Collaborative Research: Assessment of the Role of Water in Cratonic Roots and their Post-Archean Margins on the Strength and Longevity of Continental Lithosphere

知识价值：该合作提案要求获得3年的资金，用傅立叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）分析克拉通及其边缘金伯利岩岩浆形成的橄榄岩包体矿物中的水。在这个项目中唤起的关键物理性质是，当氢(H)作为微量元素掺入这些矿物缺陷时，橄榄石（以及潜在的辉石和石榴石）会发生水解弱化。名义上无水?矿物质。主要目的是测试在奴拉通（加拿大）和西伯利亚克拉通（俄罗斯）岩石圈底部的橄榄石是否具有类似于在Kaapvaal克拉通下可能观察到的低含水量（以ppm H2O计算的H量）（Peslier et al., 2010a）。如果是这样的话，岩石圈底部的干橄榄石部分地导致了强大的下层岩石圈和更易变形的软流圈之间的高粘度对比，这一假设将被证实为克拉通长寿的一般机制。如果除了Kaapvaal以外的克拉通在岩石圈底部没有干橄榄石，那么就必须提出克拉通寿命的其他机制，并且必须重新评估水在克拉通根存活中的作用。本研究的第二部分是利用Kaapvaal克拉通（南非和纳米比亚元古代Namaqua-Natal和Rehoboth地体）和Kilbourne Hole（美国新墨西哥州南部显生宙大陆裂谷）周围太古代后活动带的包体，探索克拉通边缘地幔矿物中的水分布，并破译水在这些地形保存中的作用。地幔的根源。在提案的所有部分，所有橄榄岩矿物（不仅仅是橄榄石）将在岩石学、主要和微量元素以及放射性成因同位素方面分析特征良好的捕虏体上的水。每个捕虏体套件将选择10个样品，跨越最广泛的平衡压力范围。评估了地幔中熔融、交代或再作用对含水量的影响，以及宿主岩浆上升过程中水分的损失量或损失量。这项工作还将为地幔矿物中氢的形成提供信息。然后将水含量纳入橄榄石组合的粘性蠕变规律，以估计它们对地幔流变的影响。该项目将提供地球动力学、大陆岩石圈历史和寿命方面的关键数据和约束条件。更广泛的影响。分析将在nsf资助的FTIR上进行。两名研究生和两名本科生将从这项研究中受益。通过执行复杂的分析任务并结合数据的综合建模，研究生将提高他们在地球科学领域未来就业的技能。本科生将通过各种可用的实习、毕业论文和勤工俭学项目参与研究。来自弱势群体的学生（占休斯顿大学在校生的很大一部分）将有机会获得最先进的设备和岩石学和地球化学方面的前沿研究。这项合作是跨机构和国际的，研究成果将在国际会议上发表，同行评议的论文将从这项研究中得出。这项工作的结果将对我们了解地球至关重要。它将为对地球动力学建模、岩石变形、地震学、地幔热导率和电阻率、火山学和大陆历史感兴趣的科学家提供基础数据。

Intellectual merit: This collaborative proposal requests funds for 3 years to analyze water by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) in minerals from peridotite xenoliths brought up by kimberlite magmas in cratons and their margins. The key physical property evoked in this project is the hydrolytic weakening of olivine (and potentially pyroxene and garnets) that occurs when hydrogen (H) is incorporated as a trace element in mineral defects of these ?nominally anhydrous? minerals. The main purpose is to test in the Slave craton (Canada) and the Siberian craton (Russia) whether the olivines at the bottom of the lithosphere have low water contents (amount of H calculated as ppm H2O) similar to what may be observed beneath the Kaapvaal craton (Peslier et al., 2010a). If this is the case, the hypothesis that dry olivines at the base of the lithosphere are in part responsible for a high viscosity contrast between a strong lower lithosphere and a more deformable asthenosphere would be confirmed as a general mechanism for craton longevity. If cratons other than the Kaapvaal do not have dry olivines at the bottom of their lithosphere, then other mechanisms will have to be proposed for craton longevity and the role of water in cratonic root survival will have to be re-assessed. A second part of this proposal is to explore the water distribution in mantle minerals at craton margins, using xenoliths from post-Archean mobile belts surrounding the Kaapvaal craton (Proterozoic Namaqua-Natal and Rehoboth terranes, South Africa and Namibia), and at Kilbourne Hole (Phanerozoic continental rift, southern New Mexico, USA), and decipher the role of water in the preservation of these terrains? mantle roots. In all parts of the proposal, all peridotite minerals (not only olivine) will be analyzed for water on well-characterized xenoliths in terms of petrography, major and trace elements, and radiogenic isotopes. Ten samples per xenolith suite will be selected, spanning the widest possible range of equilibration pressures. The effect on water content of melting, metasomatism or refertilization in the mantle, and water loss or gain during host magma ascent will be assessed. This work will also provide information on hydrogen speciation in mantle minerals. The water contents will then be incorporated into laws of viscous creep of olivine assemblages to estimate their effect on mantle rheology. This project will provide crucial data and constraints on Earth geodynamics and continental lithosphere history and longevity.Broader impacts. The analyses will be performed on a NSF-funded FTIR. Two graduate students, and two undergraduate students will benefit from this study. The graduate students will have enhanced their skills for future employment in the geosciences by performing complex analytical tasks in combination with comprehensive modeling of the data. Undergraduate students will be included in the research via various available internship, senior thesis, and work-study programs. Students from underrepresented populations (a large portion of enrolled students at the University of Houston) will have important access to state-of-theart equipment and cutting-edge research in petrology and geochemistry. The collaboration is cross-institutional and international, work will be presented at international conferences, and peer-reviewed papers will come out of this study. The results from this work will be crucial for our understanding of Earth?s mantle dynamics and will bring fundamental data to scientists interested in geodynamic modeling, rock deformation, seismology, mantle thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity, volcanology, and the history of continents.