Origin of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle

我提出了一个研究计划，涉及岩石学和地球化学（包括稳定同位素调查和年龄测定）的地幔捕虏体从纳瓦霍火山场的科罗拉多高原。这些样品的特点是中间地幔物质已知的捕虏体套件的表面金伯利岩和高压变质的海洋岩石圈的银侵位在活动大陆边缘或缝合带的化石俯冲带。通过对纳瓦霍捕虏体的研究，我们将进一步了解导致大陆深部地幔根形成的过程。此外，这些数据将对长期存在的问题产生影响，即科罗拉多高原如何以及何时上升到目前的高度，以及是什么导致了大陆高原的总体抬升。

I propose a research program involving the petrology and geochemistry (including stable isotope investigations and age dating) of mantle xenoliths from the Navajo Volcanic Field on the Colorado Plateau. These samples have characteristics that are intermediate between mantle materials known from xenoliths suites brought to the surface by kimberlites and from slivers of high-pressure metamorphosed oceanic lithosphere emplaced in fossil subductions zones at active continental margins or in suture zones. Through a study of the Navajo xenoliths we will advance our understanding of the processes that led to the formation of the deep mantle roots of continents. Furthermore, these data will bear on the long-standing question of how and when the Colorado Plateau rose to its present elevation, as well as what causes uplift of continental plateaux in general.