NSF Workshop: Drilling active tectonics and magmatism (Volcanics, Geoprisms, and Fault Zones Post-SAFOD)

Utah State University, Logan UT

Investigators

Abstract

This award will provide funds to organize and convene a workshop that will explore how continental scientific drilling can be used to better understand active tectonic processes expressed by faults, volcanoes, and volcanic provinces. This workshop will build upon successful efforts such as SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth), the Chelungpu fault drilling project, the Alpine Fault drilling project in New Zealand, the Gulf of Corith project, the Unzen volcanic drilling project, and the Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Project (HSDP). Participants will be expected to define significant scientific justifications for examining the active tectonics and magmatic processes related to faults and volcanoes that can be addressed by a coordinated program of continental scientific drilling and related site investigations. Workshop participants will prioritize these processes, and propose the types of faults and volcanoes that would be targeted by these efforts. We envision these efforts to comprise interdisciplinary programs that can be directly related to on-going NSF initiatives (e.g., Geoprisms; IRIS; Earthscope), and which can be applied at a range of scales, from localized fault systems to plate boundary faults, and from small monogenetic vents to super-volcanoes. The goal for this workshop is to examine these issues in detail and to provide a roadmap of specific projects that address the most pressing issues in active tectonics drilling.