EAGER: A Novel Approach to Study Earth's Oldest Environments and Biosphere: Tidal, Shelf, and Deep Ocean Habitats in the >3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, Greenland

EAGER：研究地球最古老环境和生物圈的新方法：潮汐、陆架和深海栖息地

• 批准号: 0929617
• 负责人: Nora Noffke
• 金额: $ 5.8万
• 依托单位: Old Dominion University Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-06-15 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0929617&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Novel; Approach; Study; Earth

EAGER: A novel approach to study Earth's oldest environments and biosphere: Tidal, shelf, and deep ocean habitats in the 3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, GreenlandNora Noffke, Old Dominion UniversityEAR-0929617ABSTRACTThe Isua Greenstone Belt (IGB), Greenland, comprises the oldest, 3.7 Ga sediments preserved in Earth history. Until now the firm dogma is that all IGB rocks would be highly metamorphosed and therefore information on Earth?s oldest paleoenvironment and the origin of life would be erased or so strongly masked that no firm conclusions can be drawn. This proposed project would open a new perspective by demonstrating that the IGB constitutes a valuable archive on Earth?s deepest time, and that it requires only newly developed methods to read this unique information.Indeed, the preliminary work of the PI?s working group points to the possibility that in the IGB already diverse marine paleoenvironments including a tidal, a shelf, and a deep ocean setting, existed. The team has developed a new method to distinguish any type of primary cyclicity in the meta-sediments (tidal and Milancovic cyclicity). Based on those preliminary yet stunning results, PI would like to conduct an exploratory study on those unique rock successions, and to gain appropriate data to confirm our initial observations on photos. The results are not conforming to the current status quo of knowledge of the scientific community. Noffke would travel from Washington, DC to Copenhagen and from there to Nuuk, Greenland. From here, they would be transported by helicopter to the study area itself. The trip should take place from mid of July to mid of August 2010. This is the best window with respect to the local weather in Greenland (the arctic summer). PI would visit three outcrops in the IGB. The locations are known exactly from GPS data. She would measure the rock successions with respect to the tidal and Milancovic cyclicities that she has detected in photo scans. In addition, she would conduct structural geological measurements in the field to gain an overview into the tectonic frame of each setting. This would allow her to later understand textural structures in thin-sections, and to diagnose, if apparent bedding, sedimentary structures such as ripple cross stratification, are of tectonic, metamorphic or indeed primary origin. The team would camp for 2 weeks in the field close to the inland ice. The rock samples would be shipped by GEUS from Isua to Norfolk, Virginia. They would return again by helicopter via the Survey base camp, and then travel back to the USA. The field data on the type and thickness of the bedding at all 3 locations will be used for spectral analyses.

EAGER：一种研究地球最古老环境和生物圈的新方法：格陵兰岛3.7 Ga Isua绿石带的潮汐、大陆架和深海栖息地Nora Noffke，Old自治领大学，邮编：0929617摘要格陵兰岛Isua绿石带（IGB）包括地球历史上保存下来的最古老的3.7 Ga沉积物。到目前为止，坚定的教条是，所有的IGB岩石将高度变质，因此在地球上的信息？地球最古老的古环境和生命起源将被抹去或被强烈掩盖，无法得出明确的结论。这个拟议的项目将开辟一个新的视角，表明政府间B是地球上一个有价值的档案馆。的最深的时间，它只需要新开发的方法来读取这一独特的信息。的工作组指出，在IGB已经不同的海洋古环境，包括潮汐，大陆架，和深海设置，存在的可能性。该团队开发了一种新方法来区分变质沉积物中任何类型的原生旋回（潮汐和米兰科维奇旋回）。基于这些初步但令人惊叹的结果，PI希望对这些独特的岩石序列进行探索性研究，并获得适当的数据来证实我们对照片的初步观察。这些结果不符合科学界目前的知识现状。Noffke将从华盛顿前往哥本哈根，然后从那里前往格陵兰岛的努克。从这里，他们将被直升机运送到研究区域本身。这次访问应在2010年7月中旬至8月中旬进行。这是格陵兰当地天气（北极夏季）的最佳窗口。PI将访问IGB中的三个露头。从GPS数据中可以准确地知道位置。她将测量岩石的继承与潮汐和米兰科维奇周期，她已经检测到的照片扫描。此外，她还将在实地进行结构地质测量，以全面了解每个环境的构造框架。这将使她能够在以后了解薄片的结构结构，并诊断，如果明显的层理，沉积结构，如涟漪交叉分层，是构造，变质或真正的原始起源。探险队将在内陆冰层附近的野外露营两周。岩石样本将由GEUS从Isua运往弗吉尼亚州的诺福克。他们将再次乘坐直升机通过调查基地营地返回，然后返回美国。所有3个地点的层理类型和厚度的现场数据将用于光谱分析。