Photograph of Prof. Bramley Murton
Group
Ocean BioGeosciences
Site
Southampton
Email
bramley.murton at noc.ac.uk
Biography

Geological and geochemical research into the evolution of oceanic crust, its interaction with the oceans and the formation of mineral deposits.

As Professor of Marine Geology, I lead the NOC Marine Mineral Research team. My expertise is in oceanic crust and the formation of mineral deposits including volcanic and tectonic processes, hydrothermal circulation and metalliferous mineralisation. I use and develop a combination of technologies including remote and autonomous underwater vehicles, sea-floor geophysics, geology, petrology and geochemistry to investigate sub-oceanic mantle melting, volcanic activity and the formation and fate of sea-floor mineral deposits.

Links:

Geological, geophysical and geochemical research into the evolution of oceanic crust, its interaction with the oceans, and the formation of sea-floor mineral deposits.

InterRidge: Working Gp on Sea-floor minerals

UK-gov (BEIS): Sea-floor Mining Working Group 

UK-gov (DIT): Sea-floor Mining Stakeholders Group

I currently lead a NERC Highlight Topic on the formation of sea-floor massive sulphide under ultramafic rocks (Project ULTRA); and have over a decade of experience as principal investigator on EU and UK funded project on sea-floor minerals (e.g.: Blue Mining; MarineE-tech). These projects all seek to close the gap between the demand and supply of scarce metals that are critical for the energy transition to enable a net-zero carbon future.