PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. This proposal aims at obtaining high-precision isotopic analyses on igneous and metamorphic phases at a length scale and precision necessary to resolve the timescales on which metamorphic and magmatic processes occur. The research requires the high-precision analysis of small amounts of Sr. and Nd by mass spectrometry. Given modern mass spectrometric techniques, the principal remaining controlling factor on the data obtained is the Faraday data collection system. Funding is sought herein to install a new and improved collection system on an existing mass spectrometer in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Open University.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. Olivine, the major component of the Earth's upper mantle, is known to contain water in the form of H defects. These defects have a significant effect on the physical and chemical properties of minerals. If we are to correctly interpret seismic data from the upper mantle, and to constrain models of its petrologic and geochemical evolution, then we must have information on the energies and mechanisms of water solubility in olivine, and its effects on physical properties. The aim of this project is to use computer simulation methods to predict the nature of H defects in olivine, their mobility, and their effects on elasticity as a function of pressure, and to use this information to better constrain models of dynamic behaviour of the Earth's upper mantle.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

PROJECT DETAILS ONLY - NO DATA. The African continent is slowly splitting apart along the East African rift valley, a 3000 km-long series of deep basins and flanking mountain ranges. This process may eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean, but on a time scale of millions of years. In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, Earth's outermost shell, usually a relatively rigid, 150 km-thick plate, has been stretched, thinned and heated to the point of rupture, to the extent that a new ocean is about to form. Below the surface, upwelling rocks from Earth's mantle below are partially melting, rising, and cooling. Here, we have the unprecedented opportunity to witness the process of plate rupture and upwelling of molten rock (magma). Normally, this process occurs within shallow seas, or along the established seafloor spreading centres deep under the oceans; in Afar, though, we can actually walk across the region as it happens. Satellite observations of the earth show that tectonic plates move apart, on average, very slowly: usually at a few centimetres per year, or about the rate of fingernail growth. Very occasionally, however, sudden large movements occur, often with devastating consequences. In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along a 60 km section of the Afar depression, as the plate responded catastrophically to forces pulling it apart. Over about a week, the rift pulled apart by 8 metres, and dropped down by up to 1 metre. As told by local people, a series of earthquakes signalled the rise of molten rock to the surface on September 26, and ash darkened the air locally for 3 days. At the same time, satellites tracking the region showed that the surface above nearby volcanoes subsided by as much as 3 metres, as magma was injected along the fissure below the surface. The rapidity and immense length of rupture are not unexpected, but have never before been measured directly. The Afar depression is so hot and dry that almost no vegetation obscures the rocks exposed on its top surface; this also means that we can use satellites to image them and to measure the way that the Earth's surface changes as faults move, and as pressurised molten rock moves up and along the length of fissures within the rift valley. In the nine months since the first major earthquakes, more dramatic surface changes have continued to take place, and earthquakes continue to stir the earth. We are proposing a major set of experiments that will bring together experts on Earth deformation, and on magma sources, movement and eruption to this unique natural laboratory. Over the next five years, a team of UK, Ethiopian and US scientists will collaborate to find answers to fundamental questions of plate tectonics: . How do the different layers of the plate stretch apart? . Where does molten rock form and rise to form new oceanic crust? . How does the molten rock move up to the surface? Satellites will image the earth from above, and sensors will record sound waves from distant and near earthquakes and natural magnetic signals to image the thickness of the rock layers the plate comprises, and discover where the magma is located prior to eruption. We will also collect and analyse the composition of rocks from young volcanoes in the same region. The Earth history deduced from compositional variations in space and time will give us clues as to when and how often similar sorts of events happened in the past / and may happen again in the future.

The dataset contains the outputs from 3D spherical incompressible mantle convection models. Included outputs, such as visualisation files (to use with open-source software ParaView), allow to analyse the links between the thermal evolution of the mantle and the preservation of geochemical heterogeneity. The data is linked to the manuscript titled "Geodynamic Controls on Mantle Differentiation and Preservation of Long-Term Geochemical Heterogeneity: Focus on the Primitive Undegassed Mantle”. The dataset gathers outputs to produce the figures of the article and post-processing scripts. It also includes the necessary input files and executables needed to reproduce the geodynamic simulations. More details in the README.md file.