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

萨利比0087347杜西亚0087125在研究目前活跃的构造体系中，一个重要的问题是继承特征的作用。该项目将探索上地幔的结构和组成与科迪勒拉西南部主要地表构造特征之间的关系，这可能是由于拉拉米德板块的浅部侵位在莫哈韦沙漠地区下方，从而加强了对现代板块接合系统的抵挡。在北部，内华达山脉完整的旧石器时代段保留了高密度龙骨，随着裂谷和转换构造传播到该地区，龙骨容易剥离和沉没到地幔中。这些结果应该有助于解释内华达山脉和莫哈韦沙漠对现代构造体系开始的显著不同反应。

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.