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

超级喷发--喷出超过1000立方千米的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。了解是什么导致了过去的超级喷发，对于理解和预测目前可能发生超级喷发活动的地方，包括美国(例如黄石公园)、南美、印度尼西亚和新西兰的类似事件是至关重要的。该项目将调查亚利桑那州南部黑山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的学生将讨论对科学界和公众都很重要的问题：(1)超喷发岩浆作用与典型规模的岩浆作用(如1980年的圣海伦斯火山)相比如何，以及它们之间是如何联系的？(2)超级火山喷发前是什么样子？(3)侵入岩与空间和时间相关的火山之间有什么关系？(4)大型岩浆系统如何以及为什么随着时间的推移而变化？它还将提供一个测试和应用跟踪岩浆系统演化的综合野外和分析方法的平台，包括光学和扫描电子显微镜、X射线荧光岩石和矿物分析以及激光烧蚀-感应耦合等离子体质谱、地理信息系统和遥感，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，从而增强对未来超级喷发的理解和预测，该项目还将为30名不同的本科生提供有价值的研究介绍，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、解决问题和沟通的能力以及信心，从而加强他们的普通教育，并将吸引未来的地球科学家进入该领域，为他们开始研究生或专业生涯提供坚实的基础，并与同行和教职员工建立持久的大学关系。这个项目将促进参与的学生、领导者和其他学术机构的研究人员参与的新的和持续的合作。它还将为两名职业早期教师(一名女性)和一名杰出的女性博士生提供宝贵的指导经验，她们都在从事强调指导本科生研究人员的职业。

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.