The Rheology of the Lithosphere Beneath the Hawaiian Ridge

2014年，美国国家科学基金会（NSF）、夏威夷大学（University of Hawaii）和私人资助的施密特海洋研究所（Schmidt Ocean Institute）联合开展了一项研究，对西夏威夷山脊（Hawaiian Ridge）沿线的海底进行了调查，在2500公里长的死火山链中，水深超过50米的区域几乎完全覆盖。这个特殊的数据集将用于研究构造板块的强度。重力数据和海底地图记录了火山形成时构造板块向下弯曲的情况。模型将用于模拟这种弯曲，并提供构造板块强度的估计。这些结果将补充，甚至可以修正在实验室测量岩石样品强度的实验方法所产生的结果。该项目将有助于了解需要了解岩石强度的地震。该项目还将有助于高级STEM领域的研究生和本科生的专业培训。此外，将开发一个研究生研讨会，其主题将以板块的优势为基础，客座讲座将通过Skype远程授课，并在iTunes大学和YouTube网站上提供。太平洋岩石圈的流变特性将沿着夏威夷山脊的较老部分进行研究。在这个地区，不同大小的火山在大致相同的地壳上喷发（大约85 Ma）。这将使研究人员能够在岩石圈对载荷的响应模型中，将载荷大小和载荷年龄的影响与岩石圈热年龄的影响分离开来。研究人员将使用在该地区收集的多波束测深和重力数据来量化控制下伏岩石圈弯曲的流变规律，从而表征岩石圈的强度。这项研究可以激发我们对岩石圈流变学整体认识的修正。

A joint effort by the NSF, University of Hawaii, and the privately funded Schmidt Ocean Institute in 2014 surveyed the seafloor along the western Hawaiian Ridge and obtained nearly complete coverage in water depths greater than 50 m of the 2500-km-long chain of extinct volcanoes. This exceptional data set will be used to study the strength of the tectonic plate. The gravity data and seafloor maps record the downward bending of the tectonic plate when volcanos are built on it. Models will be used to simulate this bending and provide an estimate of the strength of the tectonic plate. The results will complement, or could even revise, results produced by experimental methods in which the strength of rock samples is measured in the laboratory. The project will contribute to the understanding of earthquakes which requires an understanding of rock strength. The project will also contribute to the professional training of graduate and undergraduate students in advanced STEM fields. In addition, a graduate student seminar will be developed whose topic will be on the strength of the plate, and guest lectures will be given remotely via Skype and made available on iTunes University and YouTube sites.Rheologic properties of the Pacific Ocean lithosphere will be investigated along the older section of the Hawaiian Ridge. In this area, volcanoes of different sizes have erupted on crust of roughly the same age (about 85 Ma). This will allow the researchers to isolate the effect of the size of the load and age of the load from the effect of the thermal age of the lithosphere in their models of the lithosphere response to the loads. The researchers will use multibeam bathymetry and gravity data collected in this region to quantify the rheological laws that control the flexure of the underlying lithosphere and thus, characterize the strength of the lithosphere. This study could motivate revisions to our understanding of lithosphere rheology overall.