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

大火成岩省火山作用与异常的地幔融化和巨大的喷发事件有关，在过去5亿年的地球历史中，这些事件与重大的大灭绝有关。过去三十年的重大研究使这些事件的极端性质成为焦点。但是，对这些灾难性事件后恢复的性质和速度的控制仍然未知，尽管这可能会对气候系统的临界点产生影响。特别是，在一些大的火成岩省份之后，气候变暖的时间出人意料地延长，环境和生物恢复延迟，这突出表明，对这些事件消退阶段释放的气体和/或对全球气候的控制缺乏根本的了解。该项目将开展一项多学科的努力，结合现场观测、火山活动、气候、风化和生命的高分辨率记录，以及数值模拟，以了解地球表面和固体在扰动和恢复期间的共同演化。这是一个由国家科学基金会地球科学局(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。该协定允许美国和英国提交一个单一的联合提案，并由该机构进行同行审查，该机构的调查员在预算中所占比例最大。在成功地共同确定一项奖项建议后，每个机构将资助其各自国家机构中支持科学家的预算比例。这个项目是由地球科学局共同资助的，以支持在地球科学领域的人工智能/最大限度地推进。这个项目解决了一个基本的悬而未决的问题：是什么过程影响了气候和生物从主要的大型火成岩省驱动的碳循环扰动中恢复？该项目旨在测试新的总体假设，即地壳流变学的大规模转变关闭了大型火成岩省的火山活动，但持续的地幔融化会导致神秘的二氧化碳释放，并推迟气候和生物恢复。如果这一假设是正确的，这一假设意味着神秘的脱气--通过地壳释放二氧化碳，与喷发速度脱钩--是控制气候条件和复苏速度的关键，以前没有考虑到这一点。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、多学科的火山活动和风化记录，2)耦合地幔地球动力学、岩浆运输和放气模型，3)将过去气候和风化的记录同化到气候-生物地球化学模型中，以反演放气通量，并对内部演化施加自上而下的约束，4)将古生物数据库与火山作用、气候和风化的记录和建模相结合，以测试哪些类型的生物在恢复之后蓬勃发展的因素。该项目利用了三个强大的自然实验室大型火成岩省和气候事件，从最年轻和解决得最好的哥伦比亚河玄武岩和中中新世气候最佳时期；到面积更大的北大西洋火成岩省、古新世-始新世最热时期和始新世早期气候最佳时期；最后到西伯利亚圈闭、二叠纪末期灾难性大灭绝和三叠纪早期温室。该项目将在俄勒冈州东北部开展持续的外展工作，俄勒冈州是哥伦比亚河玄武岩火山的震中，也是项目实地工作的地点。这些活动旨在通过农村社区的参与，使科学人性化并加强教育。项目PI和学生将通过以下方式吸引俄勒冈州和新泽西州的学龄儿童以及全球火成岩大省的研究人员：一个数据门户和一套虚拟实地考察；大火成岩省份的儿童编程，形式是访问瓦洛瓦县学校并与项目科学家写一封信；以及在项目中期举办一个欢迎大火成岩省社区的实地论坛。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。

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.