| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 26, 2011 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 30, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1135382 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Robin Reichlin
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2011 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $4,845,532.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $4,845,532.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2012 = $2,012,715.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3400 N CHARLES ST BALTIMORE MD US 21218-2608 (443)997-1898 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore MD US 21218-2608 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Front in Earth Sys Dynamics |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
The goals of the Open Earth Systems project are to develop capabilities to model global-scale interactions between the primary components of the Earth system -- the mantle, crust, core, ocean, and atmosphere, and to determine how these interactions control decisive events in Earth's history. Decisive events that uniquely shaped our planet, such as acquisition of surface water, atmosphere oxidation, super-continent formation and breakup, extreme volcanism, climate changes, geomagnetic reversals, and mass extinction events, all require mass and energy exchange between diverse parts of the Earth system that remain poorly understood at the fundamental level. Our project takes state-of-the-art numerical models of the mantle and crust, the core, the ocean, and the atmosphere, and for the first time, couples them together. Our specific objectives are to determine how Earth's dynamics, starting with mantle convection, alters the chemistry of the ocean and atmosphere, produces extreme volcanic activity, banded iron formations, leads to reversals of the geomagnetic field, and cycles oxygen, carbon, iron, and other essential constituents through the Earth system. The multi-disciplinary expertise for this effort is well represented in our investigator team, including Johns Hopkins University PIs Peter Olson, Linda Hinnov, Anand Gnanadesikan, and Darryn Waugh, in addition to PIs David Bercovici from Yale University, Michael Manga from UC Berkeley, and Shijie Zhong from the University of Colorado Boulder.
An integral part of this project is developing new approaches for recruiting underrepresented minorities into the geosciences. We are initiating an internship program called Geoscience Ingenuity, partnering with Ingenuity Project representatives and instructors at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, an engineering-oriented high school where the Baltimore Ingenuity Project is based. Geoscience Ingenuity offers mentoring and technical training for high school students working directly with the PIs and the staff on Open Earth System research projects. In addition, we offer summertime courses for Maryland teachers capitalizing on the widespread public interest in extreme natural phenomena, and emphasizing the roles these events play in the Earth system and their impacts on society, human history, public health, and current world affairs. Our FESD project serves as a cross-disciplinary training platform for graduate students, with a particular focus on providing the intellectual environment and the research tools for training graduate students in the solution of geoscience problems that span the Earth system from the core to the atmosphere.
Our project focuses on several key interactions between different parts of the Earth system that critical to the Earth's long-term evolution, by coupling together a suite of well established models we call Open Earth Systems. Discipline-specific models in Open Earth Systems include CIG model CitcomS for mantle dynamics, tectonic evolution, and surface topography; GFDL models CM2.1 and CM2G for climate ocean-atmosphere-land interactions; GFDL model GOLD for ocean dynamics, CIG model MAG and also MAGIC for core dynamics and the geodynamo, and MELTS for magma systems. These models are modified to allow for coupling with the other models in the Open Earth System, in order to investigate the following grand challenge hypotheses: (1) The evolution of large-scale mantle convection and plate dynamics governs the history of global sea level, continental uplift, and large igneous events, with changes in plate motion, plate boundaries, and ocean basins caused by subduction zone formation along dormant plate boundaries; (2) Lowered sea level due to the geodynamic effects in (1) enhances the Earth system capacity for trapping carbon in the deep ocean, and conversely, raised sea level and increased roughness of the bottom topography during continental breakup and large igneous events increases the likelihood of hypoxia events in the deep ocean; (3) Variations in the frequency of reversals in the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale reflect changing dynamical and thermal conditions in the mantle and their affect on the core, initiate magnetic superchrons, and produce frequently reversing geodynamo states during the Phanerozoic; (4) Crustal age peaks correspond to peaks in crustal production rates from variable mantle convection modified by selective preservation, and Precambrian BIF peaks correspond to large igneous events modified by selective preservation.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Outcomes from NSF EAR113582: Open Earth Systems (OES) Whole planet models for major events in Earth's history
Global Circulation of the Mantle
There are many fundamental yet unanswered questions about the role of the mantle in Earth System history. How are the mantle structures imaged by seismic tomography related to plate tectonic history? Did these structures exist in the deep past? How does mantle circulation affect the geomagnetic field, especially its mysterious reversals? How were episodes of intense volcanism influenced by mantle circulation? When did the mantle acquire and release its life-supporting inventory of volatiles?
To begin answering these questions, an OES team led by PI Shijie Zhong built a state-of-the-art mantle global circulation model, combining the observed history of plate motions with realistic properties of mantle rocks. Model calculations using vast computational resources obtained from NCAR by OES PI Darryn Waugh confirm the hypothesis that present-day mantle structures, including the deep-mantle African and Pacific piles and subduction zones around the Pacific Basin, are produced by mantle convection over the past few hundred million years. This same model also explains present-day ocean floor topography, heat flow, and the thickness of the crust formed at mid-ocean ridges.
Massive Volcanic Events
The tempo of volcanism during massive eruptions perturbs the environment and climate, although crucial details are not understood. Building a model of the subterranean plumbing of large magmatic systems, OES members Ben Black and PI Michael Manga investigated the role of volatiles in massive volcanic eruptions, finding that changes in magma origin, composition, and volatile enrichment control volcanic tempo. They also applied coupled eruption-atmosphere-ocean models to the infamous Campanian event, demonstrating that, although the climate impact of this eruption was global, it was too brief to be the sole cause of the demise of Neanderthals in Eurasia.
Another OES team led by Mingming Li examined relationships between time variations in mantle structure, core heat flow, and the pulses in mantle plume activity that produced spikes in global volcanism. They found that dynamical interactions between compositional and thermal heterogeneity in mantle cause plumes to form in clusters, coupling mantle plume activity to core heat flow variations and geomagnetic field reversal rates.
Earth’s Core and Geomagnetic Reversal Histories
OES members led by PI Peter Olson used the mantle global circulation model to predict core-to-mantle heat flow, both present-day and in the past, which was used to investigate the history of magnetic field generation within the molten outer core. They found that mantle circulation extracts far more heat from the core than previously thought, that the solid inner core is crystallizing rapidly and is therefore unexpectedly young, having formed within the past billion years. They also found that mantle circulation is capable of preventing the geomagnetic field from reversing. When the mantle circulation slowed following the assembly of supercontinent Pangea, for example, the geomagnetic field ceased reversing for forty million years.
How Plate Tectonics Began
An OES team led by PI David Bercovici developed a dynamical theory for plate boundary generation based on the evolution of mineral grains: when grains shrink, rocks weaken, allowing plate boundaries to form. This theory was used to investigate the likelihood of plate tectonics on Mars and Venus as well as extrasolar terrestrial planets. They found that large terrestrial planets with cool surfaces offer the best conditions for generating plate tectonics. The same theory also predicts how plate tectonics emerged on Earth. As Earth’s primordial magma ocean cooled, plate boundaries formed through interconnection of weak zones in the newly solidified crust. Later, instabilities formed at junctions where oceanic and continental crust met, generating subduction zones and spreading centers.
Decoding Critical Environmental Events
OES PIs Linda Hinnov and Anand Gnanadesikan spearheaded two studies, one linking black shale formation to extreme ocean oxygen depletion events, and another investigating the unique chemical environment the produced the Precambrian banded iron formations. OES PI Zachary Sharp led development of a model for volatile acquisition from the solar nebula that explains how the mantle incorporated several oceans of water from a primordial hydrogen-rich atmosphere during Earth’s formation.
Earth Science Instruction for Maryland Teachers
The Hopkins OES team conducted summertime training courses for Maryland teacher certification. Course content included Earth history, current environmental issues, and natural disasters.
Interns from Baltimore City Schools
Internships were awarded to students from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute’s Ingenuity Program to work on projects under supervision of OES PIs. Following high school graduation, our interns went on to STEM majors at Hopkins, Towson, and other universities.
Professional Development
Milestones of professional development include: (i) one dozen career-track research and teaching positions secured by junior OES participants; (ii) eight graduate participants advanced to postdoctoral positions; (iii) six supported Ph.D. theses; and (iv) a major university promotion and/or national-level recognition earned by every OES PI. More than 90 peer-reviewed publications resulted from this project.
Last Modified: 11/27/2018
Modified by: Peter L Olson
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