The Diversity of Parent Magmas and the Role of Axial Magma Processes at a Fast Spreading Ridge: Evidence from Melt Inclusions & Near-Axis Seamount Lavas from the N. EPR

9730079尼尔森地质学家研究玄武岩的主要原因之一是它们可用作地幔和地壳过程的探测器。然而，我们希望研究的那些过程抹去了岩浆系统历史上较早活跃的过程的证据。保存岩浆的一种方法是在系统演化过程中形成熔融包裹体和晶体中的化学分带。理想情况下，每个包裹体都代表着被宿主晶体生长捕获的液体的“快照”，保留了一套岩浆形成过程中中间步骤的特征。这项研究的目的是利用从东太平洋隆起及其附近具有不同程度岩浆流动特征的地区采集的熔岩包裹体信息，以及从靠近但实际上不在扩张中心(轴外海山)轴线上的火山中心喷发的熔岩。这些信息将有助于我们评估地幔成分不均质性的大小以及地幔与地壳过程的关系，并更好地约束地幔如何融化的模型。

9730079 Nielsen One of the primary reasons that geologists study basaltic lavas is their utility as probes of mantle and crustal processes. However, those very processes we wish to study erase the evidence of processes that are active earlier in the history of the magmatic system. One means by which magmas can be preserved is as melt inclusions and chemical zoning in crystals formed as the system evolves. Ideally, each inclusion represents a "snapshot" of the liquid trapped by the growth of the host crystal, preserving the character of intermediate steps in the formation of a suite of magmas. The goal of this research is to use information from melt inclusions from lavas sampled from areas on and near the East Pacific Rise characterized by different levels of magma flux, and from lavas erupted from volcanic centers near but not actually on the axis of the spreading center (off axis seamounts). This information will help us to evaluate the magnitude of the compositional heterogeneity in the mantle and of mantle versus crustal processes, and to better constrain models of how the mantle melts.