A 3D web-service has been developed for the modeling and for the management of karst aquifers and related groundwater resources. Visual KARSYS allows users to build explicit models of karst aquifers via a 3D geological modeller (gmLib Python library) and a series of tools (i.e. algorithms) which provide characteristics of groundwater bodies by applying hydraulic principles. Visual KARSYS is designed for geologists or hydrogeologists working for public institutions or private companies, but also for administration...

Efficient fluid flow and circulation are important for an economically viable geothermal reservoir. One type of underexplored reservoir for high-temperature geothermal exploitation is a crustal fault zone, where hot fluids from depths corresponding to the brittle-ductile transition are brought to the surface via crustal-scale, permeable fault zones. To better understand the evolving permeability of reservoir rock during deformation in the brittle regime—fault formation and sliding on the fault—we performed triaxial experiments on samples of well-characterised...

Carbonatites host the main REE deposits in the world, with bastnaesite being the main REE-bearing mineral of interest. However, the nature of the enrichment process, magmatic vs hydrothermal, is still debated. This study aims to experimentally determine the behaviour of REE elements during carbonatite crystallisation, and if bastnaesite can be directly crystallised from a carbonate melt. Crystallisation experiments have been done from 900 to 600°C at 1 kbar on a REE-rich calciocarbonatitic composition. Calcite (Ca,REE)CO3...

European geology ranges from old mountain chains with more or less altered magmatic and sedimentary deposits over glaciogenic materials from the recent Ice Ages to very young marine or alluvial deposits etc. Thus, the ground under our feet carries a large variety of raw materials from sand and gravel over granites and marbles to precious or critical metals and minerals. Humans have extracted these materials from the (sub)surface since prehistorical eras, and these indispensable substances...

In the last decade, lithium has become a European strategic metal due to its extensive consumption in electromobility and green technologies. Consequently, global demand has increased substantially encouraging European interest in assessing its own resources, identifying a potential Li-industry and securing its own supply. In this context, a geographically-based compilation of the European lithium from both: 1) hard-rock, and 2) deep fluids occurrences and ore deposits, with their corresponding features (e.g., deposit types, Li-bearing minerals,...

In 2014, an analysis showed that EU had funded geoscientific data harmonisation projects with several hundred thousand Euros but that only a small fraction of the results were sustained a few years after the projects ended. EuroGeoSurveys therefore decided to establish the EGDI which was first launched in 2016. This version consisted of a web GIS, dedicated GIS viewers for specific geoscientific topics, numerous distributed web services, a metadata catalogue, a database for pan-European harvested...