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Rift volcanism: past, present and future

裂谷火山活动：过去、现在和未来

基本信息

批准号：
NE/L013460/1
负责人：
Charlotte Vye-Brown
金额：
$ 61.96万
依托单位：
British Geological Survey
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2014 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FL013460%2F1
关键词：
Rift volcanism past present future

项目摘要

Early explorers called it Africa's Great Rift Valley, a narrow strip that runs for thousands of kilometres from Djibouti to Mozambique and is perhaps most famous for the vast herds of the Serengeti, mountain gorillas and dramatic landscapes of high peaks and fertile plains. The mountains and valleys are the signs of a continent slowly tearing apart. Moving apart more slowly than your finger nails grow, the African continent will one day split into two, creating a new ocean. As the Earth's crust stretches and thins - like plasticine when you pull it - rocks melt, and the resulting magma rises to the surface. The resultant eruptions have had a dramatic and varied impact on the landscape: great lakes have filled the holes left by enormous eruptions; eruptions of volcanic glass have created a chain of peaks, and wide fields are filled with scattered cones and lava flows. This volcanic landscape is hazardous - a recent report for the World Bank ranked 49 of Ethiopia's 65 volcanoes in the highest category of hazard uncertainty. The high temperatures associated with magma in the Rift Valley make it a rich source of carbon-neutral geothermal power. Multi-billion dollar investments by development agencies are driving a ten-fold expansion in the geothermal infrastructure in East Africa over the next decade. However, the majority of scientific research has focussed on volcanoes in other tectonic settings, such as Hawaii and Japan, leaving the volcanoes of the East African Rift largely a mystery. For many of them, we can't even say when the last eruption look place and there is no monitoring equipment to detect the early stages of an upcoming eruption. The eruption of Nabro volcano in 2011 was a timely reminder of the potential threats. Situated on the frontier between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the area is remote and sparsely populated, yet the eruption caused 32 fatalities, displaced >5000 people and disrupted regional aviation. Had this eruption originated from one of other 29 volcanoes with the same perceived hazard, but in densely-populated central Ethiopia, the humanitarian and societal cost would have been considerable. RiftVolc will focus on the volcanoes of the Main Ethiopian Rift in central Ethiopia. The aim is to understand their past behaviour, look for subtle signs of present-day activity and assess the threat posed to the infrastructure and people on and around them. RiftVolc will involve scientists from many disciplines working together to produce an integrated view of the past, present and future of the volcanoes in this region and compare it to other parts of East Africa and volcanoes elsewhere. Together we will spend several months out in Ethiopia, collecting samples, mapping the geology and deploying geophysical instruments, before returning to the lab to use analyse the data and create computer models of the results. Petrologists and geochemists will look at the lavas and ash to figure out the timing, size and style of past eruptions. Geophysicists will look for tiny earthquakes, changes in gravity, the passage of electrical currents and movements of the Earth's surface to understand the plumbing system feeding the volcanoes today. Finally, experts in hazard assessment will model possible scenarios and create a long-range eruption forecast for Ethiopia. We will work with our colleagues in the University of Addis Ababa and the Geological Survey of Ethiopia to ensure our findings are appropriate communicated to the government, industry and people of Ethiopia and with international groups such as the Global Volcano Model to communicate our results to development agencies such as the UN and the World Bank.

早期的探险家称它为非洲的大裂谷，这是一条从吉布提到莫桑比克长达数千公里的狭长地带，也许最著名的是塞伦盖蒂的大群，山地大猩猩以及高耸的山峰和肥沃的平原。山脉和山谷是大陆慢慢撕裂的迹象。分离的速度比你的指甲长得还慢，非洲大陆有一天会一分为二，形成一个新的海洋。随着地壳的拉伸和变薄--就像你拉橡皮泥一样--岩石融化，产生的岩浆上升到地表。火山爆发对地貌产生了巨大而多样的影响：五大湖填满了火山爆发留下的空洞;火山玻璃的喷发形成了一系列山峰，广阔的田野充满了分散的火山锥和熔岩流。这一火山景观是危险的--世界银行最近的一份报告将埃塞俄比亚65座火山中的49座列为危险不确定性最高的一类。裂谷中与岩浆有关的高温使其成为碳中性地热能的丰富来源。开发机构数十亿美元的投资正在推动东非地热基础设施在未来十年内扩大十倍。然而，大多数科学研究都集中在其他构造环境中的火山，如夏威夷和日本，使东非裂谷的火山在很大程度上成为一个谜。对于他们中的许多人来说，我们甚至不能说最后一次喷发是什么时候，也没有监测设备来检测即将到来的喷发的早期阶段。2011年纳布罗火山的爆发及时提醒了人们潜在的威胁。该地区位于埃塞俄比亚和厄立特里亚之间的边境，地处偏远，人口稀少，但火山爆发造成32人死亡，5000多人流离失所，并扰乱了区域航空。如果这次火山喷发来自其他29座具有同样危险的火山之一，但在人口稠密的埃塞俄比亚中部，人道主义和社会成本将是相当大的。RiftVolc将专注于埃塞俄比亚中部埃塞俄比亚大裂谷的火山。目的是了解他们过去的行为，寻找当今活动的微妙迹象，并评估对基础设施和周围人员构成的威胁。RiftVolc将涉及来自许多学科的科学家共同努力，以综合了解该地区火山的过去，现在和未来，并将其与东非其他地区和其他地方的火山进行比较。我们将一起在埃塞俄比亚度过几个月，收集样本，绘制地质图并部署地球物理仪器，然后返回实验室使用分析数据并创建结果的计算机模型。岩石学家和地球化学家将研究熔岩和火山灰，以确定过去喷发的时间、规模和风格。地球物理学家将寻找微小的地震，重力的变化，电流的通道和地球表面的运动，以了解管道系统喂养今天的火山。最后，灾害评估专家将模拟可能的情景，并为埃塞俄比亚建立长期火山爆发预报。我们将与阿迪斯大学和埃塞俄比亚地质调查局的同事合作，确保我们的研究结果适当地传达给埃塞俄比亚政府，行业和人民，并与全球火山模型等国际组织合作，将我们的结果传达给联合国和世界银行等发展机构。