The international Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) approved the workshop proposal for the project “Probing the heart of an earthquake and life in the deep subsurface (PROTEA)”. The workshop call is open for applications, and will take place from Oct. 16-17, 2025 in Klerksdorp, South Africa.

The goal of PROTEA is to drill though a substantial thickness of the West Rand Group in the Witwatersrand Basin to systematically investigate the variation of host rock lithology associated with the dike-sill complex and its impact on the alteration of the lamprophyre dike. PROTEA will also conduct a pre-drilling seismic site survey and post-drilling seismic monitoring using up-to-date techniques. The finer structure of the dike-sill complex will elucidate its role in an extensional tectonic event such as supercontinent breakup.

PROTEA is the successor project to DSEIS, which successfully probed metamorphic minerals in an altered ultramafic dike that hosted the aftershocks of an M5.5 earthquake from a depth of 2.9 km.

Recognized by the International Center for Deep Life Investigation as a SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leader. This award honors early career researchers for their distinguished performance and outstanding potential as leaders in the deep life community. The recipients were selected from among candidates proposed by the members of the IC-DLI community.

The final report from the Keck Institute of Space Science’s KISS Study - ‘The Biology of Biosignature Detection’ was published. This study outlines workshop efforts from years 1 (2023) and 2 (2024) to organize and communicate the best approach for biosignature detection of extant and extinct life on Mars and other remote planetary systems. This included a detailed roadmap for agnostic detection via specific instrumentation and experimental approaches.

Research at Moab Khotsong Mine mentioned in story by Alice Sun for Atlas Obscura (12/24/24).

Article for Astrobiology.com highlighting our new paper discussing the role of radiolytic oxidant production on supporting long-isolated microbial brine communities.