The objectives of the present proposal

The objectives of the proposal are to create a European/Icelandic observational basis for a large-scale international project of studying the Hotspot dynamics. It will encourage scientists from all over the world to participate in building up the observational facilities and intepretation of data. Scientists from all over the world have shown interest and enthusiasm to participate in such an undertaking.

The objectives can be summarized as follows:

• To prepare and focus the geophysical observational infrastructure in Iceland to observe the dynamics of, and especially the variations of the activity of the Iceland plume, the Hotspot. This will be partly done by focussing the functions of the existing acquisition and evaluation system in Iceland, the SIL system, and related systems to that purpose by including available sensors in to the system and sensors provided by other projects. It also involves designing and testing an unmanned multidisciplinary automatic geophysical observatory in the remote area of Vonarskard above the center of the plume.
• To create a geophysical database of long-term and ongoing observations to facilitate European and international research of the plume dynamics and crustal processes, and to utilize existing multinational datacenters in Europe to make the observations easily accessible for scientific research.
• To prepare the seismic observatory infrastructure in neighbouring areas, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Greenland to widen the observational platform.
• To use the experience and cooperation gained in building up the European/Icelandic HOTSPOT observational facilities to create an international scientific consortium to promote further research of the Iceland plume dynamics.

By carrying out these HOTSPOT objectives we create the observational basis for research to address the following goals:

• To understand and model magma generation, segregation and intrusions from the mantle into the crust.
• To understand and model the deformation and stresses caused by such intrusions, i.e. how stresses are transmitted along the crust. These models should provide information about rheological conditions of the crust and upper mantle, that are significant for hazard assessment research everywhere on the earth.

• To create infrastructure for widening the observational bases for studying the Iceland plume to areas on both sides of the Atlantic.

• To add new elements to, and constraints on the dynamic modelling of the Iceland plume, to understand and monitor the episodic processes of crustal formation and relate it to plate motion in the North Atlantic on a geological scale.