Collaborative Research: Probing Causal Links Among Volcanism, Dust, and Carbon Burial in the Permian - a Harbinger of the Future?

合作研究：探索二叠纪火山、尘埃和碳埋藏之间的因果关系——未来的预兆？

• 批准号: 2103088
• 负责人: Ying Cui
• 金额: $ 6.22万
• 依托单位: Montclair State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2103088&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Probing; Causal; Links

Humanity has undertaken an unintentional experiment on Earth’s climate system, causing atmospheric carbon to increase to levels never before experienced by humans. The climate system is now responding in palpable ways, and the triggering of positive feedbacks will accelerate changes, posing large risks to the biosphere in general and human populations in particular. Increasing concerns of potential runaway effects have spurred talk of intentional geoengineering to stabilize Earth’s temperatures, and its large ice sheets. A commonly discussed approach is solar radiation management (SRM), the intentional injection of atmospheric aerosols to mimic the planetary shading induced naturally by explosive volcanism. However, the unintended consequences of such action remain unknown, and could initiate even larger disruptions of the biosphere. This project targets an interval of Earth history analogous to today— a time with large continental ice sheets and abundant atmospheric dust followed by “greenhouse” warming— to explore how Earth’s climate and biospheric systems responded to sustained explosive volcanism. This research will test a number of hypotheses centered on the idea that frequent, explosive volcanism over the equatorial Pangean supercontinent ~300 million years ago increased delivery of micronutrients (e.g. iron) from atmospheric dust, leading to enhanced plant growth and development of widespread anoxia in marine ecosystems. Recent research documents large accumulations of dust deposits ~300 Mya, a remarkably elevated but enigmatic micronutrient content of these dusts, and abundant explosive volcanism, especially at equatorial latitudes. The confluence of volcanism, atmospheric dustiness, and nutrient reactivity is posited to have greatly affected Earth’s carbon cycle, and thus climate and biosphere. If society embarks upon intentional geoengineering, it is imperative to learn from Earth’s past to understand potential future consequences. In addition to shedding light on behavior of the climate system through publication and dissemination of results, this project will help prepare several students and early-career researchers for the STEM workforce, enhancing the nation’s capabilities in science and education.This work explores novel aspects of climate-system behavior in two ways: 1— the role of repeated, high-frequency explosive volcanism in affecting Earth’s climate directly, and 2— linkages that tie explosive volcanism to enhanced nutrient release from mineral dusts and consequent ecosystem fertilization that affects the carbon cycle. To test this, field and laboratory work will be done on a well-exposed section of volcanic rocks representative of a vast center of volcanism in paleoequatorial Pangea; data will be collected on volcanic recurrence intervals and sulfur loading, and on the nutrient richness of coeval mineral dusts. These data will enable modeling of how this volcanism affected climate by both 1— direct “shading” of the planet, and 2— altering atmospheric acidity, stimulating micronutrient content of dust and thus fertilizing marine ecosystems. OU Geosciences and Science Education faculty will prepare and deliver long-term professional development for Oklahoma teachers, to increase climate science literacy amongst secondary school students.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.

人类对地球气候系统进行了无意的实验，导致大气碳增加到人类从未经历过的水平。气候系统现在正在以明显的方式做出响应，积极反馈的触发将加速变化，尤其是一般人，尤其是人类的生物圈带来了很大的风险。越来越关注潜在的失控影响的问题刺激了故意地球工程的讨论，以稳定地球的温度及其大型冰盖。一个普遍讨论的方法是太阳辐射管理（SRM），即故意注入大气气溶胶，以模仿爆炸性火山作用自然引起的行星阴影。但是，这种行动的意外后果仍然未知，并且可能引发更大的生物圈中断。该项目针对地球历史的间隔类似于今天，这是一个具有大型连续冰盖的时期，大气灰尘随后是“温室”变暖 - 探索地球的气候和生物圈系统如何响应持续的爆炸性火山。这项研究将检验许多基于以下想法的假设，即在庞吉人庞吉超大陆上经常进行爆炸性的火山爆发，〜3亿年前增加了微量营养素（例如铁）的递送（例如铁），从大气粉尘中增加，导致植物的生长增强，并在海洋生态系统中宽度增长和宽度的宽度无氧肿块。最近的研究记录了大量的灰尘沉积物〜300 Mya，这些尘埃的含量升高但又危险的微量营养素含量以及丰富的爆炸性火山含量，尤其是在模棱两可的纬度上。火山融合，大气尘土和营养反应性的汇合度已极大地影响了地球的碳循环，因此气候和生物圈。如果社会启动故意的地球工程，则必须从地球过去学习，以了解潜在的未来后果。 In addition to shedding light on behavior of the climate system through publication and dissemination of results, this project will help prepare several students and early-career researchers for the STEM workforce, enhancing the nation’s capabilities in science and education.This work explores novel aspects of climate-system behavior in two ways: 1—the role of repeated, high-frequency explosive volcanism in affecting Earth’s climate directly, and 2— linkages that tie explosive volcanism为了增强矿物粉尘的营养释放，并从而导致影响碳循环的生态系统受精。为了测试这一点，将在曝光盛大的火山岩部分上进行现场和实验室工作，该岩石代表了古赤道pangea的巨大火山中心。数据将以火山复发的间隔和硫负荷以及同时矿物粉尘的养分丰富度收集。这些数据将使该火山的气候如何通过1（地球的“阴影”）和2个改变大气酸度的“阴影”进行建模，从而刺激灰尘的微量营养素含量，从而刺激了海洋生态系统。 OU Geosciences and Science教育学院将为俄克拉荷马州的教师准备和提供长期的专业发展，以提高中学生的气候科学素养。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响标准来评估NSF的法定任务。