The LIBRE [Lake Izabal Basin Research Endeavor] Scientific Drilling Workshop: Drilling and Coring the Lake Izabal Basin

Missouri University Of Science And Technology, Rolla MO

Investigators

Abstract

The LIBRE (Lake Izabal Basin Research Endeavor) Scientific Drilling Workshop provides the opportunity to promote and explore science in two broad and interdisciplinary fields regarding Lake Izabal Basin (LIB) located along the southern border of the North American Plate in Guatemala. First, the basin formed along a fault analogous to the San Andreas Fault in California. Despite significant scientific efforts to understand the likelihood of such faults to rupture and cause significant structural damage and loss of human life, there are still fundamental scientific questions that remain unsolved. This workshop facilitates science experts coming together to discuss current knowledge and remaining unsolved questions of this plate boundary. Second, drilling the sediments in the basin would provide the opportunity to answer questions related to climatic, biologic, ecologic, and volcanic changes in the tropics for > 1 million years. The workshop convenes experts from around the world to discuss these research endeavors and to recommend a scientific plan that results in significant contributions to the Earth Sciences and society. The LIBRE (Lake Izabal Basin Research Endeavor) Scientific Drilling Workshop provides a forum for scientists and students to discuss the scientific importance and societal significance of drilling and coring the Lake Izabal Basin (LIB), an active pull-apart basin that developed along the North American and Caribbean plate boundary. Drilling the northern fault of the plate boundary and collecting cores from the thick sedimentary cover in the LIB can improve understanding of regional tectonics and associated geohazards along strike-slip plate boundaries; paleoclimate and tropical feedback on climate change across multiple glacial-interglacial cycles; associated paleoecological and paleobiological changes; and geohazards associated to the Central American Volcanic Arc. Further, discussions on climate, biology, ecology, and volcanology can lead to development of specific scientific questions related to the response of tropical ecosystems to environmental changes. Funds for the workshop ensure that students from groups typically excluded from geosciences and early career scientists can attend the workshop and participate in the discussions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.