Collaborative RUI: Uranium-Series Constraints on Melting in the Jan Mayen Region

大西洋中脊，特别是冰岛以北的北冰洋部分，产生了新的地壳，其微量元素丰富的地球化学特征与正常的洋中脊玄武岩不同。 这种不寻常的化学成分是一个谜，其起源也有争议，一些证据表明熔岩是热点起源，但与冰岛下最近的已知热点无关，其他证据表明格陵兰盆地在5300万至5500万年前的地质学上最近的开放导致了被困的次大陆物质的熔化。 这个问题的解决影响了我们对地幔的理解，并对大洋中脊系统沿着经历异常火山活动的其他地区（如亚速尔群岛和Ascension）产生了影响。 本研究探讨地球化学异常熔岩从扬马延岛上的Kolbeinsey海岭附近的冰岛，以确定其来源和时间和机制的熔体产生和运输。将对手头的样品和德国对该地区进行高分辨率实地测绘巡航时收集的样品进行放射性同位素（Sr、Nd、Pb和Hf）和U系列同位素分析。更好地了解正在调查的区域将提供关于如何在深处发生融化并导致火山活动的重要信息。 这项工作的更广泛影响包括支持一名来自女子文理学院科学领域代表性不足的群体的早期职业调查员，以及对女本科生进行最先进的高端铀系测年技术培训。这项工作还涉及与瑞典、英国和德国科学家的广泛国际合作，以及在其他实验室对学生进行交叉培训，并让他们参加前往北极的国际海洋学巡航。

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, particularly its segments in the Arctic Ocean north of Iceland, produce new crust that has a trace element-rich geochemical signature that differs from normal mid-ocean ridge basalts. This unusual chemistry is an enigma and its origins are disputed, with some evidence indicating that the lavas are of hotspot origin, but not related to the closest known hotspot which is under Iceland, and other evidence pointing to the melting of trapped subcontinental material resulting from the geologically recent opening of the Greenland Basin 53-55 million years ago. Resolution of this question impacts our understanding of the mantle with implications for other regions along the mid-ocean ridge system that experience anomalous volcanism such as the Azores and Ascension. This research examines geochemically anomalous lavas from Jan Mayen Island on the Kolbeinsey Ridge near Iceland to determine their source and the timing and mechanisms of melt generation and transport. Both in-hand samples and those to be collected on a German high-resolution field mapping cruise to the area will be analyzed for radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Nd, Pb, and Hf) and U-series isotopes. A better understanding of the region under investigation will provide important information about how melting occurs at depth and leads to volcanic activity. Broader impacts of the work include support of an early-career investigator from a group under-represented in the sciences at a women's liberal arts college and training of female undergraduate students in state-of-the-art high-end Uranium series dating techniques. The work also involves extensive international collaboration with Swedish, UK, and German scientists and cross training of students in other laboratories as well as having them participate in an international oceanographic cruise to the Arctic.