REU Site (Collaborative Research): Before and After a Supereruption: Magmatic Insights from the Southern Black Mountains, AZ

超级火山爆发——喷射出超过1000立方公里火山物质的爆炸性事件——激发了我们的想象力，迫使我们考虑地球上最罕见但最致命的行为之一的潜在影响。了解过去导致超级火山爆发的原因对于理解和预测目前可能发生超级火山爆发的地区的类似事件至关重要，这些地区包括美国（如黄石公园）、南美洲、印度尼西亚和新西兰。该项目将调查亚利桑那州南部黑山地区1800万至1900万年前的火山和侵入火成岩的典型暴露，那里的地质记录记录了桃泉凝灰岩超级喷发的岩浆演化，这是该项目的重点。参加REU的学生将解决对科学界和公众都很重要的问题：(1)超级喷发岩浆作用与典型规模的岩浆作用（例如1980年的圣海伦火山）如何比较，它们是如何联系在一起的？超级火山喷发前是什么样子的？(3)侵入岩与时空伴生火山的关系如何？(4)大型岩浆系统如何以及为什么会随时间变化？它还将提供一个测试和应用综合现场和分析方法的平台，用于跟踪岩浆系统的演化，包括光学和扫描电子显微镜，通过x射线荧光和激光烧蚀-电感耦合等离子体质谱，GIS和遥感进行岩石和矿物分析，这些工具也可以结合起来解决其他岩浆中心的问题。除了促进对产生超级火山的岩浆系统的理解，从而提高对未来超级火山爆发的理解和预测，这个项目将为30名不同的本科生提供有价值的研究入门，否则他们的机会可能会受到限制。它将有助于提高这群学生的科学素养、解决问题的能力和沟通技巧，增强他们的信心，从而加强他们的通识教育，并将吸引未来的地球科学家进入这一领域，为他们开始研究生或专业生涯奠定坚实的基础，并为他们与同龄人和教师建立持久的大学关系奠定基础。该项目将促进新的和持续的合作，包括参与的学生、领导者和其他学术机构的研究人员。它还将为两名早期职业教师（一名女性）和一名优秀女博士生提供宝贵的指导经验，她们都致力于指导本科生研究人员。

Supereruptions - explosive events that eject more than 1000 cubic kilometers of volcanic material - capture our imagination and compel us to consider the potential effects of one of Earth's rarest yet deadliest acts. Comprehending what led to supereruptions in the past is essential to understanding and predicting similar events in places where supereruptive activity is currently possible, including the U.S. (e.g. Yellowstone), South America, Indonesia, and New Zealand. This project will investigate an exemplary exposure of 18- to 19-million-year-old volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks in the southern Black Mountains of Arizona, where the geologic record documents magmatic evolution of the Peach Spring Tuff supereruption, which is the focus of this project. Students participating in the REU will address questions that are important to both the scientific community and the public: (1) How does supereruptive magmatism compare to typical-scale magmatism (e.g. Mount St. Helens in 1980), and how are these connected? (2) What does a supervolcano look like before it erupts? (3) What are the relationships between intrusive rocks and spatially and temporally associated volcanics? (4) How and why do large magmatic systems change through time? It will also provide a platform for testing and applying integrated field and analytical methods for tracking evolution of magma systems, including optical and scanning electron microscopy, rock and mineral analysis by X-ray fluorescence and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, GIS, and remote sensing, tools that can also be combined to address questions at other magmatic centers.In addition to advancing the understanding of the magmatic systems that produce supervolcanoes and thereby enhancing comprehension and forecasting of future supereruptions, this project will provide a valuable introduction to research for 30 diverse undergraduates whose opportunities may be otherwise limited. It will contribute to the scientific literacy, problem solving and communication skills and the confidence of this group of students, thereby enhancing their general education, and it will attract future earth scientists to the field, providing them with a sound foundation to begin a graduate or professional career and enduring collegial relationships with peers and faculty. This project will foster new and continuing collaborations involving participating students, leaders, and researchers at other academic institutions. It will also provide valuable mentoring experience for two early-career faculty (one female) and one outstanding female PhD student, all of whom are pursuing careers emphasizing mentoring undergraduate researchers.