Alaska and Aleutian Primary Site

 icon-chevron-right SYNTHESIS: GeoPRISMS-AK Living Bibliography

This bibliography was prepared as a synthesis product following the GeoPRISMS Alaska workshop at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in August 5-6, 2019 on Subduction Cycles and Deformation at the Alaska-Aleutian margin.

The Alaska and Aleutian Subduction Zone (AASZ) has been identified as high priority because its study can address a wide variety of questions outlined within the SCD science plan, addressing both ocean-continent and ocean-ocean subduction. The AASZ also offers important opportunities to leverage EarthScope activities, including the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), and proposed future deployment of the US Transportable Array, and also a long record of USGS work in the area. GeoPRISMS investigations in Alaska face some logistical challenges, and so will require a ramp-up period and significant advance planning.

From the Science Plan

There are numerous opportunities for GeoPRISMS research at the Alaska site; examples of outstanding research problems include:

  • What controls the segmentation of a siliciclastic-rich subduction zone into regions of distinct slip behavior?
  • What governs the size of earthquakes on the megathrust? What controls the up-dip and down-dip boundaries of the seismogenic zone?
  • How are melts delivered from the mantle to the arc crust and out of a volcano? What is the relationship between magmas that erupt and those that freeze in the crust?
  • How do the structure of the incoming plate and the over-riding crustal composition control variations in the composition of primary magmas along a volcanic arc?
  • How did subduction initiate beneath the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Arc, and how did this influence the evolution of their magmatic systems and seismogenic zone?

Further information about these topics, a summary of existing datasets, and critical research efforts for GeoPRISMS studies can be found in Section 2.2 of the GeoPRISMS Implementation Plan.

The Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment (AACSE)

 icon-chevron-right Go to the AACSE page

Meetings and Workshops

Synthesis workshop | Aleutian – Alaska Synthesis Workshop | LDEO – August 5-6, 2019

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