UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Grant: $1,517,928 - National Science Foundation - Jul. 2, 2009
No votes have been cast for this award yet
Join the conversation: Post a comment about this award
Award Description: Our knowledge of how crustal magma chambers evolve and how these magma chambers relate to plutons and eruptions is inadequate, largely because nobody has yet conducted a comprehensive study of an active crustal magma chamber. This project provides a unique opportunity to do so and will provide fundamentally new insights into deep crustal magma generation, storage, and differentiation. The PIs have designed the project taking advantage of what may be the early stages leading up to an ignimbrite eruption. Given that a large ignimbrite eruption has never been observed, let alone the build-up to one, this might be a once in a many-generation opportunity. The project builds on recent InSAR results that show large-scale rapid uplift situated over several volcanoes in the Central Andes. The research is focused on resolving the location, size, and shape of the magma chambers, and the rates at which they are filling. The combination of InSAR, GPS geodesy, and microgravity measurements will provide the essential data for magma fluxes at present. Fluvial geomorphology will be used to estimate uplift rates over a longer time. Seismic and magnetotelluric studies will provide independent information about the location and size of any magma chamber. The mechanism of magma transport through the crust is very important for a number of issues ranging from the manner of crust formation via magma addition to basic hazard predictions for volcanic eruptions. Investigating the development of a large mid-crustal magma chamber while it is being built is the best way to advance our understanding of this issue and the interdisciplinary approach in this proposal is key. The project includes close collaboration with scientists from the University of Bristol (UK) who are funded by NERC and with research groups in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.
Project Description: See Award Description. Personnel in place: Principal Investigator/Research Professor, and two graduate students. Research underway: Worked on earthquake swarm parameters to be used for comparison later, and co-Principal Investigator traveled to Chile for instrument site survey..
Jobs Summary: Principal Investigator/Research Professor, and two graduate students. All positions are retained. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 2, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
No comments have been added for this project.