Isaac Newton Institute Program on Melt in the Mantle

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

The Isaac Newton Institute (INI) program on Melt in the Mantle is a research and educational program running from February to June, 2016, at Cambridge University (UK). The program will focus around three workshops in February, April and June, which will cover (1) foundations in the physics, mathematical and numerical approaches of mantle and magma dynamics; (2) upscaling the physics, modeling and geophysical observations from the grain and pore scale to the the continuum scale of molten mantle; and (3) applications of the continuum physics and models to tectonic and planetary environments. This proposal seeks funds to assist early-career scientists based in the United States, including students and postdoctoral scholars, for travel to these workshops. Approximately 5 scientists will attend each workshop, for a total of 15. The INI program will provide these scientists an excellent opportunity to build international collaborations and learn about mantle melting from some of the leading Earth scientists and applied mathematicians in the world. Earth's mantle is almost entirely solid, but on geological timescales it convects vigorously, the well-known surface expression of this being plate tectonics. At depths up to 100 km beneath plate-tectonic boundaries (mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones), and beneath ocean islands such as Hawaii, the mantle melts, and that melt rises to the surface to feed volcanism and form new crust. Such magmatism plays a key role in the chemical evolution and dynamics of our planet. Understanding the formation and migration of melt in the mantle presents a formidable scientific and mathematical challenge. One key challenge is in bridging diverse length scales: melt lies along grain boundaries at micron scales, may focus into channels at meter scales, and migrates over 100 km. Sophisticated mathematical techniques, such as homogenization theory, are needed to map an understanding of physics at the smallest scales to plate-tectonic scales. Seismology offers a way to image melt in the mantle, but the development of new tools in inverse theory are required to extract that information. Models of melt transport are eventually cast as a series of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations, which require advanced numerical techniques to solve. The INI program will bring together a broad spectrum of mathematicians and solid Earth scientists to tackle these and other fundamental challenges of melt in the mantle. The support from this award will enable early-career US scientists to participate in this international endeavor.