Sr, Nd, Pb and Hf isotopes of basalts from the Quebrada/Discovery/Gofar transform fault system;key to test models of melt generation,transport and focusing beneath mid-ocean ridges

大洋中脊与地球上最多的活火山和火山地貌有关。了解海底岩浆是如何喷发的，以及岩浆来自什么深度和母体成分/岩性，对于能够预测和模拟复杂的地壳过程至关重要。这项研究将通过从Quebrada/Discovery/Gofar变换断裂系统获得80多个熔岩的锶、钕、铅和氢同位素组成，完成对中太平洋东太平洋隆起的一套重要熔岩的地球化学特征。同位素数据将补充现有的主要和微量元素化学套件以及火山玻璃中捕获的挥发物的测量结果。通过将这些新的地球化学数据与地球动力学过程的计算机模型相结合，这项研究将能够确定地幔物质的组成，以及熔体在大洋中脊下产生、输送和聚集的物理条件。这项研究的更广泛影响是多方面的和强大的。它们包括研究和教育的紧密结合，本科生参与整个研究过程，并接受最先进的地球化学分析工作的培训。这位调查员与招募少数族裔学者的大学项目合作，将把少数族裔学生纳入他的研究小组，并在夏季对他们进行研究思维和高端分析工作方面的培训。通过首席研究人员和参与他的实验室的学生，还将与当地小学进行重大互动，帮助它们提供科学项目和科学家榜样，以取代由于预算限制而被从小学项目中剔除的科学教育工作者。其他更广泛的影响包括支持EPSCoR州(罗德岛)的一家机构，以及支持由NSF资助的为罗德岛州各地机构提供服务的分析仪器。

Mid-ocean ridges are associated with the largest number of active volcanoes and volcanic features on Earth. Understanding how magmas erupting on the seafloor form and from what depths and parent compositions/lithologies they are sourced, is critical for being able to predict and model complex crustal processes. This research will complete the geochemical characterization of an important suite of lavas collected from the East Pacific Rise in the Central Pacific Ocean by producing the Sr, Nd, Pb, and Hf isotopic compositions of over eighty lavas from the Quebrada/Discovery/Gofar transform fault system. The isotope data will complement already existing major and trace element chemical suites and measurements of volatiles trapped in the volcanic glasses. By combining these new geochemical data with computer models of geodynamic processes, this research will allow the composition of mantle source material to be determined, as well as the physical condition under which melts are generated, transported, and aggregated under mid-ocean ridges. Broader impacts of this research are multifaceted and strong. They include tight integration of research and education, with undergraduates being involved in the full research process and being trained in state-of-the-art geochemical analytical work. Working with university programs that recruit minority scholars, the investigator will include minority students in his research group and train them in research thinking and high-end analytical work over the summer. Through the lead investigator and students involved in his laboratory, there will also be significant interaction with local elementary schools to help provide them with science programs and scientist role models to replace science educators who, due to budgetary constraints, have been cut from elementary school programs. Other broader impacts include support of an institution in an EPSCoR state (Rhode Island) and support of an NSF-funded analytical instrument which serves institutions across the state of Rhode Island.