Award Abstract # 0838722
Collaborative Research: Erosion History and Sediment Provenance of East Antarctica from Multi-method Detrital Geo- and Thermochronology

NSF Org: OPP
Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Initial Amendment Date: June 9, 2009
Latest Amendment Date: June 9, 2009
Award Number: 0838722
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Alexandra Isern
OPP
 Office of Polar Programs (OPP)
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: June 15, 2009
End Date: May 31, 2012 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $296,328.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $296,328.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2009 = $296,328.00
ARRA Amount: $296,328.00
History of Investigator:
  • Peter Reiners (Principal Investigator)
    reiners@u.arizona.edu
  • George Gehrels (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Stuart Thomson (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Arizona
845 N PARK AVE RM 538
TUCSON
AZ  US  85721
(520)626-6000
Sponsor Congressional District: 07
Primary Place of Performance: University of Arizona
845 N PARK AVE RM 538
TUCSON
AZ  US  85721
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
07
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): ED44Y3W6P7B9
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): ANT Earth Sciences
Primary Program Source: 01R00910DB RRA RECOVERY ACT
Program Reference Code(s): 0000, 6890, OTHR
Program Element Code(s): 511200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.078

ABSTRACT

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Much of the inventory of East Antarctic bedrock geochronology, as well as a record of its erosional history, is preserved in Cenozoic sediments around its margin. This project is to use these sediments to understand their sub-ice provenance and the erosional history of the shield by measuring ages of multiple geo- and thermochronometers on single detrital crystals and on multiple crystals in detrital clasts (U/Pb, fission-track, and (U-Th)/He dating of zircon and apatite, and 40Ar/39Ar dating of hornblende, mica, and feldspar). The combination of multi-chronometer ages in single grains and clasts provides a powerful fingerprint of bedrock sources, allowing us to trace provenance in Eocene fluvial sandstones through Quaternary diamicts around the margin. Multiple thermochronometric (cooling) ages in the same grains and clasts also allows us to interpret the timing and rates of erosion from these bedrock sources. Delineating a distribution of bedrock age units, their sediment transport connections, and their erosional histories over the Cenozoic, will in turn allow us to test tectonic models bearing on: (1) the origin of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, (2) fluvial and topographic evolution, and (3) the history of glacial growth and erosion.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Cox, SE; Thomson, SN; Reiners, PW; Hemming, SR; van de Flierdt, T "Extremely low long-term erosion rates around the Gamburtsev Mountains in interior East Antarctica" GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS , v.37 , 2010 View record at Web of Science 10.1029/2010GL04510

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