This award will provide funds to organize and convene a workshop that will explore how continental scientific drilling can be used to better understand active tectonic processes expressed by faults, volcanoes, and volcanic provinces. This workshop will build upon successful efforts such as SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth), the Chelungpu fault drilling project, the Alpine Fault drilling project in New Zealand, the Gulf of Corith project, the Unzen volcanic drilling project, and the Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Project (HSDP). Participants will be expected to define significant scientific justifications for examining the active tectonics and magmatic processes related to faults and volcanoes that can be addressed by a coordinated program of continental scientific drilling and related site investigations. Workshop participants will prioritize these processes, and propose the types of faults and volcanoes that would be targeted by these efforts. We envision these efforts to comprise interdisciplinary programs that can be directly related to on-going NSF initiatives (e.g., Geoprisms; IRIS; Earthscope), and which can be applied at a range of scales, from localized fault systems to plate boundary faults, and from small monogenetic vents to super-volcanoes. The goal for this workshop is to examine these issues in detail and to provide a roadmap of specific projects that address the most pressing issues in active tectonics drilling.
Coordinated drilling efforts are an important method to investigate active tectonics and magmatic processes related to faults and volcanoes. As one of several US National Science Foundation sponsored workshops to define the nature of future continental drilling efforts, we convened a workshop to explore how continental scientific drilling can be used to better understand active tectonic processes expressed by faults, earthquakes, volcanoes, and volcanic provinces. The workshop was held in Park City, Utah, in May 2013, and was attended by 41 investigators from seven countries with expertise in active tectonics and geodynamics. We helped define a U.S.-based program of continental scientific drilling with an international scope. Participants were asked to define compelling scientific justifications for examining problems that can be addressed by coordinated programs of continental scientific drilling and related site investigations. They were also asked to evaluate a wide range of proposed drilling projects, based on White Papers submitted by workshop participants and others. Our goal for this workshop was to provide a roadmap of specific science objectives and projects that address the most pressing current issues in active tectonics. We report here on the scientific questions and targets discussed by the group, which align with the priorities specified in recent National Research Council reports. Linkages with other Federal agencies (e.g., USGS, Department of Energy, Department of Defense), Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP), and international partners were judged to be critical for a successful U.S. continental scientific drilling program. Program linkages allow resources to be leveraged across programs in order to maximize return on investment for all participants. Participants working on faults and fault zone processes highlighted two overarching topics: (1) Understanding the seismic cycle and (2) 4-dimensional mechanics and architecture of fault zones. Recommended projects target the fundamental mechanical processes and controls on faulting and range from inducing earthquakes to investigate earthquake initiation, to investigation of detachment fault mechanics and fluid flow in a number of sites in the western USA and the Rio Grande Rift. Participants working on active volcanism identified six themes: the volcano eruption cycle; eruption sustainability, near-field stresses and system recovery; eruption hazards; verification of geophysical models; and interactions with other Earth systems. Recommended projects address problems that are transferrable to other volcanic systems, such as improved methods for identifying eruption history and constraining the rheological structure of shallow caldera regions. Participants working on Geodynamics identified four major themes: Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), Ocean islands, continental hotspot tracks and rifts, and convergent plate margins (subduction zones: Geoprisms). This workshop brought together a diverse group of scientists with a broad range of scientific experience and interests. A particular strength was the involvement of both early career faculty, who will initiate and carry out these new research programs, and more senior researchers with many years of experience in scientific drilling and active tectonics research. Each of the themes and questions outlined above has direct benefits to society including improving hazard assessment, direct monitoring of active systems for early warning, renewable and non-renewable resource and energy exploitation, and predicting the environmental impacts of natural hazards. Workshop participants emphasized that these transformative scientific questions are best addressed through scientific drilling, which provides unique opportunities for probing active systems.
