Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Breaking the Wall of the Planetary Deep Subsurface

Barbara Sherwood Lollar

Physical Sciences

Sherwood Lollar brings together hydrogeology and isotope geochemistry to challenge understandings of the role of water in planetary subsurfaces. Her work explores the physical and chemical controls on subsurface architecture by tracking the fate of carbon-bearing fluids and gases in ancient fracture waters in the Earth’s crust. Her project on ancient waters is redefining our understanding of planetary architecture and the limits of habitability below the surface of Earth and other worlds.

Tags: Bio-Tech, Climate change, Energy, Environment & Nature, Hydrogen, Renewable energies, Space & the Universe

Barbara Sherwood Lollar

University of Toronto

Barbara Sherwood Lollar, CC FRS, is an Earth Scientist at the University of Toronto. She works at the frontier of the water and carbon cycles, investigating deep groundwaters of millions to billion years of age in the most ancient rocks of the planet, and the deep microbial life sustained within those subsurface biomes far from the energy of photosynthesis. She has served on many advisory boards including the US National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board where she was Chair of the 2018 “Strategy for Astrobiology and the Search for Life in the Universe”. She is co-director of the CIFAR Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration program.

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