Continued support for the infrastructure, management and operations of the Electromagnetic Studies of the Continents (EMSOC) national instrument facility will be provided though this grant. This facility provides a pool of magnetotelluric (MT) instruments to support NSF-funded research. The MT measurements provide estimates of the electrical conductivity of the Earth, a property that is sensitive to the presence and interconnectedness of geothermal fluids, molten rock, metallic ore minerals, and graphite. MT data offers a unique an important additional basis for understanding continental history, magma genesis and rock failure. Currently, the Universities of Washington, Utah, California at Riverside and San Diego, Wisconsin at Madison, the Colorado School of Mines, San Diego State University, Arizona State University, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are members of the EMSOC Consortium. Membership is open to U.S. institutions, and the instruments are available to all academic and government users. See vortex.ucr.edu/emsoc/index.html for more details. ***
