USAP-DC

{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "Mineralogy"}

[{"awards": "2039419 Swanger, Kate", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -77.3,161.2 -77.3,161.4 -77.3,161.6 -77.3,161.8 -77.3,162 -77.3,162.2 -77.3,162.4 -77.3,162.6 -77.3,162.8 -77.3,163 -77.3,163 -77.35,163 -77.4,163 -77.45,163 -77.5,163 -77.55,163 -77.6,163 -77.65,163 -77.7,163 -77.75,163 -77.8,162.8 -77.8,162.6 -77.8,162.4 -77.8,162.2 -77.8,162 -77.8,161.8 -77.8,161.6 -77.8,161.4 -77.8,161.2 -77.8,161 -77.8,161 -77.75,161 -77.7,161 -77.65,161 -77.6,161 -77.55,161 -77.5,161 -77.45,161 -77.4,161 -77.35,161 -77.3))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free region in Antarctica and home to a seasonally active hydrologic system, with streams and saline lakes. Streams are fed by summer meltwater from local glaciers and snowbanks. Therefore, streamflow is tied to summer climate conditions such as air temperatures, ground temperatures, winds, and incoming solar radiation. Based on 50 years of monitoring, summer stream activity has been observed to change, and it likely varied during the geologic past in response to regional climate change and fluctuating glaciers. Thus, deposits from these streams can address questions about past climate, meltwater, and lake level changes in this region. How did meltwater streamflow respond to past climate change? How did streamflow vary during periods of glacial advance and retreat? At what times did large lakes fill many of the valleys and what was their extent? The researchers plan to acquire a record of stream activity for the Dry Valleys that will span the three largest valleys and a time period of about 100,000 years. This record will come from a series of active and ancient alluvial fans that were deposited by streams as they flowed from valley sidewalls onto valley floors. The study will provide a long-term context with which to assess recent observed changes to stream activity and lake levels. The research will be led by two female mid-career investigators and contribute significantly to student research opportunities and education. The research will contribute to graduate and undergraduate education by including students in both field and laboratory research, as well as incorporating data and results into the classroom. The research will be disseminated to K-12 and non-scientific communities through outreach that includes professional development training for K-12 teachers in eastern Massachusetts, development of hands-on activities, visits to K-12 classrooms, and STEM education and literacy activities in North Carolina.\r\n\r\nThe PIs propose to constrain rates of fluvial deposition and periods of increased fluvial activity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. During 50 years of hydrologic monitoring in the Dry Valleys, scientists have observed that streams exhibit significant response to summer conditions. Previous studies of glacial and lacustrine deposits indicate regional glacier advance in the Dry Valleys during recent interglacial periods and high lake levels during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with potentially significant low and high stands during the Holocene. However, the geologic record of meltwater activity is poorly constrained. The PIs seek to develop the first spatially-extensive record of stream deposition in the Dry Valleys by analyzing and dating alluvial fans. Given that alluvial fans are deposited by summer meltwater streams in a relatively stable tectonic setting, this record will serve as a proxy of regional summer climate conditions. Meltwater streams are an important component of the regional hydrologic system, connecting glaciers to lakes and affecting ecosystems and soils. A record of fluvial deposition is key to understanding the relationship between past climate change and regional hydrology. The proposed research will include remote- and field-based mapping of alluvial fans, stream channels, and meltwater sources as well as modeling potential incoming solar radiation to the fans and moisture sources during the austral summer. In the field, the PIs will document stratigraphy, collect near-surface sediments from 25 fans across four valleys (Taylor, Pearse, Wright, and Victoria), and collect 2- to 3-m vertical cores of ice-cemented sediments from three alluvial fan complexes. The PIs will then conduct depositional dating of fluvial sands via optically stimulated luminescence, and analyze mineralogy and bulk major element chemistry with X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. From these analyses, the PIs propose to (1) determine the timing of local- to regional-scale periods of high fluvial deposition, (2) calculate depositional rates, and (3) constrain depositional environments and sediment provenance. Given that many of the alluvial fans occur below the hypothesized maximum extents of glacially-dammed lakes in Wright and Victoria valleys, detailed stratigraphy, sediment provenance, and OSL dating of these fans could shed light on ongoing debates regarding the timing and extent of LGM and post-LGM lakes. The work will support a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD student, and many undergraduate and master\u2019s students in cross-disciplinary research that spans stratigraphy, geochemistry, paleoclimatology and physics.", "east": 163.0, "geometry": "POINT(162 -77.55)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; AMD/US; SEDIMENTS; USA/NSF; AMD; Dry Valleys; USAP-DC", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -77.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Swanger, Kate", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Collaborative Research: Holocene and Late Pleistocene Stream Deposition in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica as a Proxy for Glacial Meltwater and Paleoclimate", "uid": "p0010285", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1848887 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs.\r\n\r\nThe project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient) and carbon dioxide enriched seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative \"winners\" and some will be relative \"losers\" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod \"winners\" and two key amphipod \"losers\". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem.", "east": -64.0527, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD/US; COASTAL; USA/NSF; BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Palmer Station; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS)", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.77423, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -64.77423, "title": "Assemblage-wide effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming on ecologically important macroalgal-associated crustaceans in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010193", "west": -64.0527}, {"awards": "1543344 Soreghan, Gerilyn", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601599", "doi": "10.15784/601599", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctica; Anza Borrego; Cryosphere; Iceland; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Norway; Peru; Puerto Rico; Taylor Valley; Washington; Wright Valley", "people": "Demirel-Floyd, Cansu", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data and metadata for \"Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems\"", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601599"}], "date_created": "Tue, 18 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "As glaciers creep across the landscape, they can act as earthmovers, plucking up rocks and grinding them into fine sediments. Glaciers have moved across the Antarctic landscape over thousands to millions of years, leaving these ground-up sediments in their wake. This study builds on pilot discoveries by the investigators that revealed remarkably large and variable measurements of surface area in glacially-derived fine-grained sediments found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), one of the few landscapes on the Antarctic continent not currently covered by ice. Surface area is key to chemical weathering, the process by which rock is converted to soils as ions are carried away in streams and groundwater. These chemical weathering processes are also one of the primary means by which the Earth system naturally removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hence, high surface areas observed in sediments implies high \"weatherability\" which in turn translates to more potential carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, chemical weathering in high surface area glacial sediments may have significant impacts on Earth\u0027s carbon cycle. The researchers will measure the chemical and physical properties of sediments previously collected from the Dry Valleys to understand what factors lead to production of sediment with high-surface area and potential \"weather ability\" and investigate how sediment produced in these glacial systems could ultimately impact Earth\u0027s carbon budget. Results from this research will help scientists (including modelers) refine predictions of the effects of melting glaciers- and attendant exposure of glacial sediment? on atmospheric carbon levels. These results may also contribute to applied research efforts on development of carbon-dioxide removal technologies utilizing principles of rock weathering. In addition to the scientific benefits, this research will involve several students at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels, including science education undergraduates, thus contributing to training of the next-generation STEM workforce.\r\n\r\nPhysical weathering produces fresh surfaces, greatly enhancing specific surface area (SSA) and reactive surface area (RSA) of primary minerals. Quantifying SSA and RSA of sediments is key to determining dissolution and leaching rates during natural weathering, but few data exist on distribution of sediment SA, particularly in glacial and fluvial systems. Pilot data from glacial stream systems in Taylor Valley and Wright Valley (located in the MDV) exhibit remarkably high and variable values in both SSA and RSA, values that in some cases greatly exceed values from muds in temperate glacial systems. This discovery motivates the current research, which aims to investigate the hypothesis that high and variable SAs of muds within Wright and Taylor Valleys reflect textural and/or compositional inheritance from the differing depositional settings within the MDV, biologic controls, dust additions, and/or pedogenic processes. These hypotheses will be tested by sedimentologically, mineralogically, and geochemically characterizing muds from glacially derived sediment deposited in various environments (cold vs. wet based glaciation; fluvial, lacustrine, dust, and drift deposits) and of varying age (Miocene to Modern) from the MDV and quantifying variation of SA and reactivity. Comparisons with analyzed muds from temperate glacial systems will enable polar-temperate comparisons. Analyses will focus on muds of previously collected sediment from the MDVs. Grain size and SSA will be measured by Laser Analysis and N2 adsorption BET, respectively. After carbonate removal, samples will be re-analyzed for SSA, and muds characterized geochemically. Mineralogy and bulk chemistry will also be assessed on co-occurring sand fractions, and textural attributes documented. SSA-normalized dissolution experiments will be used to compare solutes released from sediments to determine RSAs. Results will be integrated with the various sedimentologic and geochemical analyses to test the posed hypotheses. Ultimately, this research should shed light on how weathering in Antarctic systems contributes to global carbon cycling.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; AMD; FIELD INVESTIGATION; weathering ; USA/NSF; Antarctica; AMD/US; Dry Valleys; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY", "locations": "Antarctica; Dry Valleys", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Soreghan, Gerilyn; Elwood Madden, Megan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Quantifying surface area in muds from the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Implications for weathering in glacial systems", "uid": "p0010181", "west": null}, {"awards": "0124049 Berger, Glenn", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.4 -77.5,161.6 -77.5,161.8 -77.5,162 -77.5,162.20000000000002 -77.5,162.4 -77.5,162.6 -77.5,162.8 -77.5,163 -77.5,163.20000000000002 -77.5,163.4 -77.5,163.4 -77.52,163.4 -77.54,163.4 -77.56,163.4 -77.58,163.4 -77.6,163.4 -77.62,163.4 -77.64,163.4 -77.66,163.4 -77.68,163.4 -77.7,163.20000000000002 -77.7,163 -77.7,162.8 -77.7,162.6 -77.7,162.4 -77.7,162.20000000000002 -77.7,162 -77.7,161.8 -77.7,161.6 -77.7,161.4 -77.7,161.4 -77.68,161.4 -77.66,161.4 -77.64,161.4 -77.62,161.4 -77.6,161.4 -77.58,161.4 -77.56,161.4 -77.54,161.4 -77.52,161.4 -77.5))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0124049\u003cbr/\u003eBerger\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the Dry Valleys of the McMurdo Sound region of Antarctica. Using a modified Livingstone corer, transects of long cores will be obtained from Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, Joyce, and Vanda. A multiparameter approach will be employed which is designed to extract the greatest possible amount of former water-level, glaciological, and paleoenvironmental data from Dry Valleys lakes. Estimates of hydrologic changes will come from different proxies, including grain size, stratigraphy, evaporite mineralogy, stable isotope and trace element chemistry, and diatom assemblage analysis. The chronology, necessary to integrate the cores with the geomorphological record, as well as for comparisons with Antarctic ice-core and glacial records, will come from Uranium-Thorium, Uranium-Helium, and Carbon-14 dating of carbonates, as well as luminescence sediment dating. Evaluation of the link between lake-level and climate will come from hydrological and energy-balance modelling. Combination of the more continuous lake-core sequences with the spatially extensive geomorphological record will result in an integrated Antarctic lake-level and paleoclimate dataset that extends back at least 30,000 years. This record will be compared to Dry Valleys glacier records and to the Antarctic ice cores to address questions of regional climate variability, and then to other Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere records to assess interhemispheric synchrony or asynchrony of climate change.", "east": 163.4, "geometry": "POINT(162.4 -77.6)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LIDAR/LASER SOUNDERS \u003e LASERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Dry Valleys; lake cores; luminescence geochronology; Antarctic lake-level; Stratigraphy; Climate Variability; shoreline deposits; Grain Size; Paleoclimate; Antarctica; LABORATORY", "locations": "Dry Valleys; Antarctica", "north": -77.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Glaciology", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e HOLOCENE", "persons": "Berger, Glenn; Hall, Brenda; Doran, Peter", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7, "title": "Collaborative Research: Millennial Scale Fluctuations of Dry Valleys Lakes: Implications for Regional Climate Variability and the Interhemispheric (a)Synchrony of Climate Change", "uid": "p0000219", "west": 161.4}, {"awards": "0126270 Doran, Peter", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Polar Programs, provides funds for a study of sediment cores from the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes. The Dry Valley lakes have a long history of fluctuating levels reflecting regional climate change. The history of lake level fluctuations is generally known from the LGM to early Holocene through 14C dates of buried organic matter in paleolake deposits. However, the youngest paleolake deposits available are between 8000 to 9000 14C yr BP, suggesting that lake levels were at or below current levels for much of the Holocene. Thus, any information about the lake history and climate controls for the Holocene is largely contained in bottom sediments. This project will attempt to extract paleoclimatic information from sediment cores for a series of closed-basin dry valley lakes under study by the McMurdo LTER site. This work involves multiple approaches to dating the sediments and use of several climate proxy approaches to extract century to millennial scale chronologies from Antarctic lacustrine deposits. This research uses knowledge on lake processes gained over the past eight years by the LTER to calibrate climate proxies from lake sediments. Proxies for lake depth and ice thickness, which are largely controlled by summer climate, are the focus of this work. This study focuses on four key questions: 1. How sensitively do dry valley lake sediments record Holocene environmental and climate variability? 2. What is the paleoclimatic variability in the dry valleys on a century and millennial scale throughout the Holocene? Especially, is the 1200 yr evaporative event unique, or are there other such events in the record? 3. Does a mid-Holocene (7000 to 5000 yr BP) climate shift occur in the dry valleys as documented elsewhere in the polar regions? 4. Is there evidence, in the dry valley lake record of the 1500 yr Holocene periodicities recently recognized in the Taylor Dome record? Core collection will be performed with LTER support using a state-of-the-art percussion/piston corer system that has been used successfully to retrieve long cores (10 to 20 m) from other remote polar locations. Analyses to be done include algal pigments, biogenic silica, basic geochemistry, organic and inorganic carbon and nitrogen content, stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, carbonate phases, salt content and mineralogy, and grain size. In addition this project will pursue a multi-chronometer approach to assess the age of the core through optically-stimulated luminescence, 226Ra/230Th , 230Th/234U, and 14C techniques. New experimentation with U-series techniques will be performed to allow for greater precision in the dry valley lake sediments. Compound specific isotopes and lipid biomarkers , which are powerful tools for inferring past lake conditions, will also be assessed. Combined, these analyses will provide a new century to millennial scale continuous record of the Holocene climate change in the Ross Sea region.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e SEDIMENT CORERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY", "persons": "Doran, Peter", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Paleoclimate Inferred from Lake Sediment Cores in Taylor Valley, Antarctica", "uid": "p0000092", "west": null}, {"awards": "0087390 Grunow, Anne", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-170 -79,-164 -79,-158 -79,-152 -79,-146 -79,-140 -79,-134 -79,-128 -79,-122 -79,-116 -79,-110 -79,-110 -79.5,-110 -80,-110 -80.5,-110 -81,-110 -81.5,-110 -82,-110 -82.5,-110 -83,-110 -83.5,-110 -84,-116 -84,-122 -84,-128 -84,-134 -84,-140 -84,-146 -84,-152 -84,-158 -84,-164 -84,-170 -84,-170 -83.5,-170 -83,-170 -82.5,-170 -82,-170 -81.5,-170 -81,-170 -80.5,-170 -80,-170 -79.5,-170 -79))", "dataset_titles": "Rock Magnetic Clast data are at this website", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001970", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PI website", "science_program": null, "title": "Rock Magnetic Clast data are at this website", "url": "http://bprc.osu.edu/"}], "date_created": "Mon, 23 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a collaborative research project between the University of California-Santa Cruz, the University of Texas-Austin, and the Ohio State University to investigate sediment samples recovered from the base of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). West Antarctica is a remote polar region but its dynamic ice sheet, complicated tectonic history, and the sedimentary record of Cenozoic glaciation make it of particular interest to glaciologists and geologists. Glaciologists are concerned with the possibility of significant near-future changes in mass balance of the WAIS that may contribute to the ongoing global sea level rise. Geologists are investigating in West Antarctica the fundamental process of continental extension and are constructing models of a polar marine depositional system using this region as the prime modern example. The subglacial part of West Antarctica has escaped direct geological investigations and all that is known about subglacial geology comes from geophysical remote sensing. Recent acquisitions of new, high-quality geophysical data have led to generation of several enticing models. For instance, subglacial presence of high-magnitude, short-wavelength magnetic anomalies has prompted the proposition that there may be voluminous (\u003e1 million cubic km), Late Cenozoic flood basalts beneath the ice sheet. Another important model suggests that the patterns of fast ice streaming (~100 meters/year) and slow ice motion (~1-10 meters/year) observed within the WAIS are controlled by subglacial distribution of sedimentary basins and resistant bedrock. These new geophysics-based models should be tested with direct observations because they are of such great importance to our understanding of the West Antarctic tectonic history and to our ability to predict the future behavior of the WAIS.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis research is designed as a pilot study to provide new geologic data, which may help to test the recent models inferred from geophysical observations. The new constraints on subglacial geology and on its interactions with the WAIS will be obtained through petrological and geochemical analyses of basal and subglacial sediments collected previously from seven localities. This investigation will take place in the context of testing the following three hypotheses: (A) the provenance of bedrock clasts in the glacial sediment samples is primarily from West Antarctica, (B) some clasts and muds from the West Antarctic subglacial sediments have been derived by erosion of the (inferred) subglacial Late Cenozoic flood basalts, and (C) the sediments underlying the West Antarctic ice streams were generated by glacial erosion of preglacial sedimentary basins but the sediments recovered from beneath the slow-moving parts of the WAIS were produced through erosion of resistant bedrock.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe individual hypotheses will be tested by collecting data on: (A) petrology, geochemistry and age of granitoid clasts, (B) petrology, geochemistry and age of basaltic clasts combined with mud geochemistry, and (C) clay mineralogy/paragenesis combined with textural maturity of sand and silt grains. The results of these tests will help evaluate the interesting possibility that subglacial geology may have first-order control on the patterns of fast ice flow within the WAIS. The new data will also help to determine whether the subglacial portion of West Antarctica is a Late Cenozoic flood basalt province. By combining glaciological and geological aspects of West Antarctic research the proposed collaborative project will add to the ongoing U.S. effort to create a multidisciplinary understanding of this polar region.", "east": -110.0, "geometry": "POINT(-140 -81.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Till; subglacial; magnetic properties; rock magnetics; Clasts; FIELD INVESTIGATION; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "locations": "West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "north": -79.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Grunow, Anne; Vogel, Stefan", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "PI website", "repositories": "Other", "science_programs": null, "south": -84.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Relationship Between Subglacial Geology and Glacial Processes in West Antarctica: Petrological and Geochemical Analyses of Subglacial and Basal Sediments", "uid": "p0000740", "west": -170.0}, {"awards": "0087235 Grew, Edward", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((42 -64,43.2 -64,44.4 -64,45.6 -64,46.8 -64,48 -64,49.2 -64,50.4 -64,51.6 -64,52.8 -64,54 -64,54 -64.4,54 -64.8,54 -65.2,54 -65.6,54 -66,54 -66.4,54 -66.8,54 -67.2,54 -67.6,54 -68,52.8 -68,51.6 -68,50.4 -68,49.2 -68,48 -68,46.8 -68,45.6 -68,44.4 -68,43.2 -68,42 -68,42 -67.6,42 -67.2,42 -66.8,42 -66.4,42 -66,42 -65.6,42 -65.2,42 -64.8,42 -64.4,42 -64))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "0087235\u003cbr/\u003eGrew\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a project to investigate the role of beryllium in lower crustal partial melting events. The formation of granitic liquids by partial melting deep in the Earth\u0027s crust is one of the major topics of research in igneous and metamorphic petrology today. One aspect of this sphere of research is the beginning of the process, specifically, the geochemical interaction between melts and source rocks before the melt has left the source area. One example of anatexis in metamorphic rocks affected by conditions found deep in the Earth\u0027s crust is pegmatite in the Archean ultrahigh temperature granulite-facies Napier Complex of Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Peak conditions for this granulite-facies metamorphism are estimated to have reached nearly 1100 Degrees Celsius and 11 kilobar, that is, conditions in the Earth\u0027s lower crust in Archean time. The proposed research is a study of the Napier Complex pegmatites with an emphasis on the minerals and geochemistry of beryllium. This element, which is estimated to constitute 3 ppm of the Earth\u0027s upper crust, is very rarely found in any significant concentrations in metamorphic rocks subjected to conditions of the Earth\u0027s lower crust. Structural, geochronological, and mineralogical studies will be carried out to test the hypothesis that the beryllium pegmatites resulted from anatexis of their metapelitic host rocks during the ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic event in the late Archean. Host rocks will be analyzed for major and trace elements. Minerals will be analyzed by the electron microprobe for major constituents including fluorine and by the ion microprobe for lithium, beryllium and boron. The analytical data will be used to determine how beryllium and other trace constituents were extracted from host rocks under ultrahigh-temperature conditions and subsequently concentrated in the granitic melt, eventually to crystallize out in a pegmatite as beryllian sapphirine and khmaralite, minerals not found in pegmatites elsewhere. Mineral compositions and assemblages will be used to determine the evolution and conditions of crystallization and recrystallization of the pegmatites and their host rocks during metamorphic episodes following the ultrahigh-temperature event. Monazite will be analyzed for lead, thorium and uranium to date the ages of these events. Because fluorine is instrumental in mobilizing beryllium, an undergraduate student will study the magnesium fluorphosphate wagnerite in the pegmatites in order to estimate fluorine activity in the melt as part of a senior project. The results of the present project will provide important insights on the melting process in general and on the geochemical behavior of beryllium in particular under the high temperatures and low water activities characteristic of the Earth\u0027s lower crust.", "east": 54.0, "geometry": "POINT(48 -66)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ELECTRON MICROPROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROBES \u003e ION MICROPROBES", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "Li; Be; Pegmatitic Leucosomes; metamorphism; Beryllium; Mineralogy; Partial Melting; Lithium; Not provided; B; Granulites; Napier Complex; Boron; Continental Crust", "locations": null, "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Grew, Edward", "platforms": "Not provided", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -68.0, "title": "Beryllium in Antarctic Ultrahigh-Temperature Granulite-Facies Rocks and its Role in Partial Melting of the Lower Continental Crust", "uid": "p0000370", "west": 42.0}]

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