9317522 Christensen The Southern Sierra Nevada Continental Dynamics Project (SSCDP) involves multidisciplinary traverses across and along the Sierra Nevada Range in order to ascertain the structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath this terrane. The objectives of this research are to resolve the cause of uplift of the Sierra Nevada cordillera and the relationship of this terrane to the adjoining Death Valley extensional province and the southern San Joaquin Basin. Complimentary to these goals, this project involves a collaborative effort to characterize the physical properties of systematically collected samples along these traverses. These data will make a significant contribution to constraining seismic models proposed as a result of remote sensing methods and will directly complement the ongoing petrographic analysis of the variable lithologies extant in this region. ***
