Characterising the volcanic and geochemical record of continental breakup in Afar

埃塞俄比亚的阿法尔地区暴露了地球上一些最活跃但知之甚少的火山。著名的例子包括Erta-Ale（有活跃的熔岩湖）和Dabbahu地区，该地区在2005-2010年期间遭受了重大的堤坝入侵。阿法尔正在经历从大陆裂谷到海底扩张的过渡，导致裂谷火山记录中广泛的地球化学多样性。该项目的主要目标是大大提高我们对阿法尔凹陷岩石学和地球化学变化的理解，从而检验与阿法尔北方岩石圈突然减薄相关的岩浆熔融机制的假设[1]。为此，该研究将利用比萨大学收藏的大量岩石标本目录，将阿法尔南部的火山与阿法尔北方的火山（如阿法尔-达拉菲拉）进行比较。该项目将涉及遥感（使用ArcGIS），将样品置于物理火山学框架中，并应用岩石学、地球化学（主要和微量元素分析）和同位素技术[2]。总之，这些方法将使我们能够测试是否异常高温[3]或板块变薄最终驱动地幔熔融。

The Afar Region, Ethiopia, exposes some of the most active but poorly understood volcanoes on Earth. Well-known examples include Erta-Ale (with its active lava lake) and the Dabbahu region, which was subject to major dyke intrusion from 2005-2010. Afar is undergoing a transition from continental rifting to seafloor spreading, resulting in wide geochemical diversity in the volcanic record of rifting. The principal goal of this project is to greatly improve our understanding of petrological and geochemical variability across the Afar depression, thereby testing hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of magma melting associated with abrupt lithospheric thinning in northern Afar [1]. To this end, the study will compare volcanoes in southern Afar to those in northern Afar such as Alu-Dalafilla, utilising an extensive catalogue of rock specimens housed at the University of Pisa. The project will involve remote sensing (using ArcGIS) to place samples in a physical volcanological framework, coupled with the application of petrological, geochemical (major and trace element analysis) and isotopic techniques [2]. Together, these approaches will allow us to test whether anomalously high temperatures [3] or plate thinning ultimately drives mantle melting.