In the on-going push for developing new, eco-friendly resources and energy production, the potential of naturally occurring hydrogen, generated through the alteration (serpentinization) of tectonically exhumed mantle rocks, remains largely overlooked. The exhumation of mantle rocks can occur during rifting and continental break-up, but as well as during mountain building phases. In order to better assess the opportunities for natural hydrogen extraction from exhumed mantle material, we must improve our understanding of the tectonic processes leading to (and active during) their exhumation.

This project envisions the use of numerical tectonic modelling techniques to unravel these mantle exhumation processes, with a special focus on the influence of structural inheritance, pressure and temperature evolution of exhumed mantle materials over time, and the importance of surface processes and the presence of reservoirs. The subsequent aim is to apply these modelling results to interpret the tectonic history of various natural cases (e.g. Pyrenees, offshore Iberia, European Alps), and to assess the feasibility of natural hydrogen extraction in these areas of interest.