Collaborative Research: EAR-Climate: Linkages Between Glacio-climatic, Hydrothermal, and Volcanic Processes in the Central Andes

虽然火山和水文对冰川活动的响应在全球范围内都有记录，但热液系统的响应在很大程度上仍未得到研究。需要解决的重要问题包括：水文、热液和/或火山系统如何应对气候变化和冰川扩张和退缩？控制这些反应的时间和机制是什么？回答这些问题对危害评估（潜水喷发和热液爆炸）、地热勘探和矿藏都有重大影响。安第斯山脉中部的El Tatio火山-热液系统为研究这些相互作用提供了理想的自然实验室。El Tatio自最后一次冰川消退以来一直活跃，并保留了火山，冰川和热液活动的特殊形态地层证据。与过去的研究不同的是，过去的研究主要集中在末次盛冰期的大型大陆冰块上，而El Tatio经历了较小的高山或山地冰川作用。这种结构更能代表冰川在世界范围内的分布以及现代气候变化所引起的过程。该项目由一位早期职业生涯的拉丁裔女性领导，将加强与智利大学的合作，并将吸引拥有土地的历史上被边缘化的土著社区。该项目将采用跨学科方法，汇集来自美国不同机构和智利的专家，这些专家建议解决以下问题：(i)通过限制不同事件的实地分布和时间，建立冰川波动（包括消冰）与热液和（或）火山活动开始之间的时空联系；（ii）利用野外数据（年龄和冰厚估算）以及非均质多孔介质多相流和变形数值模型，定量估算冰川卸载、水和热供给变化对热液响应的影响。这项研究的结果将更好地理解热液响应的相互关联和相互竞争的控制（例如，冰川分布、厚度、前进/后退速度、流变学、渗透率和储层深度）。该项目由水文科学项目、地貌与土地利用动力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。

While volcanic and hydrological responses to glacial activity have been documented around the globe, the response of hydrothermal systems remains largely unstudied. Important questions to be addressed include: How do hydrological, hydrothermal and/or volcanic systems respond to climate change and glacier expansion and retreat? What are the timing and mechanisms that control these responses? Answering these questions has significant impacts on hazard assessments (phreatic eruptions and hydrothermal explosions), geothermal exploration, and mineral deposits. El Tatio volcanic-hydrothermal system, Central Andes, provides an ideal natural laboratory to investigate these interactions. El Tatio has been active since the last deglaciation and preserves exceptional morpho-stratigraphic evidence of volcanic, glacial, and hydrothermal activity. Unlike past studies, focusing on large continental ice masses during the Last Glacial Maximum, El Tatio experienced smaller alpine or mountain glaciations. That configuration is more representative of the world-wide distribution of glaciers and the processes occurring due to modern climate change. Led by an early career Latino-woman, this project will intensify collaborations with Chilean Universities, and will engage historically marginalized native communities who own the land.This project will use an interdisciplinary approach that brings together experts from different US institutions and Chile, which propose to address the following: (i) to establish spatial and temporal linkages between glacier fluctuations including deglaciation and the onset of hydrothermal and/or volcanic activity by constraining the field distribution and timing of different events; and (ii) to make quantitative estimation of the hydrothermal responses to glacial unloading, changes in water and heat supply using field data (ages and estimation of ice thickness) and numerical models of multiphase flow and deformation in heterogeneous porous media. Results from this study will provide a better understanding of the interrelated and competing controls of hydrothermal responses (for example, glacier distribution, thickness, and rates of advance/recession; rheology; permeability; and reservoir depth).This project is jointly funded by the Hydrologic Sciences Program, the Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics Program, and the Petrology and Geochemistry Program.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.