What are we working on?

Our group's research is sustained through a diverse and continuous portfolio of national and international projects, spanning over two decades of competitive funding from Spanish, European and international agencies, including the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, AGAUR, the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the National Geographic Society, the DFG and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, among others. These projects reflect the breadth of our knowledge areas, addressing questions that range from the sedimentology and geochemistry of evaporite basins and carbonate reservoirs, to the paleobiology of amber and Cretaceous ecosystems, plant-insect coevolution, and the geological drivers of human evolution in Africa.

In recent years, our research has increasingly focused on the geological foundations of the energy transition, including the assessment of geothermal potential in carbonate reservoirs and mountain regions, the characterization of critical raw materials such as rare earth elements and yttrium, and the study of fluid circulation in fold-and-thrust belts relevant to CO2 storage. Current flagship projects include PIROS, a cross-border Interreg POCTEFA initiative evaluating geothermal resources across the Pyrenees, and MINERBALA, MICIU-funded and dedicated to understanding the enrichment of critical metals in karst bauxites and nickeliferous laterites. Alongside these applied lines, we continue to pursue fundamental research into paleoecology, biostratigraphy and evolutionary biology through projects such as FLOW, CREI and IBERCAFO, reinforcing our commitment to both discovery-driven and applied Earth science.