Collaborative Research: Quantifying crustal hydration effects in the Colorado Plateau from xenoliths

美国西部的科罗拉多高原拥有壮观的自然景观，如大峡谷、锡安和拱门国家公园。这个地区在1亿年前处于海平面上，现在位于海拔约2公里的地方。然而，该地区地表海拔升高的原因尚不清楚。这个项目将调查在过去几十年中产生了相当大的争论的几个拟议机制之一的可行性。具体地说，这项研究将探讨来自太平洋板块俯冲碎片的水对地壳的水化作用是否降低了地壳的密度，并导致地表上升。这是基于相同的原则，即控制不同密度的木块在水中漂浮的高度。这项研究的结果可能会产生深远的影响，因为在更广泛的落基山脉地区和高平原地区（包括丹佛，“英里高城”）的高海拔的因果机制可能是由于影响其他山区如安第斯山脉的过程。本项目所有活动的共同教育主题包括研究生和本科生的教育和培训，与法国研究人员的国际合作，以及加强地球科学领域代表性不足的少数民族学生。本项目将研究含水蚀变改变科罗拉多高原下地壳的矿物组成和相关密度结构的假设，并通过均衡调整对其2公里表面隆起做出重大贡献。这项研究将整合新的岩石学、地质年代学和稳定氢同位素研究，这些研究来自大约2500万年前的纳瓦霍火山场的一套地壳捕虏体。将开发科罗拉多高原中部地壳的后水化（现代）模型，该模型结合了捕虏体的新观测结果，并确保与现代地震和其他地球物理数据的兼容性。这将与基于详细捕虏体分析的地壳预水化模型一起进行评估。计算出的水化前和水化后模型密度的差异将用于约束对蚀变的潜在均衡响应。本项目由地球科学部构造学项目和岩石与地球化学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The Colorado Plateau in the western United States incorporates spectacular natural landscapes, such as Grand Canyon, Zion, and Arches National Parks. This region was at sea level 100 million years ago and now sits at an elevation of about 2 kilometers above sea level. However, the reasons why surface elevations in this region increased are not well understood. This project will investigate the viability of one of several proposed mechanisms that have generated considerable debate over the last several decades. Specifically, this research will address whether hydration of Earth’s crust by water derived from a subducted fragment of the Pacific oceanic plate reduced its density and caused the ground surface to rise. This is based on the same principles that govern how high blocks of wood with different densities will float in water. The results of this research could have far-reaching implications because causal mechanisms for high elevations in the broader Rocky Mountain region and High Plains (including Denver, the “Mile High City”) may be due to processes that also affect other mountainous regions such as the Andes. Common educational themes among all of the activities in this project include graduate and undergraduate education and training, international collaborations with researchers in France, and enhancement of underrepresented minority students in Earth science.This project will investigate the hypothesis that hydrous alteration changed the mineralogical makeup and associated density structure of the Colorado Plateau lower crust and contributed significantly to its 2 kilometers surface uplift via isostatic adjustment. This research will integrate new petrologic, geochronologic, and stable hydrogen isotopic studies of a suite of crustal xenoliths from the approximately 25-million-year-old Navajo Volcanic Field. A post-hydration (present-day) model of the central Colorado Plateau crust will be developed that incorporates new observations from xenoliths, and ensures compatibility with modern seismic and other geophysical data. This will be evaluated along with a pre-hydration model for the crust that is based on detailed xenolith analyses. Calculated differences in pre-and post-hydration model densities will be used to constrain the potential isostatic response to alteration.This project is jointly funded by the Tectonics program and the Petrology & Geochemistry program in the Division of Earth Sciences.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.