| 项目编号: | 1550158
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| 项目名称: | Collaborative Research: Unraveling Protracted Tectonic Reactivation in Cordilleran Metamorphic Core Complexes: Funeral Mountains, California |
| 作者: | Michael Wells
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| 承担单位: | University of Nevada Las Vegas
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| 批准年: | 2016
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| 开始日期: | 2016-01-01
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| 结束日期: | 2018-12-31
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| 资助金额: | 295669
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| 资助来源: | US-NSF
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| 项目类别: | Standard Grant
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| 国家: | US
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| 语种: | 英语
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| 特色学科分类: | Geosciences - Earth Sciences
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| 英文关键词: | funeral mountain
; tectonic reactivation
; reactivation
; development
; project
; collaborative research effort
; research infrastructure
; metamorphic core complex
; last reactivation
; research partnership
; tectonic inheritance
; tectonic history
; metamorphic condition
; metamorphic titanite
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| 英文摘要: | The propensity for fault zones to become long-lived zones of weakness that can be reactivated during geologic history plays a significant role in the migration of fluids in Earth?s crust and formation of hydrocarbon, economic mineral and ground water resources, seismic hazards, and the evolution of mountain belts. From 160 to 50 million years ago, the western U.S. was tectonically similar to modern day western South America, which is characterized by high elevation mountains (the Andes) that formed in the continental crust above an actively subducting oceanic plate. When subduction ceased along western North America, a new regime of widespread crustal extension began, resulting in localized exposures at the surface of deep levels of the ancient mountain belt. This project will examine the Funeral Mountains in Death Valley National Park, which the principal investigators hypothesize records the cycle of mountain building followed by extension. In particular, they hypothesize that the same fault (a thrust fault) initially responsible for substantial burial and thickening of the crust was reactivated twice during the exhumation of the rocks to the surface. They further argue that the reactivation of thrust faults may be a common phenomenon in the western U.S., explaining many similar occurrences in other mountain ranges. Rocks in the Funeral Mountains are ideal for testing this hypothesis due to excellent exposures and abundant rocks suitable for study. This project will accomplish many benefits to society as identified by NSF: (1) helping the U.S. maintain competitiveness and leadership in the global Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce; students who participate in the project (three graduate students and five undergraduates) will develop high-level expertise and teamwork experience in a STEM discipline; (2) increased public scientific literacy by dissemination of findings to the academic community through presentations at professional conferences and publications, and to the general public and Death Valley enthusiasts by presenting at meetings of the Death Valley Natural History Association, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, and the Nevada Geological Society; (3) development of research partnerships between two universities as part of collaborative research efforts, and the development of research infrastructure at each institution; and; (4) the investigators seek to engage the full participation of women and underrepresented students in STEM education through targeted recruiting efforts.
Reactivation and tectonic inheritance are long-recognized phenomena, important to our understanding of how the continental lithosphere deforms. The thesis of this proposal is that many Tertiary detachment faults and shear zones in the western US reactivate faults or sub-planar zones of earlier deformation. The Funeral Mountains metamorphic core complex of the Death Valley region represents an ideal locality in the Sevier-Laramide hinterland to evaluate the role of tectonic reactivation in the development of metamorphic core complexes, as well as to resolve important details regarding the tectonic history that predates Tertiary extension. We hypothesize that the Boundary Canyon detachment fault, which underwent greater than 40 kilometers of top-the northwest slip in the Miocene, formed as the last reactivation of a major Jurassic thrust of opposite slip that was responsible for deep burial and regional metamorphism of the footwall. We propose a multi-faceted approach to evaluate the hypothesis of protracted tectonic reactivation through detailed studies along the metamorphic and strain gradient that includes: (1) field mapping and structural analysis, (2) petrographic, microstructural, and kinematic analyses aided by Electron Backscatter Diffraction analysis of quartz-rich rocks, (3) applying petrochronology (Laser Ablation Split Stream Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) to date accessory minerals (metamorphic titanite, monazite, xenotime, and zircon overgrowths) and Lutetium-Hafnium dating of garnet in garnet amphibolites, and (4) determining the metamorphic conditions and prograde pressure-temperature paths to evaluate the prograde burial history, possible grade discordances across major shear zones, and the regional thrust-induced paleodip. Recognition of tectonic reactivation has important implications for understanding the older Jurassic and Cretaceous history of the Sevier-Laramide orogen, the magnitude and distribution of contraction and extension that occurred during orogenesis, and the episodic nature of post-orogenic extension. |
| 资源类型: | 项目
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| 标识符: | http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/92963
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| Appears in Collections: | 全球变化的国际研究计划
科学计划与规划
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| Recommended Citation: | |
Michael Wells. Collaborative Research: Unraveling Protracted Tectonic Reactivation in Cordilleran Metamorphic Core Complexes: Funeral Mountains, California. 2016-01-01.
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