Collaborative Research: As above so below: Quantifying the role of simultaneous LLSVPs and continents on Earth's cooling history using numerical simulations of mantle convection

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

Earth’s cooling rate affects many processes necessary for a dynamic, living world, from plate tectonics to the generation of the planet’s magnetic field. Deciphering the formation and evolution of such processes requires knowledge of the planet’s thermal history. Much of that history remains unconstrained in part because several controlling mechanisms have yet to be quantified. This project will address these gaps by studying the influence of Earth’s continents and continent-sized piles of anomalous material covering portions of the outer core on the Earth’s cooling history, plate tectonics, and magnetic field. In addition, the project will expand Earth Science education through an interdisciplinary game development program and train graduate students and a post-doctoral scholar at two rural, land-grant universities. This project will systematically evaluate how simultaneous surface and basal insulating bodies in Earth’s mantle (continents and large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs)) jointly alter the thermal evolution and internal mantle dynamics of the Earth. Two-dimensional spherical numerical simulations will be used to quantify the impacts of simulated LLSVP and continental materials in models of increasing rheological, thermal, and temporal complexity. The simulations will address three research objectives: (1) isolate the fundamental processes governing interactions of surface (continent) and basal (LLSVP) insulators, (2) quantify the influence of complex rheology and internal heating on the basal and surface insulator convective system, and (3) examine impacts of time-evolving basal and surface insulators through Earth’s history. Numerical simulations of Earth’s mantle subject to surface (continent) and basal (LLSVP) insulators will be conducted using the highly parallel finite-element code ASPECT (Advanced Solver for Problems in Earth’s ConvecTion). Simulations will be solved in parallel across ~32-256 computational cores on University of Idaho’s Falcon supercomputer (>33k cores, 1.17 Petaflop) or Washington State University’s Kamiak high performance computer cluster. 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.