Noble gas studies along the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge: Constraining magmatic degassing processes and the origin and lengthscale of mantle hetereogenities

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。惰性气体的惰性性质使其非常适合追踪地球大气层的演变。特别是，碘-氙和钚-铀-氙放射性衰变系统对地球历史最初几亿年期间地幔脱气的时间和速率提供了限制。这项研究涉及测量稀有气体和二氧化碳的丰度在一套玄武岩玻璃从超低洋中脊扩张中心，西南印度洋脊。 还将进行He、Ne、Ar、Kr、He的同位素测量。 这项研究对于了解早期大气中主要气体的组成非常重要。它还将解决与地球地幔挥发物演化有关的一阶问题，包括构造控制、洋中脊扩张速率和地幔温度如何影响行星脱气。 这项研究的数据将有助于评估地球的挥发性预算，并对地幔早期（最初1亿年）的脱气和大气层的起源提供基本的限制。 更广泛的影响是学生培训和早期职业科学家的支持。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The inert nature of the noble gases makes them ideally suited to trace the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere. In particular, the Iodine-Xenon and Plutonium-Uranium-Xenon radioactive decay systems provide constraints on the timing and rates of degassing from Earth's mantle during the first few hundred million years of earth history. This research involves measuring the abundance of the noble gases and CO2 in a suite of basalt glasses from the ultraslow mid-ocean ridge spreading center, the Southwest Indian Ridge. Isotopic measurements of He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe will also be carried out. This research is important for understanding the compositions of the major gases in the early atmosphere. It will also address first order questions relating to the evolution of volatiles in Earth's mantle including how tectonic control, mid ocean ridge spreading rates, and mantle temperature influence planetary degassing. Data from the study will allow evaluation of the volatile budget of the Earth and provide fundamental constraints on the early (first 100 million years) outgassing of the mantle and the origin of the atmosphere. Broader impacts are student training and support of an early career scientist.