Collaborative Research: Seismic Refraction Wide-Angle Reflection Investigation of the Byrd Subglacial Basin, Antarctica

该奖项支持现场和短导线地震 反射/折射和大地电磁实验 南极洲 这项合作实验涉及四个奖项， 四个机构。 四重目的是1）调查部分 2）测试这项工作的技术 这可以在一个长的遍历，3）以确定 大地电磁法在厚（电 电阻）冰盖，和4）评估的相对优点， 宽反射折射与窄反射折射 折射地震研究在岩石圈成像中的应用。 的 将采用的地球物理技术能够成像 冰盖、大陆岩石圈和上地幔， 以及确定部件的物理性质， 岩石圈和地幔 对该地区的露头地质进行了调查， 在过去的30年里，在南极洲西部和泛南极洲 山脉导致了最近的解释，即地壳是 由许多不同的岩石圈块体组成。 地震反射 工作是唯一的方式来成像地壳的细节和 折射功是确定 由反射定义的层和块起作用。 的 大地电磁工作在科学上是有风险的，因为它可能 当在电阻上使用时， 然而，如果它起作用，它有可能成像 地壳和上地幔中的熔岩 在大陆裂谷中 南极洲西部等地区， 岩石圈很可能，如果记录在案， 对冰盖动力学的影响 支持的研究工作 这一奖项预计将提供约束模型的范围 从冰盖动力学模型到地壳构造 以及岩石圈减薄和裂陷的运动学模型。

This award supports an in situ and short traverse seismic reflection/refraction and magnetotelluric experiment in West Antarctica. This collaborative experiment involves four awards at four institutions. The four-fold purpose is 1) to investigate part of the Byrd Subglacial Basin, 2) to test techniques for this work that could be done in a long traverse, 3) to determine the viability of the magnetotelluric method on a thick (electrically resistive) ice sheet, and 4) to evaluate the relative merits of refraction with wide reflection versus reflection with narrow refraction seismic studies in imaging the lithosphere. The geophysical techniques that will be employed are capable of imaging the ice sheet, the continental lithosphere, and the upper mantle, as well as determining physical properties of parts of the lithosphere and mantle. Investigations of outcrop geology over the last thirty years in West Antarctica and the Transantarctic Mountains have lead to recent interpretations that the crust is made up of many different lithospheric blocks. Seismic reflection work is the only way to image the crust in detail and the refraction work is the only way to determine physical properties of the layers and blocks defined by the reflection work. The magnetotelluric work is scientifically risky because it may not yield useful information when used over the electrically resistive ice sheet; however, if it works it has the potential to image molten rock in the crust and upper mantle. In a continental rift region such as West Antarctica, the presence of melt in the lithosphere is likely and, if documented, has very important ramifications to ice sheet dynamics. Research work supported by this award is expected to provide constraints to models of a range of crustal processes from models of ice sheet dynamics to tectonic and kinematic models of lithospheric thinning and rifting.