Collaborative Research: Workshop for Integrated EarthScope Research and Education in the Northern Rocky Mountains

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

An EarthScope workshop in the northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) will provide an opportunity for a diverse array of earth scientists to meet and discuss the opportunities that EarthScope will provide to improve our understanding of the wide range of processes that formed this segment of continental crust. The NRM (generally defined as northern Wyoming, SW Montana, and eastern Idaho) is a unique environment that provides an excellent natural laboratory for studying many critical phenomena associated with the evolution of the continental crust-mantle system. We propose to hold a 2.5-day workshop in the early fall of 2005 in SW Montana. The meeting will begin with a general session to inform participants of the current status of EarthScope and provide overviews of the overarching scientific questions related to the geology of the NRM. An organizing committee will be charged to set the meeting agenda and participate in selection of speakers and participants. The workshop will provide the opportunity for smaller working groups to meet and identify scientific objectives and assess how EarthScope can help address these objectives. Possible working group topics and lists of individuals who have expressed an interest in attending is provided. A concluding session will focus on presentations from the individual working groups. Appropriate and timely announcements will allow ample opportunity for all interested parties to apply to attend. The broader impacts of the workshop will be realized through comprehensive web development that will support workshop logistics, pre- and post-workshop activities, posting of all workshop products (e.g. talks, posters, discussion summaries, essays, plans), and will begin to compile a region-wide digital resource collection. The workshop program will also address the EarthScope Education and Outreach (E&O) objectives by establishing an E&O working group in parallel with the research-oriented working groups. The workshop will also serve to identify and recruit colleagues who are interested in contributing to EarthScope E&O in the NRM.