Isaac Newton Institute Program on Melt in the Mantle

艾萨克·牛顿研究所（INI）地幔融化项目是2016年2月至6月在剑桥大学（英国）开展的一项研究和教育项目。该计划将集中在2月、4月和6月的三个研讨会上，内容将包括：(1)地幔和岩浆动力学的物理基础、数学和数值方法；(2)将熔融地幔的物理、模拟和地球物理观测从颗粒和孔隙尺度提升到连续尺度；(3)连续介质物理和模型在构造和行星环境中的应用。该提案寻求资金，以协助在美国的早期职业科学家，包括学生和博士后学者，前往这些研讨会。每次研讨会将有大约5名科学家参加，共计15人。INI项目将为这些科学家提供一个极好的机会来建立国际合作，并从世界上一些领先的地球科学家和应用数学家那里了解地幔融化。地球的地幔几乎完全是固体的，但在地质时间尺度上，它强烈地对流，这就是众所周知的板块构造的表面表现。在板块构造边界（洋中脊和俯冲带）以下100公里的深处，以及夏威夷等海洋岛屿的下方，地幔融化，这些融化上升到地表，为火山活动提供能量，形成新的地壳。这种岩浆活动在地球的化学演化和动力学中起着关键作用。了解地幔中熔体的形成和迁移是一项艰巨的科学和数学挑战。一个关键的挑战是如何桥接不同的长度尺度：在微米尺度上，熔体沿着晶界分布，在米尺度上可能集中成通道，并迁移超过100公里。复杂的数学技术，如均匀化理论，需要从最小尺度到板块构造尺度的物理理解。地震学提供了一种成像地幔融化的方法，但需要发展新的逆理论工具来提取这些信息。熔体输运的模型最终被视为一系列耦合的非线性偏微分方程，需要先进的数值技术来求解。INI计划将汇集广泛的数学家和固体地球科学家来解决这些和其他关于地幔融化的基本挑战。该奖项的支持将使早期职业的美国科学家能够参与这项国际努力。

The Isaac Newton Institute (INI) program on Melt in the Mantle is a research and educational program running from February to June, 2016, at Cambridge University (UK). The program will focus around three workshops in February, April and June, which will cover (1) foundations in the physics, mathematical and numerical approaches of mantle and magma dynamics; (2) upscaling the physics, modeling and geophysical observations from the grain and pore scale to the the continuum scale of molten mantle; and (3) applications of the continuum physics and models to tectonic and planetary environments. This proposal seeks funds to assist early-career scientists based in the United States, including students and postdoctoral scholars, for travel to these workshops. Approximately 5 scientists will attend each workshop, for a total of 15. The INI program will provide these scientists an excellent opportunity to build international collaborations and learn about mantle melting from some of the leading Earth scientists and applied mathematicians in the world.Earth's mantle is almost entirely solid, but on geological timescales it convects vigorously, the well-known surface expression of this being plate tectonics. At depths up to 100 km beneath plate-tectonic boundaries (mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones), and beneath ocean islands such as Hawaii, the mantle melts, and that melt rises to the surface to feed volcanism and form new crust. Such magmatism plays a key role in the chemical evolution and dynamics of our planet. Understanding the formation and migration of melt in the mantle presents a formidable scientific and mathematical challenge. One key challenge is in bridging diverse length scales: melt lies along grain boundaries at micron scales, may focus into channels at meter scales, and migrates over 100 km. Sophisticated mathematical techniques, such as homogenization theory, are needed to map an understanding of physics at the smallest scales to plate-tectonic scales. Seismology offers a way to image melt in the mantle, but the development of new tools in inverse theory are required to extract that information. Models of melt transport are eventually cast as a series of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations, which require advanced numerical techniques to solve. The INI program will bring together a broad spectrum of mathematicians and solid Earth scientists to tackle these and other fundamental challenges of melt in the mantle. The support from this award will enable early-career US scientists to participate in this international endeavor.