CSEDI Collaborative Research: Joint seismic, geodynamic, and mineral physics investigation of mantle plumes

热点和羽流的概念在全球地球物理和地球化学研究中占据中心地位。一个常见的理论来解释在诸如夏威夷、冰岛和黄石公园等地持续存在的过量火山活动是，它们受到被称为地幔柱的热地幔岩的柱状上涌的支持。然而，这些地幔柱在地幔的地震图像中仍然难以捉摸。虽然各种地震学研究表明，热异常的存在下，热点地区，一个狭窄的整个地幔柱的检测尚未被广泛接受。通过结合多学科的专业知识，我们希望提供基本的和定量的测试地幔柱假说。我们将建立以下基本问题的答案，这些问题涉及地球上羽流形成的物理学、形态学和寿命，以及地震数据中羽流特征的地震学分辨率：在地球物理学限制下，可能的羽流结构是什么？在层析成像图像中预期的烟羽特征是什么？ 深地幔柱是否产生可观测的波动扰动？我们使用地球动力学、矿物物理学和地震学分析相结合的方法来解决这些问题。求婚团队由密歇根州的Jeroen Ritsema和Peter货车Keken、科罗拉多州的Derek Schutt和伦敦帝国理工学院的Saskia Goes组成。 我们将在确定羽流结构和如何在地震数据集中绘制羽流图方面积累新的经验。这将使我们能够确定最佳的数据集和地震技术，以映射地幔中的地幔柱，并了解地幔柱是否和在哪里可以成像。该赠款将支持三名女研究生的跨学科教育，并将促进美国和英国科学家之间的国际合作。我们对黄石公园的研究可能有助于即将进行的EarthScope数据分析和设计针对黄石公园热点的灵活阵列部署。

The concepts of hotspots and plumes have taken a central place in global geophysical and geochemical research. A common theory to explain the persistent excess volcanism at locations such as Hawaii, Iceland and Yellowstone is that they are supported by columnar upwelling of hot mantle rock called mantle plumes. Yet, these plumes have remained elusive in seismological images of the mantle. While a variety of seismological studies suggest the presence of hot anomalies below hotspot regions, a detection of a narrow whole-mantle plume has yet to be widely accepted.By combining multidisciplinary expertise, we wish to provide fundamental and quantitative tests of the plume hypothesis. We will establish answers to the following basic questions that address the physics of plume formation, morphology and longevity in Earth and the seismological resolution of plume signatures in seismic data: What are the possible plume structures given geophysical constraints? What is the expected plume signature in tomographic images? Do deep mantle plumes impart observable wave perturbations?We address these questions using a combined geodynamical, mineral physics, and seismological analysis. The proposing team forms an international collaboration between Jeroen Ritsema and Peter van Keken at Michigan, Derek Schutt at Colorado State, and Saskia Goes at London's Imperial College. We will develop new experience on establishing the structure of plumes and how they are mapped in seismological data sets. This will allow us to determine the optimal data sets and seismic techniques for mapping plumes in the mantle and to understand whether and where mantle plumes can be imaged. The grant will support the interdisciplinary education of three female graduate students and will foster an international collaboration between scientists from the US and the UK. Our Yellowstone studies may prove helpful in forthcoming EarthScope data analysis and the design of a Flexible Array deployment aimed at the Yellowstone hotspot.