Sampling Basalts in the Quebrada-Discovery-Gofar Transform Fault System: Testing Models of Mantle Flow and Melt Transport

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0527152ForsythAbstractThe PIs will study and quantify mantle flow, melt production, melt path and mantle heterogeneity beneath the fast spreading EPR at the Quebrada/Discovery/Gofar fracture zone system. They will accomplish this by mapping, sampling intra-transform spreading centers and adjacent mid-ocean ridge spreading centers and post cruise analysis of the basalts for major and trace element, and Sr, Nd, Pb and Th isotopic composition.. The geochemical results will be compared to melting model predictions and the observed geophysics of the region. The study will provide a complete geochemical data set within a coherent geophysical/geodynamics framework that will allow addressing several fundamental questions of mantle and melt dynamics beneath mid-ocean ridges.The award will fund the work of a young investigator and two graduate students. A planned undergraduate student program at sea is another innovative broader educational impact.