| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 19, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 19, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 1211434 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Leonard E. Johnson
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $685,383.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $685,383.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300 ANN ARBOR MI US 48109-1015 (734)763-6438 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2534 C. C. Little Bldg Ann Arbor MI US 48109-1005 |
| 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): | CONTINENTAL DYNAMICS PROGRAM |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| 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
For fifty years, the Tibetan Plateau has been recognized as the largest topographic feature that perturbs atmospheric circulation. It serves as an ideal field laboratory for understanding the geodynamic processes that build high terrain. Accordingly, the growth of the plateau should have altered atmospheric circulation and therefore written an evolving paleoclimatic signature not only on eastern Asian regional climates, but on global climate as well. Despite many recent studies, we still do not know precisely when the Tibetan Plateau reached its current dimensions and how it perturbs atmospheric circulation. This project brings together geodynamicists, atmospheric scientists, and paleoclimatologists in a multidisciplinary study of the when and the how.
One of the major goals of the project is to quantify the extent to which Tibet has grown by crustal thickening, by thrust faulting and folding, by flow within the crust that redistributes material there, or by replacement of cold mantle lithosphere with hotter material (all in a state of isostatic equilibrium). Such quantification will take big steps toward the understanding of how high plateaus are built and how continental lithosphere deforms, topics at the forefront of geodynamics.
Determining how Tibet has grown will require determining when crustal shortening and thickening occurred, using basic field methods and modern laboratory techniques, and quantifying paleoaltitudes with new isotopic tools. Applying such paleoaltimetric techniques, however, requires an understanding not only of how the atmosphere transports isotopes, but how the evolving high terrain affected surface temperatures at times in the past.
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.
Intellectual Merit The high mountains of the Himalaya and Tibet form an area roughly half the size of the United States that stand at an elevation equal to the highest peak in the United States (~ 5000 m or 15,000 ft). Not only is this area of high topography unique on Earth today, it is likely to be unique over the last several hundred million years of Earth’s history. This award investigated how the topography may have evolved in Tibet as a function of the convergence between two tectonic plates, so-called “continental collision”, in which continental masses move toward one another at a rate of tens of mm/yr. We find that much of the history of mountain building recorded by the shallow parts of the crust occurs only at early stages of continental collision. Therefore, we speculate that the remaining period of mountain building occurred during the late stages of continental collision due to process at great depth that are not recorded by surface breaking faults. These results give us insight to how other mountain belts and continental plateau may have developed in the geologic past by describing how the parts of deep continents deform during continental collision.
Broader impacts This award supported the PhD research for two graduate students at the University of Michigan, who were broadly trained in field geology, geochemistry analysis and regional tectonic studies. These students are now employed at state and federal agencies as scientific staff. Education of 30 graduate students at a 2-week intensive summer school aimed at climate-tectonic interactions also was supported by this award and the integrated teaching of 7 of the project PIs. International training and collaboration was facilitated by field work and exchange with Chinese partners (faculty and students).
Last Modified: 01/28/2018
Modified by: Marin K Clark
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