The ANR MEDSALT project aims to consolidate and expand a scientific network recently formed with the purpose to use scientific drilling to address the causes, timing, emplacement mechanisms and consequences of the largest and most recent 'salt giant' on Earth: the late Miocene (Messinian) salt deposit in the Mediterranean basin. After obtaining the endorsement of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) on a Multiplatform Drilling Proposal (umbrella proposal) in early 2015, the network is planning to submit a site-specific drilling proposal to drill a transect of holes with the R/V Joides Resolution in the evaporite-bearing southern margin of the Balearic promontory in the Western Mediterranean - the aim is to submit the full proposal before the IODP dealine of April 1st 2017, following the submission of a pre-proposal on October 1st 2015. Four key issues will be addressed: 1) What are the causes, timing and emplacement mechanisms of the Mediterranean salt giant ? 2) What are the factors responsible for early salt deformation and fluid flow across and out of the halite layer ? 3) Do salt giants promote the development of a phylogenetically diverse and exceptionally active deep biosphere ? 4) What are the mechanisms underlying the spectacular vertical motions inside basins and their margins ? Our nascent scientific network will consit of a core group of 22 scientists from 10 countries (7 European + USA + Japan + Israel) of which three french scientists (G. Aloisi, J. Lofi and M. Rabineau) play a leading role as PIs of Mediterranean drilling proposals developed within our initiative. Support to this core group will be provided by a supplementary group of 21 scientists that will provide critical knowledge in key areas of our project. The ANR MEDSALT network will finance key actions that include: organising a 43 participants workshops to strengthen and consolidate the Mediterranean drilling community, supporting the participation of network scientists to seismic well site-survey cruises, organising meetings in smaller groups to work on site survey data and finance trips to the US to defend our drilling proposal in front of the IODP Environmental Protection and Safety Panel (EPSP). The MEDSALT drilling initiative will impact the understanding of issues as diverse as submarine geohazards, sub-salt hydrocarbon reservoirs and life in the deep subsurface. This is a unique opportunity for the French scientific community to play a leading role, next to our international partners, in tackling one of the most intellectually challenging open problems in the history of our planet.

The objective of PETRI-MED is to develop novel strategies to determine and monitor the status and trends of microbial plankton biodiversity in the entire Mediterranean Sea, supporting the assessment of the impact of ecological connectivity on local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This will be achieved following a highly multidisciplinary approach, capitalizing on the large potential offered by the past and ongoing satellite missions, complemented with field measurements (optical, physical, chemical, and genomic), biogeochemical/ecosystem/marine currents modelling, and artificial intelligence technologies. PETRI-MED will allow to: - identify spatio-temporal patterns in the microbial plankton community distribution and biodiversity; - assess key controls of biodiversity patterns, including ecological connectivity, natural (e.g., river runoffs and marine currents) and human-related forcing (e.g., use of land and coastal ecosystems). This in turn will open the way to: - regional and basin-level seascape spatial assessments, by combining estimates of plankton biodiversity with in-situ measured and remotely-sensed physical and biogeochemical patterns. - the identification of fragmented habitats and the recognition of new zones or ecological corridors for maintaining and restoring biodiversity. Two AI-based algorithms will be developed. The first algorithm will be applied for the generation of the global Mediterranean Sea product relying on Multi-spectral satellite Ocean Colour observations and in situ and/or modelled physical/biogeochemical variables as salinity, temperature, marine currents, mean/eddy kinetic energy, dissolved nutrients and oxygen. In-situ omics measurements (metabarcoding and metagenomic) will be used to train and verify the algorithm. The second algorithm, based on the same architecture of the first one, will be specifically tailored for each partner’s region of interest and will include the information provided by the omics as well as key regional physical indicators (e.g. cross-shore or longshore transport index) that aim to assess the role of connectivity. Output parameters will be: - the relative contributions of phytoplankton groups, bacterio- and archeo-plankton and an Alpha-Diversity Index for plankton based on the Shannon index summarizing this information. - an Ecosystem Function Indicator, based on the distribution of specific functional genes that have precise ecosystem roles/functions potentially linked to deteriorated/healthy ecosystem. Results will be validated against independent measurements collected in selected regions of interest with well-established oceanographic infrastructures and/or long-term monitoring of physical and chemical data. Finally, a first data exploitation exercise will be conducted focusing on two case-study areas corresponding to extensively studied zones for ecological connectivity research in the North-western Mediterranean Sea and in the Northern Adriatic Sea.