Collaborative Research: NSFGEO/NERC: After the cataclysm: cryptic degassing and delayed recovery in the wake of Large Igneous Province volcanism

大火成岩省火山活动与异常的地幔融化和大量喷发事件有关，这些事件与地球历史上过去5亿年的大规模物种灭绝有关。过去三十年的重要研究使这些事件的极端性质成为人们关注的焦点。但是，在这些灾难性事件发生后，对恢复的性质和速度的控制仍然是未知的，尽管对潜在的气候系统临界点有影响。特别是，在一些大火成岩省之后，气候变暖的时间出乎意料地延长，环境和生物恢复的时间也被推迟，这突显了人们对这些事件减弱阶段释放的气体和/或对全球气候的控制缺乏根本性的了解。该项目将进行结合实地观察的多学科努力；火山活动、气候、风化和生命的高分辨率记录；和数值模拟，以了解在扰动和恢复期间固体和地表地球的共同演化。这是一个由美国国家科学基金会地球科学理事会（NSF/GEO）和英国国家环境研究委员会（NERC）通过NSF/GEO-NERC牵头机构协议共同资助的项目。该协议允许美国/英国提交一份联合提案，并由其调查员拥有最大比例预算的机构进行同行评审。在成功地共同确定一个奖项推荐后，每个机构资助预算的比例，以支持各自国家机构的科学家。该项目由地球科学理事会共同资助，旨在支持人工智能/机器学习在地球科学领域的发展。这个项目解决了一个基本的悬而未决的问题：从主要的大火成岩省驱动的碳循环扰动中，是什么过程塑造了气候和生物的恢复？该项目旨在测试一个新的总体假设，即地壳流变学的大规模转变关闭了大火成岩省的火山活动，但持续的地幔融化推动了隐性二氧化碳的释放，并延迟了气候和生物的恢复。如果正确的话，这一假设意味着隐秘的脱气——通过地壳释放的二氧化碳与喷发速率分离——是一个关键的、以前未被解释的控制气候条件和恢复速度的因素。为了验证这一假设，该项目追求四个关键的科学目标：1)开发高分辨率、多学科的火山作用和风化作用记录；2)地幔地球动力学、岩浆运移和脱气模型的耦合；3)将过去的气候和风化记录同化到气候-生物地球化学模型中，以反演脱气通量，并对内部演化进行自上而下的约束；气候和风化来测试影响哪一种生物无法恢复的因素。该项目利用了三个强大的自然实验室大火成岩省和气候事件，从最年轻和最好解决的哥伦比亚河玄武岩和中新世中期气候最佳；到面积更大的北大西洋火成岩省、古新世-始新世热最大值和早始新世气候最佳值；最后是西伯利亚圈闭，灾难性的二叠纪末大灭绝，以及三叠纪早期的温室。该项目将在俄勒冈州东北部、哥伦比亚河玄武岩火山活动的震中和项目实地工作地点开展持续的外展/深入工作。活动旨在通过农村社区的参与，使科学人性化，加强教育。项目pi和学生将通过以下方式与俄勒冈州和新泽西州的学龄儿童以及全球大火成岩省的研究人员进行互动：数据门户和一组虚拟实地考察；以访问瓦洛瓦县学校的形式为大火成岩省的儿童编写程序，并与项目科学家进行“撰写科学家”通信；并在项目中期举办现场论坛，欢迎大火成岩省社区的参与。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。

Large Igneous Province volcanism is associated with extraordinary mantle melting and voluminous eruptive episodes, which have been linked to major mass extinctions through the past half-billion years of Earth’s history. Significant research over the last three decades has brought the extreme nature of these events into focus. But controls on the nature and tempo of recovery after these catastrophic events remain unknown, despite implications for potential climate system tipping points. In particular, unexpectedly protracted periods of warm climate and delayed environmental and biological recovery following some Large Igneous Provinces underscore a fundamental lack of understanding of the gases released during the waning stages of these events and/or controls on global climate. This project will carry out a multi-disciplinary effort combining field observations; high-resolution records of volcanism, climate, weathering, and life; and numerical modeling to understand co-evolution of solid and surface Earth during perturbation and recovery. This is a project jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. This project is co-funded by the Directorate for Geosciences to support AI/ML advancement in the geosciences.This project addresses a fundamental unanswered question: what processes shape climate and biotic recovery from major Large Igneous Province-driven carbon cycle perturbations? The project aims to test the new overarching hypothesis that a large-scale transition in crustal rheology shuts down Large Igneous Province volcanism, but continued mantle melting drives cryptic Carbon Dioxide release and delays climate and biotic recovery. If correct, this hypothesis implies that cryptic degassing—Carbon Dioxide release through the crust decoupled from eruption rates—is a key, and previously unaccounted for, control on the climatic conditions and tempo characterizing recovery. To test this hypothesis, this project pursues four key scientific objectives: 1) development of high-resolution, multi-disciplinary records of volcanism and weathering, 2) coupling of models of mantle geodynamics, magma transport, and outgassing, 3) assimilation of records of past climate and weathering into climate-biogeochemical modeling to invert for outgassing fluxes and place top-down constraints on interior evolution, 4) integration of paleobiological databases with records and modeling of volcanism, climate and weathering to test factors shaping which types of organisms thrive beyond recovery. The project leverages three powerful natural laboratory Large Igneous Provinces and climate events, building from the youngest and best-resolved, the Columbia River Basalts and Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum; to the more voluminous North Atlantic Igneous Province, Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum; and finally to the Siberian Traps, catastrophic end-Permian mass extinction, and early Triassic hothouse. The project will carry out a sustained outreach/inreach effort in northeastern Oregon, the epicenter of Columbia River Basalt volcanism and site of project field work. Activities aim to humanize science and enhance education through engagement of rural communities. Project PIs and students will engage school-age children in Oregon and New Jersey, and global Large Igneous Province researchers through: a data portal and set of virtual field trips; Large Igneous Provinces for Kids programming in the form of visits to Wallowa county schools and ‘Write a Scientist’ correspondences with project scientists; and a field forum at the mid-point of the project that will welcome the Large Igneous Province community.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.