Collaborative Research: Testing the Degree of Correspondence between Surface Tectonic Features and Upper Mantle Structure and Composition by Study of Volcanic-Hosted Xenoliths

在研究一个当前活动的构造系统时，一个重要的问题是继承特征的作用。本项目将探索科迪勒拉西南地区上地幔的结构和组成与主要地表构造特征之间的关系，这可能是由于Laramide板块的浅层段位于莫哈韦沙漠地区之下，从而加强了现代板块接合系统。在北部，内华达山脉完整的基底石器段保留了高密度的龙骨，随着裂谷和变形构造的传播，龙骨很容易被剥离并沉入地幔。研究结果将有助于解释内华达山脉和莫哈韦沙漠对现代构造系统开始的截然不同的反应。

Saleeby 0087347Ducea 0087125An important concern in the study of a currently active tectonic system is the role of inherited features. This project will explore the relationships between the structure and composition of the upper mantle and major surface tectonic features in the southwest Cordillera, that may be inherent from the shallow segment of the Laramide slab having been emplaced beneath the Mojave Desert region, thus strengthening against the modern plate juncture system. To the north, the intact batholithic segment in the Sierra Nevada retained its high-density keel which was susceptible to delamination and foundering into the mantle as rifting and transform tectonic propagated into the region. Results should help explain the dramatically different response of the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave desert to onset of the modern tectonic system.