Award Abstract # 0409835
Collaborative Research: Constraining Mantle Rheology, Mantle Flow, and Crust/Mantle coupling Beneath New Zealand

NSF Org: EAR
Division Of Earth Sciences
Recipient: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Initial Amendment Date: July 1, 2005
Latest Amendment Date: September 11, 2013
Award Number: 0409835
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Leonard E. Johnson
EAR
 Division Of Earth Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: July 1, 2005
End Date: June 30, 2014 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $359,533.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $369,483.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2005 = $106,163.00
FY 2006 = $84,759.00

FY 2007 = $82,606.00

FY 2008 = $86,005.00

FY 2009 = $9,950.00
History of Investigator:
  • Anne Sheehan (Principal Investigator)
    Anne.Sheehan@colorado.edu
  • Peter Molnar (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 MARINE ST
Boulder
CO  US  80309-0001
(303)492-6221
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: University of Colorado at Boulder
3100 MARINE ST
Boulder
CO  US  80309-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): SPVKK1RC2MZ3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,
CONTINENTAL DYNAMICS PROGRAM
Primary Program Source: 0100999999 NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
0100999999 NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

0100999999 NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01000809DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, OTHR
Program Element Code(s): 157500, 158100
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

0409835
Sheehan

One of the critical questions in Continental Dynamics is: "What is the rheology of the system?" Do rocks deform in the ductile regime by diffusion creep (with strain rate proportional to stress), or by dislocation creep (where doubling the stress increases strain rates ~10 times)?. Is the lower crust relatively strong, with efficient coupling of strain between the crust and mantle, or weak, as in the classic "jelly sandwich" model? Is the upper mantle strong, as expected for dry peridotite, or weak, due to high volatile content? Is deformation in the upper mantle localized along shear zones beneath crustal faults, or distributed, as in thin viscous sheet models?

This is a project that will use seismic anisotropy to measure strain in the mantle and that when combined with mineral physics, to constrain deformation mechanisms and therefore to constrain rheology. The PIs maintain that the strike-slip system in New Zealand is the best place to study these relationships because the signal is large and simple with constraints at the surface provided by geology, GPS, and known relative plate motions for the last 45 million years. Specifically the project involves: 1) Deployment of 30 Ocean Bottom Seismographs; 2) Measurement of seismic anisotropy using a variety of techniques (shear-wave splitting, surface wave dispersion, Pn and Sn travel times, and receiver functions); 3) Calculations of mantle finite strain fields that might be responsible for anisotropy, constrained by relative plate motions and observed strain in New Zealand and considering a variety of vertical and lateral distributions of temperature and deformation mechanisms; and 4) Combination of laboratory, theoretical and seismological constraints on anisotropy to bound the conditions under which dislocation creep occurs.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 14)
Boese, C.M., T. A. Stern, J. Townend, S. Bourguignon, A. Sheehan, and E. G. C. Smith, E.G.C. "Sub-crustal earthquakes within the Australia-Pacific plate boundary zone beneath the Southern Alps, New Zealand" Earth and Planetary Science Letters , v.376 , 2013
Boese, C.M., T. A. Stern, J. Townend, S. Bourguignon, A. Sheehan, and E. G. C. Smith, E.G.C "Sub-crustal earthquakes within the Australia-Pacific plate boundary zone beneath the Southern Alps, New Zealand" Earth and Planetary Science Letters , v.376 , 2013 , p.212 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.06.030
Collins, J., P. Molnar, and A. Sheehan "Multibeam bathymetric surveys of submarine volcanoes and mega-pockmarks on the Chatham Rise, New Zealand" New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics , v.54 , 2011 , p.329
Collins, J., P. Molnar, and A. Sheehan "Multibeam bathymetric surveys of submarine volcanoes and mega-pockmarks on the Chatham Rise, New Zealand" New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics , v.54 , 2011 , p.329 doi: 10.1080/00288306.2011.589860
Daniel W. Zietlow, Anne F. Sheehan, Peter H. Molnar, Martha Savage, John Collins, Brad Hager, Greg Hirth "Distributed versus Localized Lithospheric Deformation at a Strike-Slip Fault: Mantle Seismic Anisotropy under South Island, New Zealand" JGR , 2014 , p.doi:10.10
Godin, O. A., N. A. Zabotin, A. F. Sheehan, and J. A. Collins "Interferometry of infragravity waves off New Zealand" J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , v.119 , 2014 doi:10.1002/2013JC009395
Godin, O. A., N. A. Zabotin, A. F. Sheehan, Z. Yang, and J. A. Collins "Power spectra of infragravity waves in a deep ocean" Geophysical Research Letters , v.40 , 2013 doi: 10.1002/grl.50418
Oleg A. Godin1,2,*, Nikolay A. Zabotin1,3, Anne F. Sheehan1,4, Zhaohui Yang4, John A. Collins5 "Power spectra of infragravity waves in a deep ocean" Geophysical Research Letters , v.40 , 2013 , p.2159 DOI: 10.1002/grl.50418
Stachnik, J. C., A. Sheehan, D. Zietlow, Z. Yang, J. Collins, and A. Ferris "Determination of ocean bottom seismometer orientation via Rayleigh wave polarization" Seismol. Res. Lett , v.83 , 2012 , p.704
Stachnik, J. C., Sheehan, A. F., Zietlow, D. W., Yang, Z., Collins, J., and Ferris, A "Determination of New Zealand ocean bottom seismometer orientation via Rayleigh-wave polarization" Seismological Research Letters , v.83 , 2012 , p.704 10.1785/0220110128
Wech, A.G., A. F. Sheehan, C. M. Boese, J. Townend, and T. A. Stern "Tectonic tremor recorded at ocean bottom seismometers" Seismological Research Letters , v.84 , 2013 , p.752 doi: 10.1785/0220120184
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 14)

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