Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Neotectonics in Southern Scotia Arch. A Spanish contribution to the international proposal Polar Ocean Gateways: The keys to understanding long-term global change  (SCOTIANEOTEC)

Outline
The world oceans are a major component of the Earth System, and changes in the complex global current system, which transports heat, salt and nutrients between oceans, are likely to cause global environmental changes. Water mass exchanges between the Arctic Ocean and the northern Atlantic and Pacific, and between the southern Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans through the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, appear to play a crucial role in global circulation. This water mass exchange is controlled by the deepening and shallowing of ocean bottoms during the tectonic opening and closing of strategic oceanic passageways (gateways). The inception of this oceanic current circulation and its changes through time are widely thought to have been responsible for major global climatic and environmental changes on Earth. Establishing the detailed tectonic, geodynamic, sedimentary and palaeotopographic histories of strategic oceanic gateways will provide the fundamental means for modelling studies that may help to relate these events to palaeo-climate observations collected across the globe. POLARGATES intends to adopt a multidisciplinary approach by addressing tectonic-magmatic, geodynamic, sedimentary and biostratigraphic processes, by utilising palaeobiological and geochemical proxies as well as past and recent oceanographic conditions in the gateways, and by using state-of-the-art geophysical techniques, sediment coring, ocean drilling, oceanographic observations and accompanying land investigations. The proposal SCOTIANEOTEC will contribute to the knowledge of the evolution of the Scotia Arch and the Drake Passage, one of the most significant Antarctic gateways. The proposed study includes neotectonic and relief evolution researches that will be carried out inland, in several locations of the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands. The areas with rock outcrops that will be investigated will provide data for fault population analysis, deformation phases and stress field determinations that will be interpreted in comparison with the existing marine data. For this propose the previous and current marine researches carried out in the same region by the SCAN group from Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra-CSIC-University of Granada, Spain, lead by Dr. Andres Maldonado, are specially relevant. The SCOTIANEOTEC research will be carried out co-operating with the mentioned group. This proposal is connected and could contribute to the following main objectives of POLARGATES: - Studies of the crust/lithosphere of polar gateways and their continental margins to develop a good understanding of the geological correlation across the gateways, past and present plate-kinematics, mantle processes, margin formations, and crustal subsidence and uplift processes; - Understanding the past and modern current systems in the gateways by examining the record of change preserved. - Reconstructing detailed gateway opening processes and constraining the times at which exchanges of shallow and deep water masses between different ocean basins began. - Identifying and modelling the role of gateway openings/closures in the global carbon cycle, the evolution of ice-sheets and climatic changes;

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
POLARGATES is a truly international and interdisciplinary project in its concept. It comprises bipolar targets with far-reaching objectives of global significance. POLARGATES is expected to produce the following results at which SCOTIANEOTEC could contribute: (1) models of the evolution of the underlying geodynamic and magmatic processes leading to formation and deepening of the gateways, (2) constrained reconstructions of the opening and deepening of the gateways at high spatial and temporal resolution, (3) a new generation of high-resolution palaeo-oceanographic and palaeo-climate models into which the new gateway development histories are integrated, (4) improved understanding of the impact of gateway openings/closures on the Earth System, including the evolution of ice-sheets.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
POLARGATES will support the creation of a consortium of research excellence on oceanic gateways in polar regions which will coordinate marine and terrestrial research activities of currently 10 nations operating in the primary gateway areas during the IPY field seasons. Although bipolar in its approach, POLARGATES is also related to some of the broader objectives and research plans in Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) Program of SCAR for the Southern Ocean and Antarctica.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Drake Passage & Scotia Sea. Inland research in the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: 01/2007 – 02/2007      01/2008 – 02/2008      

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Routine logistical support for summer expeditions, including use of field camps and existing stations.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
No infrastructure will remain in the Arctic or Antarctic from this project after the IPY. However, there will be a large data resource that can be used for future studies, in particular modelling studies.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency
Military support

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
National: This Expression of Intent has been endorsed by the Spanish IPY National Committee International: SCAR endorses a polar ocean gateway program as a contribution on Climate Change (paper by SCAR Advisory Committee on the IPY).

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
New

This is a new proposal. However it will supose an extension of the previous research on Antarctic neotectonics and relief evolution by the same group to new areas and in a new framework. POLARGATES is a new initiative that envelopes a combination of sub-projects already pursued or planned by several national programs as well as a number of new surveys and investigations particularly proposed for the period of the IPY.

How will the project be organised and managed?
POLARGATES will represent a coordinated effort among national programs. It is planned to establish an international steering team that (1) will share the tasks of project coordination, (2) will establish a web site, (3) will organise annual workshops, and (4) will have to check that participants meet their commitments of making data openly available. The central communicational and organisational tool will be a web-based forum and knowledge base, where every project partner updates entries. Funding for staff of a coordination office will be sought. Annual workshops are intended to review the progress of the project, to present and exchange initial results of past and current surveys, investigations and modelling and to coordinate presentations of results at international congresses and their publications.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Admission of young researchers and students, organization of public lectures, special sessions in scientific conferences and workshops, disseminate information by the media through press-releases with project news and results.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
Metadata of the proposed research will be included in the database of the Spanish National Antarctic Data Center that is connected to the Antarctic Master Directory (AMD). All data collected in POLARGATES will be placed in national and international data banks (World Data Centre, IODP Core Repositories, PANGAEA, specialty data centres). The project participants will be requested to make their raw data openly available within an agreed time from the completion of the fieldwork.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
A proposal to support this research will be submitted in January 2005 to the Spanish Antarctic Programme (National R&D Programme). After the evaluation of the proposal, decissions about aproval and finantial support will be communicated about summer 2005.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
POLARGATES is a bipolar and fully interdisciplinary and widely internationally coordinated project which focuses on the critical chokepoints for changing environmental conditions and whose results will have a global relevance for understanding climatic change at large time-scales.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Lopez Jeronimo
Department of Geology and Geochemistry, University Autonoma of Madrid
Faculty of Sciences
28049 Madrid
Spain

Tel: 34 1 4974513
Mobile: no
Fax: 34 1 4974900
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation