Andreia Plaza-Faverola

Foto: Jonatan Ottesen/uiT
Foto: Jonatan Ottesen/uiT

Andreia Plaza-Faverola

Tectonic Stress Effects on Arctic Methane Seepage (SEAMSTRESS)

HOST INSTITUTE: Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Science and Technology
PERIOD: 2019-2024
GRANT: 11,1 MNOK
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Video about Plaza-Faverola’s project 

The goal of the SEAMSTRESS project is to investigate the mechanisms behind the release of greenhouse gasses from the ocean floor. Greenhouse gasses, such as methane, are a major concern when it comes to climate change. Large amounts of these gasses are released from the sediment on the ocean floor, not only potentially influencing our global climate, but also affecting seabed ecology and increasing the risk of underwater landslides and tsunamis. While we know that this is a widespread phenomenon, we still don’t understand the mechanisms controlling the timing and quantities of this release. SEAMSTRESS puts forward a working hypothesis, this is that methane release is closely related to regional processes such as the separation of tectonic plates at the mid-ocean ridges and the crushing weight of solid ice-masses.

The project is supported by a starting grant from the Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS of Trond Mohn) and one from the Research Council of Norway (RCN – Frinatek). Two PhD students, 2 post docs, a research assistance and 2 short term collaborators, have been recruited to work together with the project leader and partners, in the quantification of the physical forces exerted on the sediment at Arctic continental margins to study its impact on gas expulsion. The project started in April 2019 and you ca follow it at https://site.uit.no/seamstress/

Andreia Plaza-Faverola  graduated as Geophysical Engineer at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.  In 2004 she got a MSc. in Petroleum Geology from the French Institute of Petroleum in France. She got her PhD on gas hydrates, in 2010, as a collaboration between UiT, The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø and IFREMER. In 2011 she started a 2 years post-doctoral fellowship at GNS Science in Wellington, New Zealand. Since then she has been working as a researcher and associate professor at CAGE – Centre for Arctic gas hydrates, environment and climate, Department of Geosciences, UiT.

SEAMSTRESS illustration  by Torger Grytå
SEAMSTRESS illustration by Torger Grytå
Seamstress logo developed by Torger Grytå