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  • Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration

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How do we understand the life, groundwater and environments deep below the surface of a planet?

Beneath our feet is a vast, unexplored world consisting of up to tens of kilometres of thick crust containing water, gases, nutrients, resources, and various forms of life.

So far we investigated only a tiny fraction of the Earth’s subsurface, although it contains critical information needed to understand the complexities of chemical, physical and biological interactions on the Earth’s surface – and our everyday world. Investigating the interactions between the subsurface and the surface on Earth, the only planet we have ready access to, will inform and expand our understanding of planetary evolution and the possibility of finding life on other planets and moons in our solar system – and beyond.

The Earth 4D program’s multidisciplinary team focuses on the themes of water, life and space, with time as a fourth theme and overarching lens. No other research group has formalized this broad, disruptive approach and built a diverse intellectual community committed to tackling this challenge.

Path to Societal Impact

We invite experts in industry, civil society, healthcare and government to join fellows in our Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration program for in-depth, cross-sectoral conversations that drive change and innovation.

Experts from academia, industry, and international space agencies and CIFAR fellows in the Earth 4D program are developing the science, technology, and requirements for Mars missions to understand the limits of habitability.

Areas of focus:

  • Accessing information about water kilometres under the surface of planets, both in our own solar system and elsewhere
  • Developing international mission architectures for subsurface Mars exploration 

Founded In

2019

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Earth & Planetary Sciences
Geology
Environmental Science
Geochemistry, including isotope geochemistry and bio-geochemistry
Astrobiology
Geobiology
Hydrogeology
Microbiology
Planetary and environmental modelling
Minerology
Astronolmy
Planetary evolution

Contact

Fiona Cunningham

Fellows & Advisors

Program Directors

About

John Mustard

Program Co-Director

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Brown University
United States
About

Barbara Sherwood Lollar

Program Co-Director

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Toronto
Canada

Fellows

About

Chris Ballentine

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
About

Steven D'Hondt

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Rhode Island
United States
About

Heather Graham

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
United States
About

Michael Manga

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of California Berkeley
United States
About

Jennifer McIntosh

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Arizona
United States
About

Joseph Michalski

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Hong Kong
China
About

Victoria J. Orphan

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
California Institute of Technology
United States
About

Magdalena R. Osburn

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Northwestern University
United States
About

Nigel J.T. Smith

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
TRIUMF
Canada
About

Vlada Stamenkovic

Fellow

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Blue Origin
United States

Advisors

About

Jan Amend

Advisory Committee Chair

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Southern California
United States
About

Fumio Inagaki

Advisor

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Japan
About

Jeffrey McDonnell

Advisor

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Saskatchewan
Canada
About

Bénédicte Ménez

Advisor

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Institut de physique du globe de Paris
Université de Paris
China
About

Gordon "Oz" Osinski

Advisor

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Western University
Canada

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

About

Jacqueline Goordial

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Guelph
Canada
About

Timothy Goudge

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Texas at Austin
United States
About

Jihua Hao

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2021-2023

Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Science and Technology of China
China

Related News

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New modelling by Earth 4D researchers quantifies salty water reservoirs.

October 01, 2021
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Heather Graham is questioning assumptions about what life can be

She is making sure we can trust future claims of alien life by thinking about how life forms might evolve differently on...

February 03, 2021
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Award

Earth 4D program co-director Barbara Sherwood Lollar receives Canada’s highest science honour

University of Toronto geochemist is the 2019 recipient of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Enginee...

May 06, 2019
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Earth 4D: Subsurface Science and Exploration

Looking for life under Mars

Researchers say we must “go deeper” on Mars

February 04, 2019
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