Mantle Imaging
Chair – Nobukazu Seama (Japan)
Several members of the Mantle Imaging WG (http://www.interridge.org/WG/MantleImaging) met informally in Feb. 2009 during the Stagnant Slab Project meeting in Japan and drafted a plan for the WG. After the meeting, Chair Nobukazu (Nobi) Seama and colleagues at InterRidge-Japan discussed the possibility of hosting an IR Theoretical Institute (or symposium) with a workshop. Such an event may be feasible in 2011FY, with help from InterRidge-Japan for organizing the meeting and some funding from project TAIGA (for more information on TAIGA, see Japan’s National News in this volume).
The WG plan is as follows:
2010 EGU General Assembly
The WG is convening a special session at the 2010 EGU General Assembly: “GD4.1/GMPV52: Melt generation to crustal formation beneath mid-ocean ridges.” The purpose of this session is: 1) exchanging the latest mantle structure results and laboratory experiments on mantle rocks, 2) addressing variability of crustal formation through investigations of structural, geophysical, petrological and geochemical characteristics of the crust, and 3) linking investigations from numerical simulations to identify the parameters controlling crustal formation and mantle structure.
2011 IRTI
The WG is planning to organize an IRTI (or symposium) with a workshop in Japan in summer or fall 2011. The WG will submit a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) proposal in April 2010 for the majority of funding for the IRTI. Also, each WG member will make an effort to recruit sponsorship for the meeting from their respective countries. The WG would like to invite keynote speakers and provide support for graduate student travel. Potential participants at the IRTI include those who work on: results from large-scale experiments, rock laboratory experiments, petrology, and numerical modeling.
OBS-OBEM webpage: http://www.interridge.org/OBS-OBEM
One way to promote large-scale seismic/EM experiments to image the mantle structure at ridge systems is to enlarge a pre-scheduled single nation seismic/EM experiment by adding instruments with an international team. A first step in enlarging a pre-scheduled experiment is to share the information on long-term OBS and/or OBEM observations planned by individual scientists. The InterRidge website now includes a list of long term OBS and/or OBEM observations (at the URL above). The list includes whether bunks are available on these cruises for graduate students. The WG would like to encourage graduate students to join a cruise of different country, which could result in new connections for the future. Please feel free to add your cruise or experiment to the list.
