Collaborative Research: Anatomy of an Overlapping Spreading Center; Geochemical and Geological Study of the EPR 9°03'N OSC

University South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

PI/Institution: Klein, Emily (Duke) Title: Collaborative Proposal: Anatomy of an overlapping spreading center; geochemical and geological study of the EPR 9 03'N OSC Abstract: 0526120 (Klein/White/Von Damm/Sims/Perfit) Intellectual Merit. The objective of this project is to test the hypothesis that lava composition, hydrothermal vent field location, and eruption sites on the East Pacific Rise are linked to the behavior and location of melt in the upper mantle. The project builds upon recently acquired seismic data that details existing melt sills and estimates of melt volume beneath the crust in the area. The intent is to determine whether a relationship exists between exposed geological features and composition, and sill and melt volume and distribution. The PIs will perform more detailed mapping and sampling using magnetics, sonar, and Jason II. That data would then be compared to and integrated with existing seismic data at the SIO Visualization Center. Students would be involved in the cruise and data analyses. Broader Impacts. Graduate students and undergraduates will be involved in the project, both directly at sea, and through project work that develops as a consequence of the field program. The PIs' track record in involvement of students, and academic outputs from those efforts, indicates that this will be a very successful means of involving graduate and undergraduate students in marine geological research. Involvement in the SEAS program also provides an opportunity for middle school students to gain an understanding of marine geology. The impact on the scientific community, particularly if the underlying goals of co-registering surficial geology/geochemistry with geophysical evidence for source magma sills, will be most significant, and is well in line with R2K goals. This will be amplified by making use of the SIO Visualization facility's seismic tomography database.