Collaborative Research: How and when did the Mongolian Altai (de-)form? Implications for intracontinental deformation

合作研究：蒙古阿尔泰山是如何以及何时形成的？

• 批准号: 2111939
• 负责人: Ryan Leary
• 金额: $ 67.69万
• 依托单位: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
• 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: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111939&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; How; when; did

The Mongolian Altai are an approximately 2000 km-long mountain range in western Mongolia that are part of a vast mountainous region in central Asia referred to as the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Understanding how a mountain system that is located 1000 km from a modern tectonic plate boundary originally formed is important as the Altai play an important role in regulating Asian climate and biodiversity and in controlling the distribution and reorganization of Earth materials through erosion and sediment transport. This study will test how the Earth’s crust deforms into mountains in the middle of tectonic plates rather than at the edges. The PIs will use thermochronology (the study of mineral cooling histories) to measure the timing of mountain development and conduct field-based studies of sedimentary rocks to study changes in erosion and deposition patterns caused by mountain uplift. These results will be compared to numerical models testing different ways to form mountains in the middle of tectonic plates. This research will provide important societal outcomes by 1) supporting the training of graduate and undergraduate students in STEM fields including minority and underrepresented students at a Hispanic Serving Institution, 2) increasing participation of women in STEM as both Principal Investigators and graduate students within this project, 3) increasing public scientific literacy through undergraduate education and education outreach, 4) developing partnerships between American and Mongolian scientists, and 5) the development of online interactive field tours for undergraduate education. Recent large-scale, interdisciplinary projects have led to major advances in our understanding of the rates, relative timing, and periodicity of tectonic plate margin processes that define orographic landscapes. However, our understanding of plate interior orogenesis is less evolved, as intracontinental orogens defy models of orogenesis as a plate-boundary driven process. The Mongolian Altai are part of one of the largest intracontinental orogenic systems–the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, and yet limited data exist to explain the origin of this mountain system. This project will test specific models of intracontinental orogenesis in the Mongolia Altai, each of which predict a different timing, rate, and style of uplift. This research will integrate bedrock and detrital thermochronology, sedimentology and basin analysis, and geomechanical modeling to document the timing of onset of intracontinental orogenesis in the Mongolian Altai; understand fundamental (rheological, geodynamic, inherited) controls on the formation of an orographic landscape in this region; and to understand the possible conditions that produce intracontinental deformation from plate boundary forces and the timescales on which this deformation occurs. These outcomes will allow testing of whether the Mongolian Altai are relict topography from a Mesozoic suture zone, are a geodynamic feature of isostatic or dynamic processes, or formed due to localized deformation from Cenozoic plate boundary stresses. Field and analytical data will provide direct observations to test these hypotheses that can be further constrained by numerical models that interrogate the geomechanical plausibility of these processes. This study will not only provide the first basement thermochronologic dataset from a ~800 km along strike zone within the Mongolian Altai and the first detrital thermochronologic dataset from the entire Altai system (2000 km strike length), but will integrate this dataset with work in contemporaneous sedimentary basins and geomechanical modeling to put these data in a well-constrained geologic context. The proposed research will also improve our understanding of what processes drive formation of intracontinental orogens globally, a major outstanding question in the field of tectonics.This project is jointly funded by the Tectonics program in the division of Earth Sciences and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

蒙古阿尔蒂（Alti）是蒙古西部约2000公里长的山脉，是中亚广阔的中亚造山带的广阔山区的一部分。了解与最初形成的现代构造板边界1000公里的山系统如何在控制亚洲气候和生物多样性以及通过侵蚀和沉积物运输中控制地球材料的分布和重组方面起着重要作用。这项研究将测试地壳如何在构造板的中间而不是边缘变形。 PIS将使用热量学（矿物冷却史的研究）来衡量山区发展的时机，并进行基于现场的沉积岩石研究，以研究由山顶隆起引起的侵蚀和沉积模式的变化。这些结果将与数值模型进行比较，以测试在构造板中间形成山脉的不同方式。这项研究将通过1）通过1）支持在STEM领域的研究生和本科生的培训，包括少数群体和在西班牙裔服务机构中的代表性不足的学生，2）妇女在STEM中增加妇女的参与，作为该项目中的主要研究者和研究生中的妇女参与，这是该项目中的主要研究人员，3）在研究中的发展和教育范围内的公共科学训练，4）越来越多的教育态度，4）在线互动实地考察本科教育。最近的大规模跨学科项目导致了我们对定义地形景观的构造板边缘过程的速率，相对时机和周期性的理解的重大进步。但是，我们对板内造成的理解较少，因为内内造山发生违背了造山学模型作为板块驱动过程。蒙古阿尔泰（Altai）是中亚造山带中最大的室内造口系统之一，但存在有限的数据来解释该山系统的起源。该项目将测试蒙古阿尔泰（Altai）中洲际内部造成的特定模型，每个模型都可以预测隆起的时间，速率和风格不同。这项研究将整合基岩和碎屑热量学，沉积学和盆地分析以及地质力学建模，以记录蒙古altai中肠内造成的发作时间；了解基本（流变学，地球动力，遗传）对该地区地形景观形成的控制；并了解产生板界边界力和发生变形的时间尺度的可能条件。这些结果将允许测试蒙古Altai是中生代缝合区的遗物地形，是等层或动态过程的地球动力学特征，还是由于新生代板块边界应力的局部变形而形成的。现场和分析数据将提供直接观察，以测试这些假设，这些假设可以通过数值模型来进一步限制，这些模型询问这些过程的地质力学合理性。 This study will not only provide the first basement thermochronologic dataset from a ~800 km along strike zone within the Mongolian Altai and the first detrital thermochronological dataset from the entire Altai system (2000 km strike length), but will integrate this dataset with work in contemporary sedimentary basics and geomechanical modeling to put these data in a well-constrained geologic context.拟议的研究还将提高我们对全球范围内植物内部植物的形成的理解，这是构造领域的一个主要问题。该项目由地球科学部的构造学计划共同资助，并既定性竞争性研究（EPSCOR）的跨越杂志，这是由NSF的众所周知的宣传来反映了NSF的法定宣传，以反​​映了NSF的法定宣传，以反​​映了NSF的涉及竞争性奖。影响审查标准。