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了中心位置。解释夏威夷、冰岛和黄石公园等地持续过剩火山活动的一种常见理论是，它们是由被称为地幔热柱的柱状上升的地幔岩石支撑的。然而，在地幔的地震学图像中，这些羽流仍然难以捉摸。虽然各种地震学研究表明热点地区下方存在热异常，但探测到窄的全地幔热柱还没有被广泛接受。通过结合多学科的专业知识，我们希望对热柱假说提供基本的和定量的检验。我们将回答以下基本问题，这些问题涉及羽流形成的物理、地球上的形态和寿命以及地震数据中羽流特征的地震学分辨率：在地球物理约束下，可能的羽流结构是什么？断层图像中预期的羽流特征是什么？深部地幔热柱是否提供了可观测到的波动扰动？我们使用地球动力学、矿物物理和地震学的综合分析来解决这些问题。求婚团队由密歇根的Jeroen RitSema和Peter van Keken，科罗拉多州立大学的Derek Schutt和伦敦帝国理工学院的Saskia Go组成一个国际合作小组。我们将在建立羽流结构以及如何在地震学数据集中绘制它们方面发展新的经验。这将使我们能够确定绘制地幔羽流图谱的最佳数据集和地震技术，并了解是否可以成像地幔羽流以及可以在哪里成像。这笔拨款将支持三名女性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会对即将到来的地球望远镜数据分析和针对黄石热点的灵活阵列部署的设计有所帮助。

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.