EarthScope - GeoPRISMS Science Workshop for Eastern North America Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; October 27-29, 2011
The ENAM Science Workshop is now complete! Click here to go to the Meeting Outcomes

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For latest workshop documents and updates, including participant and poster listings, see the more information section.

This is the second of two workshops, jointly sponsored by EarthScope and GeoPRISMS, on Eastern North America. Click here for information about the first workshop, held in May 2011 in Bastrop, TX.

Workshop Announcement

We are pleased to announce a joint workshop aimed at assembling the EarthScope and GeoPRISMS communities interested in the formative onshore and offshore geological, geophysical, and geodynamic processes of Eastern North America (ENAM). Our goal is to focus community effort and research approaches on crucial science targets with a national and international forum of scientists from universities, national labs, industry, federal, and state agencies. The transportable array of EarthScope arrives in the mid-Atlantic region in 2012-13 and GeoPRISMS recently selected ENAM as a primary site for Rift Initiation and Evolution (RIE) study.

The workshop will take as its starting point the ENAM RIE portion of the GeoPRISMS Science and Implementation Plans and the Earthscope Science Plan. The goals of the workshop will be to clarify common research objectives on the Grenville and Appalachian foundation, the structural, magmatic, and geodynamic setting of rift initiation, the rift-to-drift record preserved in sedimentary archives, the processes that characterize the evolution to a mature passive margin, and the active lithospheric and surficial processes that characterize the modern margin with an emphasis on possible feedbacks between surface and deep-Earth processes.

We anticipate funding to support ~75 researchers with a diversity of interests to participate in this workshop, both from the US and abroad, independent of past involvement in MARGINS, GeoPRISMS, or EarthScope research efforts. Post-docs, senior graduate students, and members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. Applications should include a brief statement of interest and anticipated contribution to the workshop, and a short (1 to 2 page) CV.

The workshop will be held at the new STEPS facility at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. The program will include a number of overview presentations of eastern North American geology, geophysics, and geodynamics, updates on current GeoPRISMS and Earthscope research projects, break-out sessions, and plenary discussions leading to conclusive decisions on collaborative science targets and research corridors.

For more information please contact the GeoPRISMS Office.

Click here to see the Listserv version of this announcement.

Wednesday, 26 October

A Graduate Student Symposium and Field Trip will be held on October 26, 2011, in association with the EarthScope-GeoPRISMS Eastern North America  Workshop. All graduate students are encouraged to participate in this pre-workshop program, which is designed to (1) introduce students to the objectives and opportunities of the EarthScope and GeoPRISMS Programs, (2) provide geologic and geophysical background about Eastern North America,, both onshore and off (3) enable brief student presentations, as well as discussion and interaction in a comfortable setting, and (4) visit relevant geologic field sites in  Pennsylvania. All symposium participants will enter the ENAM workshop with a rich background in the workshop topics and objectives, and an understanding of implementation strategies for moving the research horizon forward, as well as a strong cohort of colleagues and a greater voice in decision-making that will take place during the workshop.

Student Symposium Agenda

Download the Student Agenda

8:00-9:00        Registration, Breakfast, and Welcome

9:00-10:20     Geologic, geophysical, geodynamic, and geomorphic background of ENAM – Appalachian (Pazzaglia), rift (Withjack), and recent landscape evolution (McKeon).

10:20-10:30     Break

10:30-11:00     EarthScope and GeoPRISMS science strategies and rationale for ENAM workshop. M. Benoit

11:00-12:00     Student research presentations (poster and oral)

12:00-6:00      Field trip to Appalachian foreland, basin analysis reconstruction of the Appalachian range. (Box LUNCH provided) F. Pazzaglia.

6:30–8:00S       Student Dinner

6:00-9:00       Registration and Science workshop mixer. STEPS concourse A

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Post-Workshop Field Trip

Saturday Afternoon, 29 October

All workshop participants are invited to attend a half-day field trip to examine Newark Rift Basin and its stratigraphy, sedimentology, and structure.  The field trip will begin shortly following the close of the workshop.  More details will be provided soon.

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Poster Information

Posters should be 3hx4w feet generally (larger sizes can be accommodated).  The poster session is presently scheduled for 8:30-9:30PM on day two of the conference, however posters will be up and viewable during the entire workshop.  For more information please contact the GeoPRISMS Office directly.

See the Poster List (PDF, ~35Kb)

Call for White Papers

The transportable array of EarthScope arrives in the eastern United States in 2012-13, and GeoPRISMS has identified the Eastern North America Margin (ENAM) as a primary site of the Rift Initiation and Evolution (RIE) initiative. Collectively, EarthScope and GeoPRISMS research spans the shoreline and, in doing so, provides an integrated framework for understanding the Appalachian mountain building processes, rift-initiation (including orogenic inheritance), and the evolution and structure of a mature continental margin. The associated broader impacts of natural hazards and assessment of the nation's natural resources, including traditional and alternative sources of energy in the most densely populated part of the country, are fundamental to both programs.

The October 2011 Workshop has two main purposes. First, it will focus community effort and research approaches in the eastern United States, including identification of important EarthScope and GeoPRISMS RIE science targets. In particular, the GeoPRISMS RIE community could use the meeting to identify critical areas to target for focused research. Second, the workshop will establish research strategies that maximize EarthScope and GeoPRISMS synergies to address common research goals.

Scientists interested in participating in the development of the integrated science and implementation plan for ENAM are invited to submit White Papers. The White Papers will play an important role in the workshop outcomes, including guiding breakout discussions at the workshop, and they are thus an important mechanism for community input. White Papers should propose specific science objectives,  show suitability for addressing the research themes outlined in the GeoPRISMS and EarthScope Science Plans, and consider the relative merits of PI-driven versus “community” approaches to collecting necessary data sets. Example White Paper topics could include specific scientific questions and/or targets in Eastern North America, potential "Discovery Corridors" (onshore and off), possible community experiments (including joint proposals between EarthScope, GeoPRISMS, or other partners), and implementation strategies for carrying out thematic studies. White Papers addressing the evolution of the passive margin may wish to make an explicit case for how they address one of more of the key RIE questions.

White papers should be submitted to the GeoPRISMS Office by September 15, 2011. In preparation, White Papers authors should consult relevant parts of the Earthscope Science Plan and the GeoPRISMS Science Plan linked below.

All White Papers will be made available to meeting participants and the community prior to the workshop.

Guidelines:

• White Papers submitted by proponent teams are preferred to ensure broader consensus, although individuals are also welcome to submit.
• Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are encouraged to participate in the process of assembling a white paper; similarly, PIs are encouraged to include students, post-docs, and young investigators in author teams.
• Authors can contribute more than one white paper.
• White Papers should be clear and succinct and are limited to 2 pages of text plus 1 page of figures and references.
• White Papers can be submitted even if the authors are unable to attend the meeting.
• White Papers that address the integration or complementarity of the EarthScope and GeoPRISMS communities and science goals are particularly encouraged.
• The conveners reserve the right to restrict dissemination of papers deemed to be too narrow in scope or not aimed at goals of integrating resources of the relevant programs.
• Please provide the following header information on each paper:
  • White Paper Title
  • Authors and Affiliations
  • Contact information
  • Proposed sites and/or themes addressed
  • Key types of existing or forthcoming data/infrastructure to build upon

Workshop conveners:

• Frank J. Pazzaglia (Lehigh University)
• Peter Flemings (University of Texas at Austin)
• Vadim Levin (Rutgers University)
• Dan Lizarralde (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)
• Basil Tikoff (University of Wisconsin)
• Martha Withjack (Rutgers University)
• Maggie Beniot (The College of New Jersey)  Student Coordinator and Symposium Convener

Venue Information

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More Information

More information on the Earthscope - GeoPRISMS Science Workshop for Eastern North America will be posted here as it becomes available.  Please check back often.

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