COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Geodetic measurements and mechanical models of rifting in onshore segments of mid-ocean ridges

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

The research supported by this proposal is an international collaboration between U.S. scientists from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and their Icelandic colleagues that is aimed at quantifying the role of magmatism in accommodating spreading at mid-oceanic ridges. The investigators are performing an impulse-response experiment, in which the impulse is the injection of magma at the rift, and the response is the deformation recorded by geodesic and seismological methods. The research focuses on extension related to an intrusive event from the northern volcanic zone of Krafla in Iceland in 1975-1984, where the width of the axial valley was increased by several meters due to the intrusion of dikes, resulting in a century?s worth of spreading at the long-term average rate of about two centimeters per year. After the magma supply diminishes, the extension continues over years or decades, and finally slows as the stresses relax. The research is addressing the following questions: (1) What is the geometry of the magmatic plumbing? (2) How does the magmatic pressure in the plumbing evolve with time? (3) What are the material properties of the rift structure? Providing quantitative answers to these questions requires answering a more fundamental question: which constitutive relation (rheology) best describes the rock below the lithosphere? Accordingly, the primary goal of the research is determining the constitutive relations and rheologic properties governing rifting. The research is contributing to the understanding of the mechanics of rifting at mid-ocean ridges, a fundamental process in plate tectonics. The research is fostering the training of a doctoral graduate student and is supporting the research efforts of an early career scientist. Research results and the modeling protocols developed during this study will be disseminated among the geological community. From a societal standpoint, the research is leading to a broader understanding of magmatic and seismological hazards associated with rifting events. The research is supported by the Geophysics Program and Marine Geology and Geophysics Programs.