Seismological imaging and evolution of young plate margins and their associated basins.

当地球表面的构造板块碰撞或被拉开时，它们会产生深深的凹陷（通常充满沉积物）和/或高山。该计划是关于成像（通过先进的回声探测）和解释板块构造过程，因为它们发生，或不久之后，在两个对比区域。第一个是大西洋加拿大的大陆边缘，它是由1亿多年前（地质学上不长）的伸展和海底扩张形成的。这个边缘保存了事件的地质记录，并拥有大量的碳氢化合物。纽芬兰边缘和它的伊比利亚共轭形成了一个被充分研究的对，具有异常宽（>100公里）的大陆-海洋过渡。最近对纽芬兰边缘的钻探发现了挖出的地幔物质，与共轭上发现的类似岩石相匹配。早期的不对称延伸的想法需要修改！处理和解释更多的地震数据将使我们能够更清楚地描绘沉积盆地和过渡带，并重建边缘是如何形成的。第二个地区是目前活跃的塞浦路斯弧在东地中海，这是从俯冲到大陆碰撞的过渡。我们最近的工作记录了在过去的1500万年里，随着会聚方向旋转45度，盆地沉积和变形的变化模式。现在，打算在塞浦路斯和希腊弧的交界处获取、处理和解释4 000公里的地震反射数据。弧形连接是非常动态的板角，通常是极端表面起伏的部位（例如，5公里深的罗兹盆地），但知之甚少。这些数据将为了解这个特殊角落的历史提供新的见解，并通过概括，了解板块相互作用最不为人所知的方面之一，这些过程的机制为减少它们造成的自然灾害和开发它们可能包含的资源提供了基础。因此，这项研究将有助于地质学家感兴趣的基本板块过程，那些参与应对地质灾害，并寻找碳氢化合物能源资源。

When the tectonic plates of Earth's surface collide, or are pulled apart, they create deep depressions (that usually fill with sediments) and/or high mountains. This program is about imaging (by advanced echo sounding) and interpreting plate tectonic processes as they occur, or shortly afterwards, in two contrasted areas.The first is the continental edge of Atlantic Canada, which formed by extension and seafloor spreading over 100 million years ago (not long, geologically). This edge preserves a geological record of the events, and hosts significant hydrocarbons. The Newfoundland margin and its Iberian conjugate form a well-studied pair with unusually wide (>100 km) continent-ocean transitions. Recent drilling of the Newfoundland margin found exhumed mantle material, matching similar rocks discovered on the conjugate. Earlier ideas of asymmetrical extension need to be revised! Processing and interpretation of additional seismic data will enable us to delineate the sedimentary basins and transition zones more clearly, and to reconstruct how the margin formed.The second area is the presently-active Cyprus arc in the eastern Mediterranean, which is in transition from subduction to continental collision. Our recent work has documented changing patterns of basin sedimentation and deformation as the convergence direction rotated 45 degrees in the last 15 million years. Now, the intention is to acquire, process and interpret 4000 km of seismic reflection data, at the junction of the Cyprus and Hellenic arcs. Arc junctions are very dynamic plate corners, often the sites of extreme surface relief (e.g., the 5-km deep Rhodes Basin), but poorly understood. These data will provide new insights into the history of this particular corner and, by generalization, into one of the least well-understood aspects of plate interactions.The mechanics of these processes underpin attempts to reduce the natural hazards they pose, and to exploit the resources they may contain. So this research will aid geologists interested in fundamental plate processes, those involved in coping with geological hazards, and those searching for hydrocarbon energy resources.