CAREER Development in Geomodeling: Seeing and Creating Connections in Earth Science

将对大陆构造、地幔动力学和地表过程进行耦合模拟，以探索大陆碰撞期间的地表变形和深部流动。地表侵蚀将被纳入模型中，以探索构造和大气过程之间的相互作用。模型预测将与碰撞环境中的数据进行比较，以提供对大陆碰撞的更好理解。还将探索大陆增长和地球热演化之间的联系。理论、数值模拟和实验室实验的结合将被用来提供对耦合的行星冷却和大陆增长的洞察。地球化学数据将对大陆的增长提供限制。为研究导电大陆和对流地幔之间的相互作用而开发的方法也将用于研究绝热盖层下的热液对流和围岩内岩浆室的冷却历史。PI在地球科学子领域的建模将在他的教学和研究之间提供统一。课堂演示，即为教育设计的模型，可以传达一般的基本思想，然后学生将这些基本思想联系起来，探讨一系列地球科学问题。这将让学生在入门课上看到，科学思想并不是孤立的信息。更广泛的影响是，一部分不会进入科学领域的学生将对什么是科学有更清晰的看法。演示也将以相反的模式使用。将开发一个工作坊，在那里高级学生将建立他们自己设计的演示和简单的实验，以传达他们主要地球科学领域的关键思想。在向彼此展示他们的工作时，他们将看到许多关键概念并不关心人为的子场边界。他们将看到关系，并为建立新关系做好更好的准备。该空间还将容纳一个科学可视化工作室，学生们将在那里有效地进行科学思想的视觉交流。工作区/工作室将向休斯顿地区的K-12教育工作者同事开放。

Modeling of coupled continental tectonics, mantle dynamics, and surfaceprocesses will be undertaken to explore surface deformation and deepermantle flow during continental collision. Surface erosion will beincorporated into the models to explore the interaction between tectonicsand atmospheric processes. Model predictions will be compared to data fromcollisional settings to provide a better understanding of continentalcollision. The links between continental growth and the Earth's thermalevolution will also be explored. A combination of theory, numericalsimulations, and lab experiments will be used to provide insight intocoupled planetary cooling and continental growth. Geochemical data willprovide constraints on continental growth. The methodologies developed tomodel the interaction between conducting continents and the convectingmantle will also be used to address hydrothermal convection belowinsulating cap rock and the cooling history of magma chambers within hostrock. The PI's modeling across earth science sub-fields will provide unitybetween his teaching and research. Lecture demonstrations, i.e., modelsdesigned for education, can convey general foundational ideas that studentsthen link to approach a range of earth science problems. This will allowstudents in introductory classes to see that scientific ideas are not isolatedbits of information. The broader impact is that a portion of the studentpopulation that will not go into science will have a clearer view of whatscience is. Demonstrations will also be used in a reverse mode. A workshopwill be developed where advanced students will build demonstrations and simpleexperiments of their own design to convey key ideas from their primary earthscience field. In presenting their work to each other they will see how manykey concepts do not care about artificial sub-field boundaries. They willsee connections and be better prepared to make new ones. The space will alsohouse a scientific visualization studio where students will work on effectivevisual communication of scientific ideas. The workspace/studio will beavailable to K-12 educator colleagues in the Houston area.