThe Eocene-Oligocene is a key period in Earth’s climate history and the period that occurred the major climatic changes in the Cenozoic, like the glaciation of Antarctica. High-resolution rockmagnetic properties, microfossils and minerals associations, and isotopes records will beobtained from the BEM and compared with several data indifferent part of the world in order to obtain and examine high-quality, continuous stratigraphic records of magnetic properties, microfossils, minerals and isotopes from targeted time intervals to better understand (1) how ocean circulation and carbon cycle behaved during warmer climates, and (2) how physical and biological systems responded to elevated and varying levels of atmospheric CO2.
CAPES Ciencias do Mar. 2014 - Recent
PI - Luigi Jovane; Participants:  Francisco Hilario Bezerra - Helenice Vital
- Candido Moura.

 

Primary productivity in oceans studying magnetotactic bacteria in sediments

Primary productivity in oceans is related to the amount of carbon and organic matter,temp
which depends from a series of factors that spans from temperature, nutrients availability, ocean circulation, oxic-anoxic conditions, amount of CO2, fresh water and atmospheric changes. For those reasons defining the primary productivity conditions allows to understand climate changes, pollution distribution, ocean acidification, response to tectonic events, run-off variations, faster carbon cycle along time and how the ocean system respond to those environmental variations. The complexity of the carbon cycle along geological periods enhances the solution to understand future climate changes. Magnetotactic bacteria are prokaryotes that are capable to intracellularly biomineralize magnetite of an ideal single domain size (magnetosomes) for moving along the optimal oxic-anoxic conditions. However, bacterial magnetite has only been reported in a few pre-Quaternary records because progressive burial into anoxic diagenetic environments causes its dissolution. Nevertheless, the biogeochemical factors that control magnetotactic bacterial populations in such settings are not well known.
FAPESP.  2013 - Recent

PI - Luigi Jovane; Participants:  Fabio Florindo - Rodolfo Coccioni -Liao Chang, -Bernard Housen - Ulysses Lins - Vivian Pellizari - Frederico Brandini - Heath Mills.


Marine ferromanganese deposits — a major resource of E-tech elements (MarineE-tech)

Ferromanganese nodules form on deep sediment covered basin floors whereas crusts form by direct precipitation of colloidal hydrated metal oxide from the water column onto exposed rocky slopes and platforms of submerged seamounts and guyots. Due to their very large surface area (of about 325 m2/g) and their very slow growth rates (mm/Ma) noduloscrusts sorb high quantities of base and trace metals from surrounding seawater. Our proposal engages stakeholders across the marine resource sector from oceanographic and geological research to the mining engineering industry, to the offshore environmental sector and to intergovernmental bodies and policy makers. This multidisciplinary consortium is fully inter-linked to deliver fundamental science around the genesis of seafloor ferromanganese deposits, explore new low environmental impact technologies for E-tech element extraction, to assess the potential ecological impact of resource extraction and to feed this information back to policy makers, where it can inform and strengthen the science behind emerging regulatory frameworks.
http://agencia.fapesp.br/projeto_investigara_origens_de_jazidas_de_minerios_no_fundo_do_atlantico/21410/
FAPE
SP-NERC. 2015 - Recent 
PI responsible - Frederico P. Brandini PI: Paulo Sumida, Alexandre Turra, Ilson Silveira, Vivian Pellizzari; Participants: Luigi Jovane, Brumley Murton, Jim Hein, Suzan Muinos, Peter Halbach


The role of the climatic changes in the dynamic of mangrove of Fernando de Noronha

Fernando de Noronha represents the western part f South America Fernando de Noronhaconsequently the mangrove of the island are the western of the Brazilian territories. The mangrove of Fernando de Noronha provides important information about climate and sea level changes during the late Quaternary. This particular environment that developed in the Baia de Sueste can record sedimentological and hidrodynamical processes, which produce the unique conditions for the formation of a mangrove environment. This particular humid environment is directly related to various elements: marine sediment, sea-currents, wind, freshwater discharge, land, biota and finally human processes. The fact that the area is difficult to access and the National Park which is part make this area one of the most preserved of the Fernando de Noronha.
Pesquisa e desenvolvimento em Ilhas Oceanicas - CNPq. 2015 - Recent

Coordenador: Pedro Walfir Martins e Sousa-Filho; Integrantes: José Tasso Felix Guimarães, Roberto Dall’Agnol, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, Everaldo Martins, DouglasOti, Luigi Jovane, Arnaldo Queiroz da Silva, Jean-Michel Lafon, Afonso Cesar Rodriguez Nogueira, Nils Edwin Asp Neto, Marcelo Rollnic, Marcio Souza da Silva, Afonso Quaresma de Lima


Geodinâmica de Bacias Sedimentares e implicações para o potencial exploratório (petróleo, gás natural e água subterrânea) - NAP GEO-SEDex

The NAP GEO-SEDex aims to improve applied research (hydrocarbon and water) and innovation in sedimentary basins, in lithospheric scale through "knowledge network". NAP Geo-SEDEX is composed by researchers from: Instituto de Geociência (IGc), Instituto de Geofísica, Astronomia e Ciências Atmosféricas(IAG), Instituto Oceanografico (IO), Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH), Instituto de Energia e Ambiente and the Instituto Geológico do Estado de São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP).
http://www.igc.usp.br/index.php?id=555

Nucleo de Apoio a Pesquisa (NAP) USP. 2012 - Recent
PI - Wilson Teixeira; Participants: Luigi Jovane and others.

 

Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic properties of basement and overlying sediments of IODP Expedition CRISP-2, Costa Rica Leg 344)

crispIntegrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 344 (CRISP-A2 - Costa Rica Seismogenesis Project, Program A Stage 2) investigated the tectonic and oceanographic evolution of the pacific erosive subduction margin west of Costa Rica, in front of Osa Peninsula. One objective of this expedition is to establish the course of volcanic activity in relation to anomalous subduction zone geometries and to analyze the impact of these changes on the regional and local paleoceanographic evolution for the last ~20 Ma. Expedition 344 drilled 5 sites which complement the 2011 Expedition 334 (CRISP-A1) that recovered volcaniclastics from the same area. This project will focus on cores U1412 and 1414 and will require PhD and post-Doc students as well as IC and Master students.
http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/expeditions/costa_rica_seismogenesis.html

CAPES. 2012 - recent

PI - Luigi Jovane. Participants: Paola Vannucchi, Xixi Zhao, Frank Li and Katerina Petronotis.



The Poggio Le Guaine Core (Umbria-Marche Basin, Central Italy): A Reference Section for the Aptian-Albian Interval at Low Latitudes

The Poggio le Guaine core from the Umbria–MarcheBasin in central Italy penetrated 98.72 m of pelagic sediments consisting mainly of limestones, calcareous marls, marls, clays, and black shales. The cored interval extends from the Albian-Cenomanian boundary down to the uppermost Barremian (99.6–126 Ma). The core was completely logged and continuously drilled with essentially 100% recovery of excellent quality material. The cored sequence recorded from OAE1a to OAE1d and regional equivalents of widely distributed Aptian-Albian oceanic anoxic events. The Poggio le Guaine core can be considered a 'reference section' for the Aptian-Albian interval at low latitudes and is designated to provide high-ranking informative records for that critical time interval through high-resolution multiproxy studies.










FUSP/Petrobras. 2011 - recent
PI: Ricardo Ivan Ferreira da Trindade; Participants: Luigi Jovane, Rodolfo Coccioni, Fabrizio Frontalini, Savian Jairo, Liliane Janikian, Renato Paes de Almeida. 

  



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