星空传媒

Natural Resources and Geoenergy

Global estimates suggest that the exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves, the world鈥檚 current main source of energy, will likely last only half a century. By the same token, the intensive use of fossil fuels has been one of the main drivers of global warming and environmental changes over the past decades. In this regard, the UAE鈥檚 Leadership has launched an ambitious program towards a managed energy transition, particularly emphasizing achieving net-zero carbon emission by 2050. Therefore, the Department of Earth Science at KU has diversified its research activities by actively prospecting and exploring the potential for alternative energy resources, i.e., critical metals, solar, wind, nuclear, and geothermal energy, while contributing to maintaining the national economy at the highest standards. Faculty Members Faculty in the core areas of Natural Resources and Geoenergy include Mohammed Ali, Mohammad Alsuwaidi, Andrea Ceriani, Frantz Gerard Ossa Ossa, Alessandro Decarlis, Hamed Gamaleldien, Fateh Bouchaala and Diana Francis.

Example of ongoing research projects can be found below:

• Hydrocarbon Potential: Evaluating the hydrocarbon resources in northeastern Arabia, the Gulf of Aden, and Somalia; Mineral Exploration: Investigating mineral resources in northeastern Arabia and Somalia; Natural Hydrogen Exploration: Exploring hydrogen resources in the Thrust and Fold Belt and Foreland Basin of the UAE; Geothermal Energy: Assessing geothermal energy potential in the UAE (By Mohammed Ali).
• From microscale dynamics to macroscale phenomena: Harnessing subsurface microbial dynamics for sustainable management of Geoenergy and CO₂sequestration initiatives; Reservoir Characterization and CO₂聽storage potential of the Jurrasic Arab Formation; Harnessing Microbes and CO₂聽for calcite precipitation: A sustainable approach to building material production; Carbonate terrains of the Arabian Gulf of Abu Dhabi as a 鈥渘atural micritization laboratory鈥� (By Mohammad Alsuwaidi).
• Mobilization and accumulation of critical elements for energy transition at the interplays between Abu Dhabi foreland basin, basement rocks and surrounding ophiolites (By Frantz Gerard Ossa Ossa).
• Integration of petrographic study with U-Pb from detrital heavy minerals for provenance analysis. Compositional quantitative analysis of modern surface sediments (By Andrea Ceriani).
• Geothermal system of rifted domains, CO₂mineral carbonation (By Alessandro Decarlis).
• Geochemical exploration of hydrogen production and carbon capture in Northern UAE Ophiolites; Linking ophiolitic melange formation with uranium and gold circulations; Formation of garnierite (Ni ores) during the serpentinization; Subduction zone geochemical cycles and related critical metals (By Hamed Gamaleldien).
• Research in support of alternative energies (Solar, wind and Nuclear) (By Diana Francis).
• Seismic wave propagation modeling and simulation; Seismic wave attenuation in carbonates: estimation and mechanisms; Rock physics: Experimental and numerical modeling; Amplitude Versus offset and Azimuth (AVO and AVAz) for reservoir and fracture characterization; Geothermal energy exploration based on seismic data; Mineral exploration using potential and seismic data; Carbone Dioxide Geostorage: Exploration of host formation and monitoring; Machine Learning modeling in Earth Sciences (By Fateh Bouchaala).