The South Pacific Superswell: Causes and Consequences

由美国国家科学基金会资助的初步工作确定了南太平洋的一大片区域，东部是东太平洋隆起，北部是马克萨斯断裂带，那里的海底异常浅，无法下沉到预期的深度，由于大量热点人口，在形态上很粗糙，下面是一个缓慢横波速度的浅层。并显示地球化学异常。在这个奖项中，McNutt博士将研究现有的大地水准面、水深、年龄、地震和地球化学数据，以测试超级井起源的各种理论。这项研究可能会导致详细的现场计划，以进一步收集超级井研究的地质和地球物理数据。麦克纳特博士是一位非常有能力的科学家，这个项目成功的可能性很大。

Preliminary work which was funded by NSF, identifies a large area of the South Pacific bounded on the east by the East Pacific Rise and on the north by the Marquesas Fracture Zone where the seafloor is unusually shallow, fails to subside to its expected depth, is morphologically rough due to a large hot spot population, is underlain by a shallow zone of slow shear wave velocity, and shows geochemical anomaly. In this award, Dr. McNutt will examine the existing geoid, bathymetric, age, seismic and geochemical data to test various theories of the origin of the superswell. This study may lead to a detail field program for further geologic and geophysical data collection for the superswell study. Dr. McNutt is a very capable scientist and the project has a very high chance of success.