Aleutian - Alaska Workshop at Lamont for GeoPrisms Synthesis

This project will support a two-day workshop at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory campus of Columbia University on August 5-6, 2019 in order to synthesize research results from the Aleutian-Alaska Subduction Zone. Participants are drawn from ~ 20 individual projects funded by the NSF-GeoPRISMS Program (Geodynamic Processes at RIfting and Subducting Margins), with a focus on understanding the fundamental processes underlying great earthquakes and other types of fault slip, hazardous volcanic eruptions and the building of the continental crust. Approximately 50 participants will gather at Lamont for the purposes of sharing and synthesizing results across disciplines and across the subduction zone, from the incoming plate through the megathrust to the volcanic arc. Over 35% of the participants will be early-career scientists or graduate students who will be engaged in formal and informal discussions to develop a lasting network. The primary workshop output will be publications, including synthesis papers, that will integrate GeoPRISMS science. The other primary output will be the scientific connections made between individual projects that would not otherwise happen, essential to realizing the value of the focus site approach within GeoPRISMS.

The Alaska-Aleutian Margin is one of the focus sites for the GeoPRISMS Subduction Cycles and Deformation Initiative. It was chosen as an ideal location to study arc volcanism, development of continental crust, and earthquake processes over the seismic cycle. GeoPRISMS-NSF projects funded since FY12 span topics ranging from deformation in the megathrust to plutonic building blocks of continents to volatile cycling from slab to surface. Approaches include laboratory deformation experiments and geochemical analyses, and novel field deployments using portable mass spectrometers, seafloor strain sensors, and the Alaska Amphibious Array. This synthesis workshop is necessary to share initial findings, make cross-project connections, and integrate results from the Alaska-Aleutian focus site. Workshop participants will engage deeply in multi-disciplinary discussions (including geophysics, geochemistry, experimental and theoretical approaches). All presentations and discussions will be plenary to entrain everyone in the issues, results and controversies of each science topic and approach.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.