Collaborative Research: Thermochronologic and modelling test for a Mesozoic West Antarctic Plateau

合作研究：中生代西南极高原的热年代学和模型测试

• 批准号: 0739713
• 负责人: Audrey Huerta
• 金额: $ 16.11万
• 依托单位: Central Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0739713&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Thermochronologic; modelling; test

This project studies formation of the TransAntarctic Mountains (TAM) through numerical modeling based on cooling histories of apatite mineral grains. The TAM are the highest and longest rift-related mountain range in the world. Various models for their uplift have been proposed, the most provocative of which is that they are not uplifted, but instead are the eroded remnant of a plateau. This project evaluates that hypothesis by collecting apatites from around Byrd Glacier for fission track thermochronology. Results will be combined with a kinematic and thermal model to determine the TAM?s structural evolution. The plateau model, if correct, implies that the Byrd Glacier originated not as a glacier-carved valley through the TAM, but as a river system flowing in the opposite direction. Given that the Byrd Glacier is a key drainage for the East Antarctic ice sheet, this result has important implications for ice sheet models and interpretation of both regional geology and sediment records.The main broader impacts are undergraduate research and a new collaboration between a primarily undergraduate and a research institution. Students will be involved in the field program, sample analyses, and numerical modeling.

本计画以磷灰石矿物颗粒的冷却历史为基础，透过数值模拟来研究横贯南极山脉（TAM）的形成。TAM是世界上最高和最长的裂谷山脉。人们提出了各种各样的模型来解释它们的隆起，其中最具争议性的是它们不是隆起的，而是高原的侵蚀残留物。这个项目通过收集伯德冰川周围的磷灰石进行裂变径迹热年代学来评估这一假设。结果将结合运动学和热模型，以确定TAM？的结构演化。高原模型，如果正确的话，意味着伯德冰川不是起源于一个通过TAM的冰川雕刻的山谷，而是一个反向流动的河流系统。鉴于伯德冰川是东南极冰盖的一个重要排水系统，这一结果对冰盖模型和区域地质和沉积物记录的解释具有重要意义。主要的更广泛的影响是本科生研究和主要本科生与研究机构之间的新合作。学生将参与现场项目，样品分析和数值建模。