Two particularly important Earth processes are "hot spot" volcanism, where plumes of material from deep in the earth produce volcanic islands and chains such as Hawaii, Galapagos, Azores and Iceland, and the production of oceanic crust by magmatic and tectonic processes (the intrusion and eruption of melts and faulting) at mid-ocean ridges. Much about these processes remains poorly understood because they occur well below the ocean surface. Iceland is an exceptional locality where the coincidence of the Iceland Hot Spot with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has produced exceptionally thick (25 km) crust, and brought the seafloor to the surface, where it serves as a natural laboratory, and its tectonic and geologic features can be examined in detail. This project has the aim of improving, by direct observation, a number of processes that are known to occur on mid-ocean ridges where they cannot be directly observed; among them are propagating rift zones, migrating faults and large-scale block rotations. In addition to improving our understanding of global rift processes, this project has a number of educational and other broader impacts: training for graduate and undergraduate students, international collaboration (with scientists in Iceland), and broad participation on the Syracuse University LAVA Project, and education and outreach activity.
