Affiliation: Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science, Budapest
Keywords: Geofluids, geologic CO2 degassing, fluid inclusions, carbon cycle, deep carbon
Full profile: Dr. Márta Berkesi is a geochemist and Earth scientist whose research focuses on deep lithospheric and upper-mantle fluid systems, with particular emphasis on CO₂-rich and complex C–O–H–N–S fluids, fluid–rock interaction, and fluid and melt inclusions. She obtained her PhD in Earth Sciences (summa cum laude) from Eötvös Loránd University in 2011. Her work integrates petrography, Raman microspectroscopy, synchrotron-based techniques, and experimental and 3D analytical approaches to trace lithosphere-scale fluid migration, metasomatism, and degassing processes from the mantle to the crust.
During her PhD studies, and afterwards as a post-doc researcher, she worked with Jean Dubessy at the GeoRessources Laboratoire Nancy (France), performing fused silica capillary experiments and Raman spectroscopy. She then returned to Hungary and was employed by Eötvös Loránd University.
Since 2022, she is a senior research fellow at the HUN-REN Institute of Earth Physics and Space Sciences (EPSS), where she leads the Lithosphere Physics Competence Group and heads the MTA – FI Momentum (Lendület) FluidsByDepth Research Group. Her research has been supported by multiple competitive national and international grants, including NKFIH and the Momentum programmes, and she is an active contributor to international collaborations addressing mantle dynamics, subduction-related fluid processes, and rift-related systems, natural hydrogen studies, and the application of Raman spectroscopy in Earth sciences.
Dr. Berkesi holds numerous leadership and service roles within the geoscience community. She is Chair of the Petrology Subcommittee of the Geochemical and Mineralogical Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), a voting member of several MTA public body, and a member of the Scientific Council of the HUN-REN EPSS. Internationally, she is a Council member of the European Association of Geochemistry, serves on the scientific committee of ECROFI (European Current Research on Fluid and Melt Inclusions) community, and is a member of the Hisashi Kuno Award Selection Committee of the Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology Section of the American Geophysical Union.
Her editorial contributions include serving as an editor of the peer-reviewed journal Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica (Springer), and she regularly reviews manuscripts for leading international journals. She has played a key role in organizing major international conferences and short courses, including acting as head of the organizing committee of ECROFI conference 2019 in Budapest, lead organizer of the IX Hungarian Petrology and Geochemistry Meeting, and co-organizer of e-CROFI 2021. She has also convened thematic sessions at Goldschmidt Conferences, the European Geosciences Union General Assembly, and the European Mineralogical Conference in 2023-2025.
Her scientific leadership is further reflected in invited keynote lectures at major international venues, including the ATLAS International Research Symposium at the University of Alberta (2024) and the 3rd IAGC International Conference on Water–Rock Interaction & Applied Isotope Geochemistry in Cagliari (2025), where she presented integrative, multi-scale perspectives on lithosphere-scale fluid transport and deep fluid–rock interaction.