The Geological Evolution of the Galapagos Archipelago and Other Ocean Island Provinces: A Proposal for an International, Multidisciplinary, Field-Based Symposium

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to support an international symposium to better integrate our knowledge of the geological, geochemical, and geophysical evolution of the Galápagos Archipelago, and how the islands have provided the framework for biological evolution. The symposium will also address the origin and evolution of other ocean island provinces such as Hawaii, Reunion, and Iceland in order to further our fundamental understanding of hotspot volcanism, including deep mantle processes, geochemical reservoirs, lithospheric deformation, and magma evolution. Exploration of the Galápagos and other ocean island provinces has proceeded largely along disciplinary lines, and satisfactory syntheses of the vast and growing body of information available are lacking. The Galápagos Archipelago offers an ideal setting for such a synthesis, owing to a number of factors: The great variety of volcanic styles and products exposed on islands that are distributed broadly across the Galápagos platform, a prolonged and well-preserved history of volcanism associated with the Galápagos hotspot, distinct geochemical and geophysical signatures of plume-ridge interactions, excellent conditions for seismic imaging studies, as well as the unique conditions for studying the influence of geological circumstances upon evolutionary biology. Important ongoing and planned studies of the Galápagos region motivate an investment targeted at integration, synthesis, and strategic design of future explorations. It is expected that this symposium will serve as a forum for the collating articles regarding the current state of geological and geophysical knowledge of the Galápagos and other ocean island provinces to be published in a special AGU Geophysical Monograph. In addition, a report will be written to identify strategic objectives for future exploration, including both data acquisition and interpretation. Primary recommendations will focus on future work in the Galápagos, as well as that in other ocean island sites. It is anticipated that an international community effort directed toward the understanding of ocean island provinces may be born out of the symposium. The central goal of this symposium is to integrate knowledge across various disciplines that contribute to our understanding of ocean island provinces, including geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and evolutionary biology. The symposium will be international in character, and will be hosted by the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galápagos Islands. Among the participants will be a number of Ecuadorian scientists and officials, whose participation in future studies of the Galápagos is crucial. We will recruit attendees from a broad range of relevant disciplines, with emphasis on early career scientists who will be inspired by the scientific wonders of the Galápagos Archipelago. As an integral part of the symposium, all participants will have the opportunity to attend guided field trips including both active and extinct volcanoes on several islands. The symposium will also provide important opportunities for outreach combining the efforts of the Darwin Station, Ecuadorian agencies, and various conservation organizations, as well as the international scientific community. This grant will support participant travel and accommodation expenses in order to achieve the twin goals of knowledge synthesis and broad community involvement.