AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF)/Directorate for Geosciences (GEO)/Division of Earth Sciences

PROGRAM: EarthScope

OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding for single or collaborative proposals to conduct scientific research associated with EarthScope and supports activities that further the scientific and educational goals of EarthScope. EarthScope addresses fundamental questions about the evolution of continents and the processes responsible for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Through the integration of scientific information derived from geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and geodesy, the EarthScope program will yield a comprehensive time-dependent picture of the continent far beyond that which any single discipline or technology can achieve. EarthScope includes new observational technologies that will be linked through high performance computing and telecommunication networks. These observational facilities provide a framework for broad, integrated studies across the Earth sciences, including research on fault properties and the earthquake process, crustal strain transfer, magmatic and hydrous fluids in the crust and upper mantle, plate boundary processes, large-scale continental deformation, continental structure and evolution, deep-Earth structure, and associated educational aspects. The integrated observing systems that will comprise the EarthScope Facility include: USArray that maps in 3-D the earth’s interior by means of seismic and magnetotelluric systems; Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) that monitors the distortion of the earth’s surface by means of geodetic systems; and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) that defines the conditions and physics of an active plate boundary fault at depth.

DEADLINE: July 16, 2008

FUNDING INFORMATION: The NSF expects to make approximately 15-25 standard or continuing grants with durations of one to five years.

AGENCY CONTACT:
Kaye Shedlock, Program Director
Directorate for Geosciences
Division of Earth Sciences
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard Room 785 S
Arlington, Virginia 22230
Telephone: (703) 292-4693
Fax: (703) 292-9025
Email: kshedloc@nsf.gov
Web: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf06562/nsf06562.htm