Collaborative Research: Development and Application of a Framework for Integrated Geodynamic Earth Models

合作研究：综合地球动力学地球模型框架的开发和应用

• 批准号: 1925676
• 负责人: Anthony Lowry
• 金额: $ 19.04万
• 依托单位: Utah State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1925676&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Development; Application; Framework

For decades, the geosciences community has dreamed of and worked towards building simulations that can resolve the time and length scales of deformation patterns in the solid Earth observed both globally and regionally. This includes the slow motion of rocks in the Earth's deep interior, the motion of tectonic plates, and smaller scale localized deformation in the interior of and at the boundaries between these plates on time scales ranging from thousands to millions of years. Until recently, neither the computational tools, nor the requisite information about how rocks behave at the temperature and pressures of the Earth's interior were available to allow such simulations with reasonable accuracy. However, with recent advances in the Earth sciences and computing, we are finally at a point where it is possible to develop computational models of the Earth from the deep mantle to surface. This project is aimed at developing a framework for building a Geodynamic Earth Models, based on the widely used community modeling code ASPECT that the PIs have been building for the past 8 years. These simulations have the potential to provide enormous insight into a wide range of topics, including temporal and spatial variations in the motion and deformation of tectonic plates, the flow of magma and the cycling of water through the Earth's interior, the structure of the deep Earth, and landscape evolution. All work will be made available to other scientists through open source software and data sets, including tutorials and documentation modules to help others use this work in practice. In addition, the project will create accessible images, videos, and more elaborate educational material that will be shared with high school and early college students through outreach events. Beyond that, the experience this project will build by creating a complex, multi-physics simulation code running on large leadership-level computing facilities is also important for complex codes needed to address many other scientific grand challenges, such as several of NSF's "Big Ideas". This project is about the creation of an Integrated Geodynamic Earth Model for the realistic simulation of the Earth from the core-mantle boundary to the surface on time scales of thousands to millions of years. It will address a series of long-standing questions regarding the physical structure of the solid Earth, global and regional deformation patterns, material cycles determined by plate boundaries, and coupled surface evolution. Assimilation and processing of geophysical data sets will generate a Starting Earth Model providing a detailed description of the Earth's thermal-chemical-rheological state from the surface to the core-mantle boundary. High-resolution global simulations will use this detailed description of Earth's physical state to determine how brittle and ductile rheology controls the partitioning of deformation and fault interaction within observed plate boundaries. Building on the Starting Earth Model and global simulations, globally embedded regional simulations will allow it to determine how rheological and buoyancy variations within the Western USA control observed deformation patterns. In combination with fully coupled two-phase fluid transport and reactions, the project will employ globally-embedded regional simulations to estimate global rates and magnitudes of volatile transport within subducting oceanic plates and provide insight into plate boundary and deep mantle volatile flux patterns. Additionally, the project will facilitate the coupling of these simulations to landscape evolution models to determine how surface processes modify temporal variations in subduction dynamics. Finally, this project will lead to the development of new tools for the visualization of these simulation results, and use them for a variety of outreach activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

几十年来，地球科学界一直梦想并致力于建立模拟，以解决全球和区域观察到的固体地球变形模式的时间和长度尺度。这包括岩石在地球内部深处的缓慢运动，构造板块的运动，以及这些板块内部和边界的小规模局部变形，时间尺度从数千年到数百万年不等。直到最近，无论是计算工具，还是关于岩石在地球内部的温度和压力下如何表现的必要信息，都无法让这种模拟具有合理的准确性。然而，随着地球科学和计算技术的最新进展，我们终于有可能开发出从地幔深处到地表的地球计算模型。该项目的目的是开发一个框架，用于建立一个地球动力学地球模型，基于广泛使用的社区建模代码ASPECT，在过去的8年里，PI一直在建设。这些模拟有可能为广泛的主题提供巨大的洞察力，包括构造板块运动和变形的时间和空间变化，岩浆流动和地球内部的水循环，地球深部的结构和景观演变。所有工作都将通过开源软件和数据集提供给其他科学家，包括教程和文档模块，以帮助其他人在实践中使用这项工作。此外，该项目还将创建可访问的图像，视频和更详细的教育材料，这些材料将通过外展活动与高中和早期大学生分享。除此之外，该项目将通过创建在大型领导级计算设施上运行的复杂的多物理仿真代码来积累经验，这对于解决许多其他科学重大挑战所需的复杂代码也很重要，例如NSF的几个“大想法”。 该项目是关于创建一个综合地球动力学地球模型，用于在数千年至数百万年的时间尺度上逼真地模拟从地核-地幔边界到地表的地球。它将解决一系列长期存在的问题，涉及固体地球的物理结构，全球和区域变形模式，板块边界决定的物质循环，以及耦合的表面演化。地球物理数据集的同化和处理将产生一个起始地球模型，提供从地表到地核-地幔边界的地球热-化学-流变状态的详细描述。高分辨率全球模拟将使用地球物理状态的详细描述来确定脆性和韧性流变学如何控制观察到的板块边界内的变形和断层相互作用的划分。在起始地球模型和全球模拟的基础上，全球嵌入式区域模拟将使其能够确定美国西部的流变学和浮力变化如何控制观察到的变形模式。结合完全耦合的两相流体输运和反应，该项目将采用全球嵌入式区域模拟来估计俯冲大洋板块内挥发性输运的全球速率和幅度，并提供对板块边界和深部地幔挥发性通量模式的深入了解。此外，该项目还将促进将这些模拟与景观演变模型相结合，以确定地表过程如何改变俯冲动力学的时间变化。最后，该项目将导致开发新的工具，用于这些模拟结果的可视化，并将其用于各种推广活动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Wet roots of high elevation in the western United States

美国西部高海拔湿根

• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117483
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• 影响因子: 5.3
• 作者: Berry, Michael A.;Lowry, Anthony R.;Ma, Xiaofei;Kanda, Ravi V.S.;Schutt, Derek L.
• 通讯作者: Schutt, Derek L.