US-Malawi Planning Visit: Developing a Multidisciplinary, Multinational Study of Continental Rifting, Seismicity and Volcanism Around Northern Lake Malawi

学术成就：约2500公里长的东非裂谷系是世界上大陆活动裂谷的最佳范例之一。与裂谷有关的火山活动和地震活动对居住在裂谷或附近的人们构成了巨大的风险。我们正在制定一个多学科、多国项目，调查东非裂谷系南部马拉维湖北方周围地区。我们最近向大陆动力公司提交了该项目的预提案（2009年4月1日），并计划在2009年11月15日的截止日期前提交完整的提案。我们的项目将涉及来自美国的科学家和学生，马拉维和坦桑尼亚，我们计划通过非洲阵列进一步促进该地区的科学基础设施和教育。我们提议的项目将涉及马拉维湖北方周围的沉积物、地壳和地幔岩石圈的成像，监测2-4年时间内的地表变形和地震活动，以及对湖北端岩浆区火山岩的地球化学分析。这种时间和空间限制的强大组合将使我们能够对早期裂谷期间整个岩石圈的岩浆和构造过程获得独特的见解。这些数据集还将用于地质灾害的定性和减灾。我们建议四名美国科学家计划访问马拉维，以加强与外国科学家的关系，并解决关键的后勤挑战。美国科学家将会见马拉维地质调查局局长伦纳德·卡林德卡夫博士和马拉维天主教大学地理系主任洛斯蒂娜·查波拉夫人，以及其他科学家和有关政府部委的官员。他们将共同为将于11月提交的完整提案制定具体计划。我们雄心勃勃的项目也带来了一些后勤方面的挑战，特别是确定一艘合适的船只来部署地球物理仪器并在湖中获取数据。这次旅行的很大一部分将用于评估学术和工业船只。这些特殊的PI？来自大陆动力学的建议将最密切地参与不同方面的？海军陆战队？这是实验的一部分，因此需要评估港口设施和船舶。最后，我们建议访问现场区域，以评估在湖泊周围崎岖地形中部署陆上仪器的不同策略，检查Nkhata湾和Chilumba的港口设施，并为规划目的获取初步数据。我们计划重新占用两个全球定位系统的纪念碑，在我们拟议的研究领域（这是安装和用于数据采集于1997年）为两到三day.Broader影响：岩浆活动和地震活动与扩展在这一部分的西部裂谷构成严重危害周边社区在马拉维和坦桑尼亚，特别是那些居住在附近的Rungwe火山省。我们提出的大陆动力学计划将提供有关该地区地震活动和现今变形的前所未有的详细信息，这些信息可以为灾害评估和减灾提供信息。此外，我们的研究补充了该地区其他积极的研究和推广工作，如马拉维湖钻探项目;它将为近期气候变化和早期人类进化的结果提供更广泛的构造背景。我们的项目还将通过扩大AfricaArray（www.africaarray.org）为该地区的科学教育和研究做出贡献。拟议的计划包括支持来自马拉维和坦桑尼亚的研究生，他们将参与获取数据，评估地质灾害和分析结果数据集。我们临时部署的数据将补充南部EARS的永久和临时AfricaArray站，提高两个数据集的价值。美国科学家团队由资深和初级科学家组成，他们拥有广泛的专业知识和不同程度的非洲工作经验。规划之旅将使他们能够获得当地知识，加强在马拉维的合作，以便为在该地区进行重大调查制定可行的计划。这次访问的长期影响是，它为几位科学家提供了机会，其中包括两位早期职业科学家，他们从未在非洲工作过，以发展必要的联系和熟悉，以计划和执行未来的科学和教育计划。

Intellectual Merit: The ~2500-km-long East Africa Rift system is one of the best examples of active rifting of a continent in the world. Volcanism and seismicity associated with rifting pose a substantial risk to people who live in or near the rift valley. We are developing a multidisciplinary, multinational project to investigate the region around northern Lake Malawi in the southern part of the East Africa Rift system. We recently submitted a pre-proposal for this project to Continental Dynamics (1 April 2009), and plan to submit a full proposal for the 15 November 2009 deadline. Our project would involve scientists and students from the U.S., Malawi and Tanzania, and we plan to further contribute to scientific infrastructure and education in this region through AfricaArray. Our proposed project would involve imaging of the sediments, crust and mantle lithosphere around northern Lake Malawi, monitoring of surface deformation and seismicity over a 2-4 year time period, and geochemical analysis of volcanic rocks from a magmatic province at the north end of the lake. This powerful combination of temporal and spatial constraints will enable us to obtain unique insights into magmatic and tectonic processes throughout the lithosphere during early rifting. These datasets would also be applied to geohazard characterization and mitigation. We propose a planning trip for four US scientists to visit Malawi in order to strengthen relationships with foreign scientists and to solve key logistical challenges. US scientists will meet with Dr. Leonard Kalindekafe, Director of the Geological Survey of Malawi, and Mrs. Lostina Chapola, Head of the Geography Department at the Catholic University of Malawi, as well as other scientists and officials in relevant government ministries. Together, they will make specific plans for the full proposal, which will be submitted in November. Our ambitious project also poses several logistical challenges, particularly the identification of an appropriate vessel to deploy geophysical instrumentation and acquire data within the lake. A significant portion of the trip will be spent assessing academic and industry vessels. These particular PI?s from the Continental Dynamics proposal will be most closely involved in different aspects of the ?marine? portion of the experiment, and are thus needed to assess port facilities and ships. Finally, we propose to visit the field region to assess different strategies for deploying onshore instruments in the rugged terrain around the lake, inspect port facilities at Nkhata Bay and Chilumba, and acquire preliminary data for planning purposes. We plan to re-occupy two GPS monuments in our proposed study area (which were installed and used for data acquisition in 1997) for two to three days.Broader Impacts: Magmatism and seismicity associated with extension in this part of the Western Rift pose a serious hazard to surrounding communities in Malawi and Tanzania, particularly those residing near the Rungwe volcanic province. Our proposed Continental Dynamics program will provide unprecedented details on seismicity and present-day deformation in this region, which can inform hazard assessment and mitigation. Additionally, our study complements other active research and outreach efforts in this region, such as the Lake Malawi Drilling Project; it would provide a broader tectonic context for results on recent climate changes and the evolution of early humans. Our project will also contribute to scientific education and research in this region by augmenting AfricaArray (www.africaarray.org). The proposed program includes support for graduate students from Malawi and Tanzania, who will participate in acquiring data, evaluating geo-hazards, and analyzing the resulting datasets. Data from our temporary deployment will complement permanent and temporary AfricaArray stations in the south EARS, enhancing the value of both datasets. The team of US scientists contains a mixture of senior and junior scientists with a spread of expertise and varying levels of experience working in Africa. A planning trip would make it possible for them to gain local knowledge and strengthen collaborations in Malawi in order to develop a viable plan for a major investigation in this region. The longer-term impact of this trip is that it provides the opportunity for several scientists, including two early-career scientists, who have never worked in Africa to develop the contacts and familiarity necessary to plan and execute future scientific and educational programs here.