Turbidity currents are the volumetrically most import process for sediment transport on our planet. A single submarine flow can transport ten times the annual sediment flux from all of the world's rivers, and they form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth (submarine fans). These flows break strategically important seafloor cable networks that carry > 95% of global data traffic, including the internet and financial markets, and threaten expensive seabed infrastructure used to recover oil and gas. Ancient flows form many deepwater subsurface oil and gas reservoirs in locations worldwide. It is sobering to note quite how few direct measurements we have from submarine flows in action, which is a stark contrast to other major sediment transport processes such as rivers. Sediment concentration is the most fundamental parameter for documenting what turbidity currents are, and it has never been measured for flows that reach submarine fans. How then do we know what type of flow to model in flume tanks, or which assumptions to use to formulate numerical or analytical models? There is a compelling need to monitor flows directly if we are to make step changes in understanding. The flows evolve significantly, such that source to sink data is needed, and we need to monitor flows in different settings because their character can vary significantly. This project will coordinate and pump-prime international efforts to monitor turbidity currents in action. Work will be focussed around key 'test sites' that capture the main types of flows and triggers. The objective is to build up complete source-to-sink information at key sites, rather than producing more incomplete datasets in disparate locations. Test sites are chosen where flows are known to be active - occurring on annual or shorter time scale, where previous work provides a basis for future projects, and where there is access to suitable infrastructure (e.g. vessels). The initial test sites include turbidity current systems fed by rivers, where the river enters marine or freshwater, and where plunging ('hyperpycnal') river floods are common or absent. They also include locations that produce powerful flows that reach the deep ocean and build submarine fans. The project is novel because there has been no comparable network established for monitoring turbidity currents Numerical and laboratory modelling will also be needed to understand the significance of the field observations, and our aim is also to engage modellers in the design and analysis of monitoring datasets. This work will also help to test the validity of various types of model. We will collect sediment cores and seismic data to study the longer term evolution of systems, and the more infrequent types of flow. Understanding how deposits are linked to flows is important for outcrop and subsurface oil and gas reservoir geologists. This proposal is timely because of recent efforts to develop novel technology for monitoring flows that hold great promise. This suite of new technology is needed because turbidity currents can be extremely powerful (up to 20 m/s) and destroy sensors placed on traditional moorings on the seafloor. This includes new sensors, new ways of placing those sensors above active flows or in near-bed layers, and new ways of recovering data via autonomous gliders. Key preliminary data are lacking in some test sites, such as detailed bathymetric base-maps or seismic datasets. Our final objective is to fill in key gaps in 'site-survey' data to allow larger-scale monitoring projects to be submitted in the future. This project will add considerable value to an existing NERC Grant to monitor flows in Monterey Canyon in 2014-2017, and a NERC Industry Fellowship hosted by submarine cable operators. Talling is PI for two NERC Standard Grants, a NERC Industry Fellowship and NERC Research Programme Consortium award. He is also part of a NERC Centre, and thus fulfils all four criteria for the scheme.

Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) through human land use is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century. SOC loss contributes to climate change, makes soils less suitable for crops, reduces soil fertility through associated loss of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) as plant nutrients, and reduces water holding capacity and drainage to aquifers - adversely impacting drought and flood resistance, water quality and water availability. The international initiative "4 per mille" addresses the threat of SOC loss to food security, climate regulation and water resources and aims to reverse global SOC losses through sustained, incremental (e.g. 0.4 % per year) increases. Our research project aims to transform fundamental knowledge of the processes and mechanisms of SOC production and persistence in soil to inform land management innovation, and quantify the capacity and time scale to increase persistent - i.e. "LOCKED UP" - SOC stocks. Our hypothesis is that persistent SOC is produced by a series of complex but testable interactions between soil microbes and soil minerals: 1) relatively rapid microbial transformation of plant biomass input to soil, which produces; 2) specific classes of SOC compounds including extracellular products and components of dead cells that are essential precursors to persistent forms, which are then 3) stabilised against microbial degradation through chemical sorption to soil minerals, which can remove SOC from the microbially accessible C pool; and 4) physically protected against microbial degradation through aggregation of soil particles and soil organic matter, where SOC is protected from microbial degradation in inter and intraparticle pore spaces. Our approach is to undertake linked laboratory studies, field sampling and modelling to obtain fundamental knowledge of key functional groups of soil microbes, the microbial operations and their rates which transform SOC to forms which then persist with minerals and within mineral aggregates; and to quantify how these transformations and persistent forms respond to changing environmental factors - plant input C:N ratios, water stress, indigenous microbial community composition, redox status, ionic composition and nutrient status of pore waters, temperature, and physical disturbance. The complex and interactive stages of forming persistent SOC will be quantified in stages, in model systems of microbial cultures, aqueous media and selected minerals in built and real soil matrices, as an idealised and experimentally tractable representation of the soil environment. In multi-factorial experiments that account for the range of environmental conditions, we will quantify rate laws and constants for SOC transformations based on first principles of mass balance, biological growth, chemical mass action and physical-chemical colloid interactions. The results will be implemented into an existing soil process model. This advance in mechanistic knowledge will allow us to build model simulations from a strong first principles understanding of the SOC transformation dynamics and resulting changes in soil structure and bulk properties. We will test these advances against independent data from manipulation experiments on whole soil cores from agricultural sites. Manipulation of additional soil cores - obtained from selected soil types and biomes to reflect specific regions and land uses around the world - will be carried out with application of the mechanistic soil process model. The experimental and model results will be used to assess - for key soil types, climate regions and land uses - the potential maximum, time scale and persistence of SOC that can be obtained from hypothesised land-use practices to increase stocks of persistent SOC - e.g. by changing tillage practices, vegetation cover and water management.

Turbidity currents are the volumetrically most import process for sediment transport on our planet. A single submarine flow can transport ten times the annual sediment flux from all of the world's rivers, and they form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth (submarine fans). These flows break strategically important seafloor cable networks that carry > 95% of global data traffic, including the internet and financial markets, and threaten expensive seabed infrastructure used to recover oil and gas. Ancient flows form many deepwater subsurface oil and gas reservoirs in locations worldwide. It is sobering to note quite how few direct measurements we have from submarine flows in action, which is a stark contrast to other major sediment transport processes such as rivers. Sediment concentration is the most fundamental parameter for documenting what turbidity currents are, and it has never been measured for flows that reach submarine fans. How then do we know what type of flow to model in flume tanks, or which assumptions to use to formulate numerical or analytical models? There is a compelling need to monitor flows directly if we are to make step changes in understanding. The flows evolve significantly, such that source to sink data is needed, and we need to monitor flows in different settings because their character can vary significantly. This project will coordinate and pump-prime international efforts to monitor turbidity currents in action. Work will be focussed around key 'test sites' that capture the main types of flows and triggers. The objective is to build up complete source-to-sink information at key sites, rather than producing more incomplete datasets in disparate locations. Test sites are chosen where flows are known to be active - occurring on annual or shorter time scale, where previous work provides a basis for future projects, and where there is access to suitable infrastructure (e.g. vessels). The initial test sites include turbidity current systems fed by rivers, where the river enters marine or freshwater, and where plunging ('hyperpycnal') river floods are common or absent. They also include locations that produce powerful flows that reach the deep ocean and build submarine fans. The project is novel because there has been no comparable network established for monitoring turbidity currents Numerical and laboratory modelling will also be needed to understand the significance of the field observations, and our aim is also to engage modellers in the design and analysis of monitoring datasets. This work will also help to test the validity of various types of model. We will collect sediment cores and seismic data to study the longer term evolution of systems, and the more infrequent types of flow. Understanding how deposits are linked to flows is important for outcrop and subsurface oil and gas reservoir geologists. This proposal is timely because of recent efforts to develop novel technology for monitoring flows that hold great promise. This suite of new technology is needed because turbidity currents can be extremely powerful (up to 20 m/s) and destroy sensors placed on traditional moorings on the seafloor. This includes new sensors, new ways of placing those sensors above active flows or in near-bed layers, and new ways of recovering data via autonomous gliders. Key preliminary data are lacking in some test sites, such as detailed bathymetric base-maps or seismic datasets. Our final objective is to fill in key gaps in 'site-survey' data to allow larger-scale monitoring projects to be submitted in the future. This project will add considerable value to an existing NERC Grant to monitor flows in Monterey Canyon in 2014-2017, and a NERC Industry Fellowship hosted by submarine cable operators. Talling is PI for two NERC Standard Grants, a NERC Industry Fellowship and NERC Research Programme Consortium award. He is also part of a NERC Centre, and thus fulfils all four criteria for the scheme.

This proposal concerns the creation of an internationally leading Centre for doctoral training in sustainable civil engineering. The widest possible definition of sustainability is adopted, with the Centre covering the effective whole life design and performance of major civil engineering infrastructure. This includes the re-appraisal and re-use of existing infrastructure and the opportunities afforded by multiple-use. This sector is widely reported to face major problems recruiting the type, quality and number of people required. The Centre will address the key challenges of fit for purpose, economic viability, environmental impact, resilience, infrastructure inter-dependence, durability as well as the impacts of changes in population, urbanisation, available natural resources, technology and societal expectations. This requires a broad-based approach to research training, effectively integrated across the wide range of disciplines presently encompassed within the civil engineering profession. Very few academic institutions are capable of providing in-depth training across this range of subjects. However, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College, recently (QS 2013) ranked number one in the world against its competitor departments, is uniquely placed within the UK to achieve exactly this. The Centre will recruit high quality, ambitious engineers. The doctoral training will combine intellectual challenge, technical content and rigor, with focused involvement in the practically important problems presently faced by the civil engineering profession. Advice and guidance from a high-level and broadly-based industrial advisory panel will be important in achieving the latter. Most importantly, the CDT will equip students with an appreciation of the wider context in which their research work is undertaken. The proposed programme is clearly designed to be PhD-PLUS; where the PLUS relates to a clear understanding of the breath of the problem within which their specific research sits, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. This latter component will include the industrial perspective, the societal need, the long term sustainability of the work and its immediate impact. The proposed CDT will make a difference by producing high quality civil engineers who understand global sustainability issues, in the widest possible context, and who have the skills and vision to eventually lead major infrastructure development projects or research programmes. Training will combine intensive taught training modules, group working around Grand Challenge projects in collaboration with industry and high quality research training. Project-based multi-disciplinary collaborative working will be at the core of the CDT training experience, modelling the way leading companies explore design options involving mixed disciplinary teams working together on ambitious projects. Working on a real-world problem, the students will have to interact extensively with others to understand the problem in detail, to develop holistic potential solutions, to assess these solutions and to identify the uncertainties and questions that can only be answered through further research. They will develop skills associated with coping with complexity, being able to make value-based decisions and being confident with interdisciplinary working. They will also be heavily involved in identifying and defining the research problem within the wider multi-faceted project and so will gain a much broader perspective of how specific research developing responsible innovation fits within a large civil engineering project. Overall, this approach is much more likely to develop the additional skills required by industry compared to conventional doctoral civil engineering training.

Loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) through human land use is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century. SOC loss contributes to climate change, makes soils less suitable for crops, reduces soil fertility through associated loss of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) as plant nutrients, and reduces water holding capacity and drainage to aquifers - adversely impacting drought and flood resistance, water quality and water availability. The international initiative "4 per mille" addresses the threat of SOC loss to food security, climate regulation and water resources and aims to reverse global SOC losses through sustained, incremental (e.g. 0.4 % per year) increases. Our research project aims to transform fundamental knowledge of the processes and mechanisms of SOC production and persistence in soil to inform land management innovation, and quantify the capacity and time scale to increase persistent - i.e. "LOCKED UP" - SOC stocks. Our hypothesis is that persistent SOC is produced by a series of complex but testable interactions between soil microbes and soil minerals: 1) relatively rapid microbial transformation of plant biomass input to soil, which produces; 2) specific classes of SOC compounds including extracellular products and components of dead cells that are essential precursors to persistent forms, which are then 3) stabilised against microbial degradation through chemical sorption to soil minerals, which can remove SOC from the microbially accessible C pool; and 4) physically protected against microbial degradation through aggregation of soil particles and soil organic matter, where SOC is protected from microbial degradation in inter and intraparticle pore spaces. Our approach is to undertake linked laboratory studies, field sampling and modelling to obtain fundamental knowledge of key functional groups of soil microbes, the microbial operations and their rates which transform SOC to forms which then persist with minerals and within mineral aggregates; and to quantify how these transformations and persistent forms respond to changing environmental factors - plant input C:N ratios, water stress, indigenous microbial community composition, redox status, ionic composition and nutrient status of pore waters, temperature, and physical disturbance. The complex and interactive stages of forming persistent SOC will be quantified in stages, in model systems of microbial cultures, aqueous media and selected minerals in built and real soil matrices, as an idealised and experimentally tractable representation of the soil environment. In multi-factorial experiments that account for the range of environmental conditions, we will quantify rate laws and constants for SOC transformations based on first principles of mass balance, biological growth, chemical mass action and physical-chemical colloid interactions. The results will be implemented into an existing soil process model. This advance in mechanistic knowledge will allow us to build model simulations from a strong first principles understanding of the SOC transformation dynamics and resulting changes in soil structure and bulk properties. We will test these advances against independent data from manipulation experiments on whole soil cores from agricultural sites. Manipulation of additional soil cores - obtained from selected soil types and biomes to reflect specific regions and land uses around the world - will be carried out with application of the mechanistic soil process model. The experimental and model results will be used to assess - for key soil types, climate regions and land uses - the potential maximum, time scale and persistence of SOC that can be obtained from hypothesised land-use practices to increase stocks of persistent SOC - e.g. by changing tillage practices, vegetation cover and water management.