James Rice - US grants

This research interprets seismicity and geodetic data in terms of the geometry and stressing of locked fault zones which will rupture in large earthquakes. The studies will be carried out in the framework of the asperity model which regards a portion of a seismically active fault zone as being effectively locked against slip, except in large earthquakes, while adjacent portions of the zone slip aseismically, or with lower level seismicity, and do not accumulate comparable stress. The initial focus will be on modelling of the Shumagin Islands subduction segment in Alaska, and the Parkfield region along the San Andreas fault. This research is a component of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program.

This award provides one-half the funding required for the purchase of computer equipment to serve the seismology research group in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. Harvard is committed to providing the remaining necessary funds. The equipment includes upgrades of two fileservers to multiprocessor machines, workstation upgrades, acquisition of a color graphics workstation, and the acquisition of a tape archive unit. The seismology research group at Harvard investigates a broad range of problems in seismology including the analysis of very large data sets for the study of earthquake source parameters and the determination of earth structure.

This award will provide partial funding for a systems manager to support the computer system of the geophysics research group in the Department of Geological & Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. The computer facility presently serves 15-20 faculty, postdoctoral research associates, graduate and undergraduate students working in computer-intensive areas of research such as seismic tomography, earthquake seismology, geomagnetics, and other studies of the Earth's deep interior.

9614431
Rice

This research involves a continuation of the study of seismicity in coupled subduction segments and their surroundings (overriding plate, sea floor and subducting slab) to understand the strength and heterogeneity of coupling along the thrust interface. Specific areas of investigation are: 1) investigation of the relations between heterogeneous seismic coupling along the main thrust zone and seismicity in the sea floor and upper plate areas; 2) explanation of seismicity in the descending slab at intermediate depths and its relation to coupling; 3) correlation of seismicity with changes in a Coulomb measure of stress change (shear minus friction coefficient times normal stress change) in a subduction zone and its vicinity; and 4) investigation of compressional earthquakes in zones near the trench and towards the outer rise as signals of the maturity of the earthquake cycle of the thrust interface. This research is a component of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program.

With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program, the Department of Chemistry at South Dakota State University will upgrade its mass spectrometer control and data systems. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including a) environmental chemical studies of organic contaminants; b) organic geochemistry; c) organic synthesis of dendrimeric materials and novel macrocyclic ligands; d) structural elucidation of natural products; and e) the total synthesis and asymmetric synthesis of natural products.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain the molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic, and organometallic molecules. The results from these studies will have an impact in a number of areas including materials chemistry, environmental chemistry and geochemistry.

0003718
O'Connell

The general goals of the project are to continue GPS measurements of deformation in the South American Andes, and to integrate deformation with the earthquake cycle and with coupling on the subduction zone and longer-term tectonic deformation. The importance of the research is that it examines fundamental mechanisms behind how subduction created the modern Andes and deformed this continental margin. Specific research tasks include: obtaining and analyzing GPS data from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia and coordinating with other GPS efforts in South America; expanding the principal investigator's GPS network; looking at back-arc deformation and at the post-seismic effects of the 1960 earthquake; and improving velocity estimates. The P.I.s will model longer term deformation (tectonic deformation) associated with the stress history of subduction and mantle coupling in the wedge. They will model various tractions arising from the edge of the lithosphere, the base of the plate, larger scale mantle flow, plate motions and basal forces. They will examine the distribution and nature of seismic deformation related to subduction in both the lithosphere and crust, especially the 1960 earthquake, and the deformation associated with oblique convergence.

This combination of the GPS measurements and mantle flow modeling is an attempt to understand the fundamental mantle forces that shape convection at an archetypal convergent continental margin. The multifaceted approach (GPS, seismology, modeling) will integrate the various geodynamic components into a comprehensive model of the mountain building process.
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A major problem in earthquake science is to understand rupture through geometrically complex fault systems with bends, branches and stepovers. Such complexities exert major control over the propagation and arrest of rupture. The understanding when and how ruptures stop, which is often associated with such features, is central to understanding seismic risk. This study continues recent developments of the theory and modeling of fault fracture at encounters with kinks, bends and offsets between fault segments. That is done with close reference to explaining rupture patterns as observed in field examples. Those include branches and stepovers in major strike-slip earthquakes (e.g., 2001 Kunlun, Tibet, 2002 Denali, Alaska, and 1992 Landers, California), and splay thrust faulting like that documented for the 1944 Nankai, Japan, and 1964 Alaska subduction zones, with implications for tsunami generation.

The studies open new frontiers in rupture dynamics and the physics of earthquakes. Those include a basic understanding of how rupture paths are chosen through complex fault systems, and of the formulation of appropriate computational models (based on dynamic finite element and boundary integral equation methodology) to analyze slip propagation through kinks and branches. In such cases there are significant, coupled, dynamic changes in both the normal and shear stress components supported by the fault, which pose new challenges to representing fracture propagation. Progress in correlating theory with field (and sometimes lab) examples is providing new ways of looking at fault geometry and evidence about prestress states, and translating that into predictions about rupture paths. An important issue under study is whether relic fault geometries with branches and other complexities can be used to infer the direction of rupture in past events, which is important for identifying regions of most severe ground motion. Also, the work addresses how damage zones along faults evolve by successive ruptures, and how inelastic processes within such zones may interact back with stress transmission to the rupture front and with the dynamics of propagation to generate high frequency seismic wave emission.

The project during the previous funding cycle was also effective in aiding the participation of women in research. That includes the co-PI, a graduate student research assistant, and three visiting student interns who completed research on fault rupture as capstone projects in completion of their degree programs elsewhere.

The South Dakota "Rushmore Initiative for Excellence in Research" will feature infrastructure enhancements in three targeted areas: (a) The Center for Biocomplexity Studies will be a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort to study the ecosystems of the Northern Great Plains and their sensitivity to internal and external forcings; (2) Materials and Processes of the 21st Century will focus on microelectronic materials and devices, structured nanocomposites and photodynamics; and (3) Molecular and Cellular Biology Core Facilities will build expertise in bioinformatics and proteomics. In addition, a Scientific Visualization and Information Technologies Core will be established, providing a visualization network to the participating universities. South Dakota State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and the University of South Dakota will collaborate in the various activities and programs to implement new strategies designed to build public support for research and integrate it into the state's technological future. Infrastructure support for these targeted areas will include new faculty start up packages, postdoctoral and graduate student fellowships, support for undergraduates, conference support and various outreach activities in education and economic development to involve a broader constituency in the process of science and discovery. The combination of these activities will contribute to enhancing South Dakota's research competitiveness.

Physically based descriptions of fault constitutive response are being used to address key problems in the dynamics of earthquakes. There are two main topics:
(1) In current attempts to devise models of crustal earthquake sequences, using experimentally motivated temperature variation (hence depth variation) of rate and state constitutive parameters, it has been noticed that important new features emerge as the state-evolution slip distance L is decreased towards values in the laboratory range. These are the emergence of a population of small events that is clustered towards the base of the seismogenic zone, and the effect of the resulting heterogeneous residual stress patterns from those events on the earliest phases of seismic radiation in large events. This process seems promising to explain the initially hesitant radiation in many large events, known as the "seismic nucleation phase". To fit such calculations on present computers, L must be made much larger than laboratory values, which are of order of magnitude 10 microns, since the required numerical grid size scales with a large factor (of order 10^5) times L. Yet interesting behavior is emerging as L is reduced towards those values. This project addresses the small L range by a combination of new numerical studies, coordinated with asymptotic analysis of simplified models, as L is decreased in size, to provide a basis for interpretation and extrapolation.
(2) Thermal weakening effects are thought to occur during rapid slip in major earthquakes, causing the effective friction coefficient to diminish from lab-like values, present when a propagating rupture front first reaches a point on a fault, to much lower values when rapid and large slip occurs. This problem is being addressed by building on initial studies that focus separately on the earliest phases of sliding, before melting occurs, and on the mature stage of active pseudotachylyte development. Flash heating at asperity contacts is expected to be the primary thermal weakening process when slip rates are high (> 1 m/s) but total slip is still small, in a sense that can be quantified. A preliminary analysis captures some features of available experiments. Some ideas are being developed on how to address the much larger slip range when partial melting occurs. These include a view, supported by pseudotachylyte observations, that a granular fault gouge becomes liquefied through development of small amounts of partial melt, and that a self-regulated process of velocity-weakening character develops as this highly pressurized phase permeates into the adjoining fault walls. These concepts are being developed for purposes of integrating them with numerical simulations and theory on how the mode of rupture depends on constitutive response, to examine consequences for rupture dynamics. That will contribute to understanding how major fault systems can operate at realistically low overall driving stresses, even when the stress needed locally to initiate slip is much larger, and to quantifying the minimum average stress level for which a rupture, once initiated at a location of locally high shear stress or low effective normal stress, can propagate over large distances.

The Chemistry Division award supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at South Dakota State University for the summers of 2004-2006. The site is cofunded by the Biology Directorate. Jihong Cole-Dai is the site's program director and James Rice is co-principal investigator. Faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry will serve as REU mentors to six students, who will each participate in a ten-week program. The students will be recruited nationally as well as regionally from South Dakota and states that neighbor eastern South Dakota. The proposed research projects will include analytical, environmental, biochemical, physical, materials and organic chemistry. The program will conduct periodic assessments and comprehensive assessments at the end of each summer. All participants will engage in a REU seminar program in the final week.

Recent observations by GPS have revealed transient but aseismic deformation episodes in shallow subduction zones, thus far in the Pacific Northwest of the US, the Guerrero region along the southwestern coast of Mexico, and the Nankai region in Japan. Those seem to involve episodic slips, accumulating over time windows of a month to a few years, along deeper regions of the subduction interface that would not be expected to nucleate regular earthquakes or to move appreciably during such earthquakes.
Those transients pose significant questions as to their origin, and also relative to existing concepts of how locked portions of the fault zone (which will ultimately fail in earthquakes) are loaded. That is, the recent results imply an episodic component of the loading, which has consequences for improved predictability of earthquakes.
The research in this project addresses the physical causes of transients. Major questions involve how they start and what controls their migration, in the dip direction and along strike. They occur in regions where there is metamorphic fluid release from the subducted seafloor materials, and thus we focus especially on pore water, at very high pressure, as a possibly essential component of understanding transients. More generally we want to understand how they depend on tectonic parameters characteristic of a particular subduction zone (geometry, convergence rate, thermal structure, pattern of metamorphic reactions).
A major component of our work is the development of a 3D numerical model of a subduction fault with temperature-dependent, hence depth-dependent, frictional properties, involving a transition to stable friction downdip from the cooler, locked part of the fault zone. Remarkably, in simulations of long tectonic loading sequences with multiple earthquakes along strike, we found that aseismic transient slip episodes emerged spontaneously, with features like in some of the natural observations.
In the planned work, we will incorporate into the modeling a more complete physical description of fluid release, transport and pore pressurization, to develop descriptions of transients in a manner that is also consistent with observations of non-volcanic tremors associated with them in some subduction zones. As a way to check and constrain the assumed rheology of the downdip aseismic fault zone in the model, we plan to investigate the fitting of the model to GPS and InSAR constraints on post-seismic slip from the northern Chile subduction zone.

The University of South Dakota will undertake a series of planning activities designed to address the competitive research challenges facing South Dakota. The principal outcome of this effort will be a plan to: 1) strengthen collaborations among the state's three participating doctoral-granting institutions; 2) develop interactions with the private sector; 3) continue the transition of the state's NSF EPSCoR program to one that is outcome-based; and 4) increase outreach to the state's underrepresented groups, particularly Native Americans.

The broader impacts of this planning grant include a stronger research and education enterprise for citizens in the state. Developing mutually beneficial partnerships among the universities and the private sector will not only enhance research opportunities in the state, they will contribute to the long-term sustainability of infrastructure investments. In addition, increased commercialization of research will offer a vehicle for economic development. Tribal Colleges will participate in the planning activities in order to develop programs to increase the preparation and participation of Native American students in science, math and engineering careers.

South Dakota proposes a research infrastructure improvement project to
strengthen the state's research in Photo-Activated Nanoscale Systems (PANS). PANS reflects the interface between nanotechnology and photo-active materials, an area that holds great promise for research development and commercial applications. Two research components will be supported under this award: 1) third generation photovoltaic devices based on spectral conversion of solar radiation and 2) photo-active nano-inks for direct-write electronics fabrication. The third generation photovoltaic research will focus on a new strategy for manipulating the solar spectrum to match photovoltaic devices as alternative sources of energy generation. The photo-active nano-inks research is targeted on new electronic device fabrication by using nanoscale-based inks that are enabled by photo-active methods. Both research areas are of interest to the federal government and private industry and lend themselves to commercial development. Participating universities include South Dakota State University (SDSU), University of South Dakota (USD), South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT), Black Hills State University (BHSU) and Sinte Gleska University (SGU). Results of PANS research is expected to advance knowledge and development of alternative sources of energy generation, new electronic device fabrication and environmental protection and remediation.

In addition to the investments in scientific research, the project also includes significant investments into institutional infrastructure improvements at Sinte Gleska University, a tribal university. Among several activities to strengthen the communications and research capacity at the university, this award will establish high-speed internet connections as well as an Access Grid that will enable research and educational interactions among SGU students and faculty with their colleagues across the state and the nation. Other programs to stimulate and support the participation of Native American students will also be funded. Consistent with South Dakota's S&T Strategic Plan to establish the state as an innovation-driven economy, this award will also support a variety of programs to stimulate interactions among the universities and the private sector, enhance technology transfer and promote an entrepreneurial culture.

Rice 0739444

This award supports a project to study the mode of formation and causes of glacial earthquakes. The paradigm for glacial flow has been that glaciers flow in a viscous manner, with major changes in the force balance occurring on the decade timescale or longer. The recent discovery of a number of even shorter timescale events has challenged this paradigm. In 2003, it was discovered that Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica displays stick-slip behavior on the 10-30 minute timescale, with ice stream speed increasing by a factor of 30 from already high speeds. In the past year, the minimum timescale has been pushed shorter by recognition that a class of recently discovered 50-second-long, magnitude-5 earthquakes are closely associated with changes in the force balance near the calving fronts of large outlet glaciers in both Greenland and East Antarctica. With no adequate theory existing to explain these relatively large earthquakes associated with outlet glaciers, we have begun to investigate the physical mechanisms that must be involved in allowing such a response in a system traditionally not thought capable of generating large variations in forces over timescales less than 100 seconds. The intellectual merit of the work is that large-amplitude, short-timescale variability of glaciers is an important mode of glacier dynamics that has not yet been understood from a first-principles physics perspective. The proposed research addresses this gap in understanding, tying together knowledge from numerous disciplines including glaciology, seismology and fault rupture dynamics, laboratory rock physics, granular flow, fracture mechanics, and hydrogeology. The broader impacts of the work are that there is societal as well as general scientific interest in the stability of the major ice sheets. However, without an understanding of the physical processes governing short time scale variability, it is unlikely that we will be able accurately predict the future of these ice sheets and their impact on sea level changes. The project will also contribute to the development and education of young scientists.

The project group focuses on a major problem in earthquake science, namely, to understand the interaction of seismic slip-rupture with geometrical and structural complexities of fault zones. Such interactions include transitions of the failure path among fault strands at bends, branches and stepovers, rupture arrest, and induced inelastic deformations in fault border zones, which are generally damaged (highly cracked and/or granulated) and fluid-saturated. Prior work of the group, on which the current studies build, provided new understanding of how rupture paths are chosen at branch-like geometric complexities, and of how inelastic response of the fault bordering zone affects rupture propagation and shear localizations.

The new areas for theory and modeling in current work are as follows: (1) Understanding how interactions of deformations with ground fluids and frictional elastic-plastic responses in the damage zone couple to the dynamics of rupture propagation. That includes explaining the effects of different types of across-fault material dissimilarity (in elastic properties, strength and extent of damage, and near-fault permeability to fluids); such dissimilarities are common for mature, highly slipped faults. (2) Assessing if, and to what extent, current understanding of how rupture paths are chosen at branch intersections, and of whether rupture passes through or arrests at step-overs, is affected by the presence of extensively damaged material, capable of elastic-plastic response, near such fault junctions. (3) Determining how residual stress states imprinted in fault-border material by the previous rupture affects response in the next event, and how that depends on rupture directivity in the past and pending events; (4) Devising procedures to rigorously analyze strain localizations that arise in modeling inelastic response of damaged/granulated fault border zones, by imposing localization-limiting procedures that eliminate grid dependence, thus ultimately evolving a methodology that can predict spontaneous development of localized fault-rupture paths through damaged material.

Correlation of theory and modeling with field examples and lab experiments is a hallmark of the group's work, and new thrusts in that direction are as follows: (I) Adopting methodology like in (4) above to understanding when a damaged pull-apart stepover, like in the 1992 Landers earthquake between the Johnson and Homestead Valley Faults, and between the Homestead Valley and the Emerson Fault, is breeched by a through-going rupture, and similarly for the 1920 M8 Haiyuan, China event, which ruptured through a sequence of pull-aparts. (II) Understanding mega-branches of great thrust ruptures onto splay faults through the sediment cover of accretionary subduction zones, like documented or suspected at Alaska, Cascadia, Nankai and Sumatra, as well as when and by what processes branching onto landward- versus seaward-vergent splays can occur, and what that means for tsunami generation. (III) Testing the evolving theoretical understanding of rupture branching and interactions with damaged border zones against results of lab experiments (conducted by colleagues elsewhere) which are devised to address the same issues.

The understanding of when and how earthquake ruptures stop, which often involves geometric complexities of the type we address, is central to understanding seismic risk. New ways of using relic fault geometries to constrain directivity and other features of past events is also a potentially valuable outcome.

Proposal Title: Beyond the 2010 Initiative: Partnerships for Competitiveness

Institution: South Dakota State University

Energy generation and conversion are critical issues at the core of this major project involving nine institutions in South Dakota: South Dakota State (lead), Augustana, Black Hills, Dakota State, Oglala Lakota, Sinte Gleska, Sisseton Wahpeton, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and the University of South Dakota (USD) Main Campus. The researchers will create new devices called Photo-Active Nanoscale Systems (PANS). PANS research focuses on photovoltaic and solar energy, directwrite electronics, and the use of nanostructured materials for converting solar energy into chemical fuels. The project involves a series of Grand Opportunities, each addressing research questions through a multidisciplinary approach. These include: Cost Effective Solar Cells; New Generation Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSC) based on Metal-Surface Enhancement; Reconfigurable Antennas on Flexible Substrates-Broadband Multilayer Filters; Upconverter Based Cost-effective High Efficiency Solar Cells; Novel Tandem Polymer Photovoltaics using Printing or Roll-to-Roll Processing; Fabrications of Electrodes for Next Generation Solar Cells; and Conversion of Solar Energy into Chemical Fuels using Nanostructured Materials

Intellectual Merit
The project addresses the development of novel photoactive materials, including investigations at the atomic level as well as applications of these materials. Modeling, synthesis and fabrication of novel composites will result in solar cell materials designed for performance, with a view to economics as well. Shape and size of the composites will be optimized along with tailored chemical composition by working at the nanoscale. Biomedical applications such as photoactive therapies will be addressed as well.

Broader Impacts
Workforce development is a primary objective of South Dakota and this project. An innovative partnership will facilitate the faculty at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in pursuing terminal degrees. The RII project will support the planning for a state-wide initiative for middle school, Science in the Middle. This initiative will provide teacher professional development to establish a cohort of qualified master science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers. Connections will be established with the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), including a virtual DUSEL (vDUSEL), which will provide outreach and education accessible to K-12 students and the community.

Abstract

Proposal Number: EPS - 1006743

Proposal Title: Partnerships for Competitiveness: Cyber-Enabling Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

Institution: South Dakota State University

Project Director: James A. Rice

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The Research, Education and Economic Development (REED) network initiative provides South Dakota's portion of the Northern Tier networking project and connects SD's public, private and tribal campuses, the US Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center, the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL), and the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) to each other and the national research grid.

This project proposes an upgrade to the cyberinfrastructure (CI) for four South Dakota institutions: Augustana College (AC), Sinte Gleska University (SGU), Oglala Lakota College (OLC), and Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC). The upgrades would provide these institutions with access to cyberinfrastructure, educational and research enhancements on their respective campuses. These four institutions are predominantly undergraduate institutions and three (OLC, SGU, SWC) are tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Augustana College is a small institution with a rich history of attracting and retaining first-generation college students. The investment in these institutions should have a pronounced impact on the research, education and culture of these institutions. Motivated by the very large distances between these South Dakota campuses, and even the large distances within an individual campus, this CI investment should enable state-wide course sharing, videoconferencing, and easier access to the research and educational resources of the state universities. It should also enhance collaborations, outreach capacity and provide greater access to people, knowledge and scientific research and education from across the globe.

Intellectual Merit
The South Dakota (SD) RII C2 investment should provide access to undergraduate research experiences to students who currently have limited access to independent research opportunities on their respective campuses. It is proposed that these students participate in original research, spanning a broad range of research areas in collaboration with major research institutions in South Dakota and throughout the world. The ability to communicate, collaborate and interact with scientists across the state, the nation and the world, will enable these faculty and students to explore subjects heretofore not possible. New learning activities and the modes of sharing these activities across the proposed digital connection should serve to establish novel concepts and best practices for building collaborative research and educational activities. Equally important are the new ideas these colleges bring to the research communities, such as discoveries arising from studies of the natural environment and their relationship to the culture of these primarily Native American communities.

Broader Impact
The four institutions primarily impacted in this project are representative of the rich diversity of the citizens of South Dakota. The ability to fully participate in SD's EPSCoR programs should broaden the institutional diversity of the South Dakota EPSCoR program. The Tribal College students come from a tribal heritage that represents a very small fraction of the students at major research institutions. To encourage these students to consider STEM careers, access to the larger scientific community is needed for collaborative research investigations and to realize confidence in their own talent and ability to contribute. From these experiences, a greater degree of confidence and the validation of their capabilities should be realized. The intent is to provide the opportunity for students to develop the capability, interest, and enthusiasm to invest their lives in a STEM career path.

The Environmental Chemical Sciences (ECS) program of the Division of Chemistry will support the research project of Prof. James Rice of South Dakota State University. Prof. Rice and his students will investigate the role of nanoparticles in the formation of self assembled Natural Organic Matter (NOM). They will apply scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and isotopically-labeled lipids and amphiphiles as probes in combination with solid-state NMR spectroscopy, small-angle neutron scattering, and neutron spin-echo spectrometry to provide molecular level understanding of the self assembly process leading to achieve this goal.

The project has the potential to increase our molecular level understanding of mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of organic carbon in soils and thus the global carbon cycle. As a practical outcome, the ability to control NOM self-assembly could lead to the development of sequestration mechanisms and strategies to increase its residence time in the soil. The project will provide excellent training opportunities to students and postdoctoral fellows in a highly interdisciplinary research area of great environmental importance.

Earthquakes on the well-established and highly slipped fault zones which host major events seem to occur at overall levels of shearing stress which are notably lower than "static friction" stress levels required to initiate slow frictional sliding between the fault walls. If those static friction stresses prevailed during earthquake slip, they would produce perceptible localized heat outflows along faults and leave abundant signs of melting and re-solidification, even at shallow crustal depths. Neither are generally found. Also, recent field and lab observations show that the majority of deformation during rapid shear is generally localized to a remarkably thin principal shear zone along the fault, often less than a millimeter to a centimeter wide, with that feature forming within a much broader, say, one to a hundred meters wide, zone of granulated and damaged rock. Our aim in the planned study is to understand the materials and thermal physics responsible for those features of fault zone response, and to establish some of their consequences for the manner by which slip-ruptures propagate along faults in major earthquakes. It is hoped that such basic understanding of the physics of earthquakes may ultimately have payoffs in the improved predictability of seismic phenomena and effects.

We have developed the concept that thermal heating of groundwater-saturated fault gouge during shear leads to strong localization of strain into realistically narrow zones. That focuses further heating and temperature rise, but rather than leading directly to melting, weakening mechanisms are triggered that sufficiently limit strength, and hence continued heating, so as to make bulk melting of the fault zone rare, at least at shallow crustal depths. A relatively universal form of weakening is that groundwater thermally expands much more than its mineral host, causing the mineral constituents to push less strongly against one another, and hence to have low frictional strength. A variant of this process is that thermal decomposition of common fault constituents such as carbonates and hydrated clays occurs, at temperatures far below melting, and creates a highly pressurized volatile product phase (CO2 or H2O, respectively) which similarly reduces strength. Further weakening processes, of which the physical details are still unclear, relate to the nanometer size range of the solid decomposition and wear products. We will model how such weakening processes influence features of propagating earthquake ruptures (e.g., crack vs. slip pulse, rupture velocity, stress drop, total slip), how rupture relates to the fault mineralogy and depth, and how different dynamic weakening processes might be identified in seismic observations. Hypotheses to be tested are that thermal decomposition combined with variation in fault mineralogy could explain how rupture stops at the base of the seismogenic zone, and that thermal decomposition could provide a mechanism for occasional extreme earthquakes on faults that generally experience smaller events. We will model the material lying outside the narrow highly-deforming fault core as an elastic or an elastic-brittle-plastic solid, and use our analyses of the localized shearing processes within the deforming fault core as the basis for imposing boundary conditions along the fault surfaces in the larger analysis. The study should contribute towards a unified overall understanding of seismic processes. It will have inputs from fine scale materials physical/chemical theory, geologic fault core studies, rock mechanics lab friction experiments, spontaneous rupture simulations, seismic observations of the slip mode and extent of seismic ruptures, and large scale constraints, by heat flow, topography support and related studies, of the stress regimes under which major earthquakes occur.

The Dakota Bioprocessing Consortium (DakotaBioCon) brings together researchers from four institutions in two neighboring states, North Dakota and South Dakota, with similar geographical, socio-economic and environmental diversity: North Dakota State University (NDSU), South Dakota State University (SDSU), University of North Dakota (UND) and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSMT). The vision of DakotaBioCon is through cutting-edge research and development to become a recognized intellectual leader in biomass bioprocessing that can help the region, nation and global society transition to a bio-based economy. The primary goal of DakotaBioCon is to establish a multi-state, multi-institution, multi-disciplinary, collaborative infrastructure to enable and facilitate the development of novel bioprocessing technologies for sustainable production of high-value chemicals and materials from renewable resources, with emphasis on lignin-derived products as economically viable substitutes for imported fossil-fuel based chemicals. DakotaBioCon achieves its goal of regional infrastructure development in the area of lignin bioprocessing through the accomplishment of several integrated objectives:

1) Convert lignin into low molecular weight chemical fractions using a suite of novel processing methods, including high-temperature liquefaction and biodegradation of lignin, and analytical methods, (chromatography, spectrometry and chemical methods) to enable mass balance closure;
2) Decipher the reaction mechanisms associated with the proposed lignin disassembly methods as a means to optimize and channel lignin fragmentation reaction pathways;
3) Design process/purification schemes to convert precursor chemicals into valuable products;
4) Develop new monomers/polymers and composites from lignin-derived aromatics/phenolics;
5) Develop and upgrade the research and education infrastructure through joint collaborative activities that include sharing of data, knowledge, expertise, equipment, facilities, and educational programs.

The impacts of DakotaBioCon are far-reaching, and extend beyond the award period. Bioprocessing of renewable resources addresses strategic national security priorities by reducing national dependence on imported oil and creates new jobs. To ensure continuation and long-term sustainability, DakotaBioCon leverages existing partnerships within UND's Sustainable Energy Research Initiative and Supporting Education (SUNRISE), SDSU's SunGrant Initiative, and SDSMT's Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD) and future commercial intellectual property.

Intellectual Merit:
DakotaBioCon focuses on bioprocessing of lignin to renewable phenolics, aromatic chemicals and green polymers with potential uses as chemical and polymeric alternatives to petrochemicals. New knowledge and scientific contributions to the field of lignin bioprocessing are being generated. The intellectual merit of the proposed research approach is: 1) the potential for development of new, more cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly methods/agents for lignin depolymerization; 2) the potential for development of a suite of novel analytical methods enabling detailed product analysis; 3) the potential for deciphering the mechanistic aspects of lignin thermochemical and biological fragmentation to attain enhanced conversion rates and/or generate new lignin building-block precursors for industrial chemical processes; and 4) the potential for development of new, green materials with improved chemical and physical properties.

Broader Impacts:
DakotaBioCon infrastructure supports basic and applied research programs and offer expanded education, training and workforce development opportunities for a diverse cohort of K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. It contributes to meeting national energy and economic security needs. These programs are leveraged to enhance collaboration, knowledge, and resource-sharing in the growing interdisciplinary field of renewable energy and materials. The education and workforce development strategy of DakotaBioCon are characterized by an interdisciplinary approach and a unique web of partnerships that helps advance these programs to the next level of performance and delivery. Research findings are widely disseminated to the scientific community and public through website, news media, radio, public databases, presentations at national and international meetings, and peer-reviewed publications in journals of international repute.

Non-technical Description

The South Dakota Biochemical Spatiotemporal NeTwork Resource (BioSNTR) project will develop ways to increase agricultural productivity through scientific advances in bioscience and informatics. The BioSNTR will use imaging and molecular biology to map the biochemical architecture of plant and animal cells. Technologies to improve crop yields will be developed by applying new knowledge about the ways that molecular circuits signal plant cells to grow and function. Results from BioSNTR activities are likely to have positive economic outcomes for South Dakota's agriculture.

The project involves all of the colleges and universities in South Dakota, and is broadening the participation of women, Native Americans and persons with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The BioSNTR will develop a skilled, diverse technical workforce with expertise in bioscience and informatics. South Dakota students will gain entrepreneurial and industrial experience through internship opportunities. BioSNTR is implementing a new PhD program in biochemistry at South Dakota State University and strengthening the computational science programs in several South Dakota universities.

Technical Description

The South Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is creating the Biochemical Spatiotemporal NeTwork Resource (BioSNTR), a transdisciplinary, multi-institutional program for systems bioscience research and education. BioSNTR advances imaging and molecular biology to investigate the sophisticated molecular circuit involved in cell signaling. Understanding this process is essential for rational manipulation of the cell-biomaterial interface in plant and animal systems. The vision of BioSNTR is to map the biochemical architecture of this molecular circuit with sufficient resolution that quantitative predictions can be made for effective control and manipulation of cell function. Technological advances from BioSNTR will lead to improvements in crop yields, animal welfare, and human health. Through BioSNTR, South Dakota EPSCoR is improving the state?s physical infrastructure and human workforce in the areas of bioscience and informatics, two scientific growth fields for South Dakota and the nation.

Rice/1341499

Flow of glacial ice along the Siple Coast, West Antarctica, localizes into fast-flowing ice streams of 20-80 km width, moving at speeds of 100s of m/yr as the ice streams approach the sea. These ice streams are bordered by ridges of nearly stagnant ice and no topographic feature in the ice sheet bed has been identified as guiding that width, which instead seems to be chosen dynamically. Using theoretical modeling and computational physics, this study aims to understand (1) the mechanical, hydrologic and thermal processes active within the ice streams, (2) the origin of the stream morphology and what controls the margin locations of the fast-flowing ice, and (3) how ice discharge from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will respond to climate-related changes in atmospheric and ocean temperatures and precipitation. Preliminary studies suggest that the margins of all active ice streams in the Siple Coast have substantial ?temperate zones?, i.e., ice is at the melting point for several dozens to hundreds of meters above the bed. Temperate ice contains melt water, and thus a first focus is to understand how water generation and transport near the bed in the shear margins might partially stabilize the margin locations and control the speed of ice discharge within the ice stream.

The intellectual merit of these studies is that it will contribute to understanding what controls the channelization of ice flow in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and the rate at which its ice is discharged to the adjacent ocean. The broader impacts of the work are that advancing our knowledge of ice-stream dynamics is crucial for predicting how ice discharge will be impacted by future variations in atmospheric and ocean temperatures, ocean currents, precipitation, and solar radiation. Based on the results from this study, the investigators will attempt to develop a mathematical model of ice stream and their shear margins, that can be included in larger scale numerical simulations of ice sheet processes and climate models. This project will contribute to the training of two graduate students.

This award does not have any field work in Antarctica.

This project funded by the REU Sites Program in the Chemistry Division and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) both at the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports a Research Experience for Undergraduates Site at South Dakota State University, led by Professor James A. Rice and colleagues. The site will support ten students during the ten week summer program that will focused on environmental and green materials chemistry and provide the students with multi-disciplinary research experiences. The goal is to provide cutting-edge research experiences, mentoring, and research-themed professional development to increase the students' preparedness to pursue graduate school or environmental/green chemistry careers. The Site will introduce students to environmental and green chemistry where they will learn about natural and industrial chemical processes that impact societal research needs. These range from understanding climate change to the fate and behavior of anthropogenic chemicals introduced into natural and biological systems, and to making new materials with a reduced reliance on harmful solvents.

The REU site will recruit students from institutions with limited research opportunities with the primary emphasis on attracting students who attend tribal colleges, public and private (predominately undergraduate) institutions in South Dakota and western Minnesota. The Site will explore a distributive concept where the students will work in different locations (the host institution, Black Hills State University and Northern State University) and communicate using Access Grid, a high definition, internet-based communication system. An expected outcome will be to integrate undergraduate research into the chemistry curricula at the predominately undergraduate partner institutions as they work to achieve degree certification by the American Chemical Society.