Western Gneiss Region Ar/Ar data (NERC grant NE/H016279/1)

This dataset encompasses thin section photographs, mineral composition data and Ar/Ar data. Grant abstract: Many of the Earth's great mountain ranges, such as the Alps and the Himalaya, result from the collision between two continents. As mountains get pushed up by tectonic forces, they also get worn away by surface erosion. The uplift of topography causes long-term regional and global climate change, and conversely, changes in climate have also been linked to changes in the rate of tectonic processes. This project will define and quantify the competition between growth and erosion during the early stages of mountain uplift by exploiting a combination of state-of the art advances in numerical modelling and analytical techniques. During the early stages of continental collision, unusual (and diagnostic) rock types form under very high pressure conditions. Certain minerals in these rocks preserve details of the pressures and temperatures experienced during the journey from initial formation deep in the mantle, through their subsequent transport to the Earth's surface, their erosion, and their final deposition as sand grains in a sedimentary rock. The minerals retain distinctive chemical signatures which allows them to be distinguished from those formed in other rock types, even when eroded and turned into sand. Sand grains retain information about not only the original rock type, but also about details of the formation and transport history of the original rock. Unlocking this information will therefore yield insight into earlier stages of mountain belt growth history than is currently preserved in the bedrock record. However the methods needed to decipher these details are currently insufficiently precise to provide useful insight into changes in rates of tectonic or erosive processes, or constraints for the models. This project will therefore also develop and exploit innovative techniques for obtaining high-precision data from these high pressure rocks and their eroded remains. These data will enable the competing forces which act to shape a mountain belt during the early stages of formation to be quantified and allow the numerical models to be robustly tested. The unique contribution of this proposal lies in the combination of geodynamic numerical modelling with studies based on observational data and hence exploiting the synergy between these two, normally disparate, fields.本数据集涵盖薄片照片、矿物成分数据以及氩-氩（Ar/Ar）定年数据。 项目摘要： 地球上诸多巨型山系，诸如阿尔卑斯山脉与喜马拉雅山脉，均形成于两大洲的碰撞。山脉在构造作用力抬升的同时，也因地表侵蚀作用而不断被剥蚀。地形抬升会引发长期的区域乃至全球气候变化；反之，气候变化亦与构造活动速率的变化存在关联。 本项目将结合数值模拟与分析技术领域的前沿进展，明确并量化山脉抬升早期阶段山体生长与侵蚀剥蚀之间的竞争关系。在大陆碰撞的早期阶段，极高压力环境下会形成特殊的（具有判别意义的）岩石类型。这些岩石中的部分矿物，完整记录了其从地幔深处初始形成，到随后被搬运至地表、经历剥蚀，最终以砂粒形式沉积于沉积岩中的全过程所承受的压力与温度。 这些矿物保留了独特的化学特征，即便被剥蚀为砂粒，仍可与其他岩石成因的矿物区分开来。砂粒不仅能反映其原岩类型，还能记录原岩的形成与搬运历史细节。因此，解析这类信息可帮助我们获取比当前基岩记录所保存的更早的造山带演化历史。但目前用于解读这些细节的方法精度不足，无法为构造或侵蚀速率变化提供有效认识，也无法为相关数值模型提供可靠约束。 本项目还将开发并应用创新性技术，从这类高压岩石及其剥蚀残余物中获取高精度数据。此类数据将可量化造山带形成早期阶段塑造其形态的各类对立作用力，并为数值模型提供严谨的验证依据。本申请的独特创新之处在于，将地球动力学数值模拟与基于观测数据的研究相结合，从而利用这两个通常相互独立的领域之间的协同效应。