Oman ophiolite study suggests subduction zones can lock away CO₂

A research team led by a Keele scientist has shed new light on how a mysterious rock formation in Oman was created, which could reveal new details about Earth's ability to store carbon dioxide (CO2). The study, led by Dr. Elliot Carter in Keele's School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with the Universities of Ottawa and Manchester, looked at geological evidence from Oman to better understand processes that occur in subduction zones, which is where one of Earth's tectonic plates sinks beneath another due to the plates colliding together. This process is active around much of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" today, for example.