Thermal and chemical evolution of the oceanic lithosphere

地球内部的冷却控制着许多行星尺度的过程，如板块运动和地球发电机。板块构造范式主要是通过冷板块的俯冲来冷却地球的核心和地幔。通过平板的传导，会产生更多的热量损失。这些过程的相对重要性主要取决于大洋岩石圈在大洋中脊产生和在俯冲带消亡之间的冷却。然而，人们对大洋岩石圈的冷却和化学演化知之甚少。这在很大程度上是因为用于约束这一点的主要数据，即海底热流和水深测量，无法区分现有的模型。我建议利用对大洋岩石圈的岩石学和地球化学研究来更好地了解大洋岩石圈的热和化学演化。对地幔包体的研究将限制大洋板块深部的P-T-t路径。大洋上部地壳低温热液蚀变的定量模型将有助于约束离轴流体的流动。这些数据与现有的海底热流和水深测量数据相结合，将被整合到大洋板块的热化学演化模型中，从而使人们能够对我们的动态星球的热演化有新的见解。

The cooling of Earth's interior controls many planetary scale processes such as plate motions and the geodynamo. The plate tectonic paradigm involves the cooling of Earth's core and mantle largely through the subduction of cold plates. Further heat loss occurs via conduction through the plates. The relative importance of these processes depends principally on the cooling of the oceanic lithosphere between its creation at mid-ocean ridges and demise in subduction zones. However, the cooling and chemical evolution of the oceanic lithosphere are poorly understood. This is largely because the primary data used to constrain this, seafloor heat flow and bathymetry, cannot distinguish between existing models. I propose to use petrological and geochemical studies of the oceanic lithosphere to better understand the thermal and chemical evolution of the oceanic lithosphere. Studies of mantle xenoliths will constrain P-T-t paths in the deep portions of oceanic plates. Quantitative models of low-temperature hydrothermal alteration of the upper oceanic crust will help to constrain fluid fluxes in the off-axis. These data, combined with existing seafloor heat flow and bathymetry data, will be integrated into a model of the thermo-chemical evolution of oceanic plates and thus allow new insights into the thermal evolution of our dynamic planet.