Descripción del proyecto
La evolución geológica de las costas orientales de América
Los márgenes pasivos, zonas en que los continentes se distanciaron y fueron separados por un océano, son importantes fuentes de petróleo y gas, y puntos calientes de biodiversidad. El aumento del nivel del mar, la mayor intensidad de las tormentas y la pérdida de sedimentos suponen una amenaza para estos entornos cuya evolución es poco conocida debido a la falta de modelos que combinen la erosión del suelo con la deposición de sedimentos. La historia del margen pasivo del Atlántico al este de Estados Unidos, que conllevó la exposición de rocas antiguamente enterradas como resultado de factores como la erosión, no está del todo clara. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos STRATASCAPE tiene como objetivo abordar este reto con la creación de un nuevo modelo.
Objetivo
Passive continental margins make up many of the world’s densely populated coasts, hold 35% of the world’s largest oil reservoirs, sequester carbon, and are critical biodiversity hotspots. Human populations and infrastructure on passive margins are at risk from sea level rise, increased storm intensity, and sediment starvation. The geologic evolution of passive margins around the world is poorly understood due to a lack of models that couple terrestrial erosion with sediment deposition in the deep marine environment. The Atlantic Passive Margin (APM) of the eastern United States is exceptionally enigmatic; debate centers on how many (if any) pulses of exhumation occurred on the APM since the opening of the Atlantic Ocean 200 million years ago. Yet there has been no attempt to use mechanistic surface process models to extract APM exhumation history. I propose to build a new, coupled model of terrestrial and marine sediment transport and use it to invert the rich deep marine sedimentary record for APM exhumation history. I will develop a new model for continent-scale deep marine seascape and stratigraphy evolution over geologic time, which I will couple with existing models for terrestrial and shallow marine environments. I will validate the new model against an existing small-scale stratigraphy model as well as stratigraphy from the Bay of Biscay and the Ogooué Delta, Gabon. I will use the coupled model to invert the deep marine sedimentary record and resolve APM exhumation history over the past 200 Ma. Inversion results will provide novel constraints on the number, timing, and cause of exhumation pulses, and will be compared against thermochronologic data and geodynamic models. This approach is the first to quantitatively link the development of marine stratigraphy to APM landscape change. The proposed study will unlock the potential of deep marine deposits, the most complete sedimentary archives on Earth, to yield time-resolved records of changes to Earth’s surface.
Ámbito científico
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Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
14473 POTSDAM
Alemania