Synthesizing emerging results and identifying future research in an early-stage, magma-poor rift: A workshop in the southern East Africa Rift System

东非裂谷系统(EARS)是世界上最好的大陆之一，它正在积极地处于伸展和分裂的过程中；在过去，这些地质过程最终导致大陆的分裂和像大西洋这样的海洋盆地的形成。尽管大陆拉伸和解体在地球历史上反复发生，但这一过程的早期阶段仍然知之甚少。除了是一个重要的科学课题，大陆伸展对于评估地质灾害也是必不可少的；像东非裂谷系统这样的裂谷地带是地震和火山活动的地带。在过去的10年里，出现了一些关注东非裂谷系统南部的新的科学研究，这些研究为大陆解体的开始提供了令人惊讶的新见解。该奖项将支持2021年夏天在马拉维举行的为期4天的研讨会，该研讨会将把大约50名美国和非洲科学家聚集在一起，分享和综合这些最近的研究成果，以实现对东非裂谷系统南部大陆拉伸和相关灾害的更全面的了解。这次研讨会还将提供机会，以加强美国和非洲科学家之间的现有关系和形成新的合作，对早期职业科学家进行培训，并就裂缝及其危险进行公众宣传。耳部表现出岩浆作用、变形和累积伸展的沿走向变化，为研究不同发育阶段的活动裂谷作用和研究裂谷作用的控制提供了机会。这些属性使EAR成为解决NSF GeoPRISMS科学计划中提出的有关裂谷的主要问题的绝佳地点。耳朵的南段在两个重要方面构成了该系统的终端成员：1)地表火山活动有限，为更全面地测试需要岩浆作用使岩石圈变弱和变薄的模型提供了机会；2)发生的累积伸展相对较少，使观察到对裂谷形成的控制成为可能。在过去的5年里，美国和国际上的一些研究在南耳上取得了有趣和令人惊讶的结果。然而，由于分阶段供资模式和/或由其他计划提供资金的杠杆作用，许多与EAR相关的工作在GeoPRISMS计划后期才得到资助，因此跨学科社区没有机会在GeoPRISMS努力的背景下开会和讨论这些结果。由该奖项支持的为期4天的研讨会将使美国和非洲的科学家能够面对面地会面并分享成果；面对面的会议对于促进沟通以及发展和保持强有力的国际合作至关重要。研讨会将于2021年夏天在马拉维举行，马拉维位于裂谷内，是研讨会重点区域的中心。在这里举行会议将使更多的非洲科学家参与，促进美国和非洲科学家之间的更多联系，并允许与研讨会相关的教育和外联工作。我们将根据申请仔细挑选参赛者，以确保参赛者代表不同专业知识、职业阶段和在非洲工作的经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The East Africa Rift System (EARS) is one of the best examples in the world of a continent that is actively in the process of stretching and breaking apart; in the past, these geological processes have culminated in the breakup of continents and formation of ocean basins like the Atlantic Ocean. Although continental stretching and breakup has occurred repeatedly over Earth’s history, the early stages in this process remain poorly understood. In addition to being an important scientific topic, continental stretching is also essential to understand for assessing geohazards; rift zones like the East Africa Rift System are seismically and volcanically active. Over the past 10 years, a number of new scientific studies focused on the southern part of the East Africa Rift System have emerged that are providing new and surprising insights into the onset of continental breakup. This award will support a 4-day workshop in the summer of 2021 in Malawi, which is located within the rift valley, to bring together ~50 US and African scientists to share and synthesize the results of these recent studies to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of continental stretching and associated hazards in the southern part of the East Africa Rift system. This workshop will also provide opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and form new collaborations between US and African scientists, training for early career scientists, and public outreach on the rift and its hazards. The EARS exhibits along-strike changes in magmatism, deformation and cumulative stretching, offering the opportunity to examine active rifting processes at different stages of development and study controls on rifting. These attributes made the EARS an excellent locality to address major questions about rifting posed in the NSF GeoPRISMS science plan. The southern section of the EARS constitutes an endmember of this system in two important respects: 1) there is limited volcanism at the surface, providing the opportunity to more fully test models that require magmatism to weaken and thin the lithosphere, and 2) relatively little cumulative stretching has occurred, making it possible to observe controls on rift initiation. In the last ~5 years, a number of US and international studies have yielded interesting and surprising results on the southern EAR. However, because many EARS-related efforts were funded late in the GeoPRISMS program due to the phased funding model and/or leveraged efforts funded by other programs, there has not been an opportunity for the interdisciplinary community to meet and discuss these results in the context of the GeoPRISMS efforts. The 4-day workshop supported by this award will enable US and African scientists to meet in person and share results; in-person meetings are essential to foster communication and develop and maintain strong international collaborations. The workshop will take place in the summer of 2021 in Malawi, which is located within the rift valley, central to the focus area of the workshop. Holding the meeting here will enable participation by more African scientists, facilitate more networking between US and Africa scientists, and allow for education and outreach efforts associated with the workshop. We will carefully select attendees by application in order to ensure that participants represent a cross-section of expertise, career stage and experience working in AfricaThis 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.