Descrizione del progetto
Comprendere il trasferimento delle colate nella crosta terrestre
La crosta continentale della Terra contiene risorse naturali e fonti di energia. La formazione, la migrazione e la messa in posto di rocce interamente o parzialmente fuse esercitano un controllo fondamentale sulla sua struttura ed eterogeneità. Poiché molti elementi essenziali sono concentrati nella crosta superiore, la differenziazione chimica e le firme geochimiche misurate necessarie dovrebbero provenire dalla fusione degli ambienti inferiori del mantello e della crosta. Tuttavia, la comprensione del trasporto e dell’accumulo di tali colate è ancora limitata. Il progetto MeltTransport, finanziato dall’UE, esplorerà esempi naturali di migrazione e accumulo di colate applicando una combinazione innovativa di tecniche multidisciplinari e strutture analitiche d’avanguardia per fornire nuove conoscenze su questo processo fondamentale.
Obiettivo
The Earth’s continental crust is compositionally layered, hosts natural resources and energy sources sustaining our civilization and represents an important record of the Earth through geological time. A fundamental control on the structure and heterogeneity of the Earth’s continental crust is the formation, migration and emplacement of fully and/or partially molten rocks. The upper crust is richer in silica than in the lower crust and these rocks is where many of the elements that are essential for life are concentrated. The required chemical differentiation and measured geochemical signatures suggests they must be sourced from melting of lower crustal and mantle environments. This requires melt transfer through the lower and middle crust. However, compared to the generation of melts, the transport and accumulation of such melts is still poorly documented and understood. The movement of melts in the crust is responsible for mineral resource formation, hazards (e.g. earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) and is a fundamental enabler of plate tectonics – a feature that is unique to Earth.
The ‘MeltTransport’ project will interrogate natural examples of melt migration and accumulation using an innovative combination of multidisciplinary techniques and state-of-the-art analytical facilities, including a one-of-a-kind experimental apparatus, to provide new insights into this fundamental process. This project will investigate melting processes through three main methods: (1) quantitative microstructural and chemical characterisation, (2) physical experimentation and (3) numerical modelling. This combination of methods will permit visualisation and quantification of (i) how the interaction between melts and the host rock (melt–rock) varies with different pressure/temperature/deformation scenarios, (ii) the formation of microstructures and features during melt extraction/migration/emplacement, and (iii) geochemical characteristics associated with particular microstructures.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
LS2 9JT Leeds
Regno Unito