Rift Propagation, Transform Migration, and Microplate Tectonics in Iceland

两个特别重要的地球过程是“热点”火山作用，来自地球深处的物质羽流产生火山岛和火山链，如夏威夷、加拉帕戈斯、亚速尔群岛和冰岛，以及在大洋中脊通过岩浆和构造作用(熔岩和断层的侵入和喷发)产生洋壳。关于这些过程的许多方面仍然知之甚少，因为它们发生在远低于海洋表面的地方。冰岛是一个特殊的地方，冰岛热点与大西洋中部海脊的重合产生了异常厚的(25公里)地壳，并将海底带到了海面，在那里它充当了一个天然实验室，其构造和地质特征可以得到详细的研究。该项目的目的是通过直接观测来改善一些已知发生在大洋中脊上的过程，这些过程不能直接观察到；其中包括传播裂谷带、迁移断层和大规模块体旋转。除了增进我们对全球裂谷进程的了解外，该项目还产生了一些教育和其他更广泛的影响：对研究生和本科生的培训、国际合作(与冰岛的科学家合作)、对锡拉丘兹大学熔岩项目的广泛参与以及教育和外联活动。

Two particularly important Earth processes are "hot spot" volcanism, where plumes of material from deep in the earth produce volcanic islands and chains such as Hawaii, Galapagos, Azores and Iceland, and the production of oceanic crust by magmatic and tectonic processes (the intrusion and eruption of melts and faulting) at mid-ocean ridges. Much about these processes remains poorly understood because they occur well below the ocean surface. Iceland is an exceptional locality where the coincidence of the Iceland Hot Spot with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has produced exceptionally thick (25 km) crust, and brought the seafloor to the surface, where it serves as a natural laboratory, and its tectonic and geologic features can be examined in detail. This project has the aim of improving, by direct observation, a number of processes that are known to occur on mid-ocean ridges where they cannot be directly observed; among them are propagating rift zones, migrating faults and large-scale block rotations. In addition to improving our understanding of global rift processes, this project has a number of educational and other broader impacts: training for graduate and undergraduate students, international collaboration (with scientists in Iceland), and broad participation on the Syracuse University LAVA Project, and education and outreach activity.