Grunow OPP 9705586 Abstract Geological and geophysical research sponsored by the US Antarctic Program of the National Science Foundation along the Antarctic margin has usually concentrated on the areas traditionally visited either by ship, such as the Antarctic Peninsula and Ross Sea regions, or areas easily accessible by aircraft from McMurdo Station. Limited access to much of the margin has resulted in data sets and interpretations that are skewed toward processes and events within and along the Ross and Weddell sea regions and West Antarctica. This award supports a workshop with primary objectives of identifying key scientific questions which could be addressed through cruises to the Wilkes, Enderby and Queen Maud Land areas of the East Antarctic margin, and assessing the level of interest within the US community of implementing research cruise initiatives. Potential research objectives can be divided into the following sub-disciplines: a) nearshore marine research with an emphasis on paleoclimatic studies; b) continental shelf to oceanic crust marine research stressing questions of Mesozoic breakup and rifting geometry; c) onshore pre-Tertiary geological research looking at Gondwana assembly and breakup events; and d) onshore Late Tertiary geological and geophysical studies, also primarily of paleoclimatic significance. The unifying element between these disciplines is the essential need to develop a circumpolar view of Antarctic earth sciences. Implicit in this goal is cooperation of USAP efforts with other national programs, particularly Australia and Japan. A secondary objective of the workshop will be to coordinate a logistics plan which would mesh the scientific goals of onshore and offshore programs in order to take full advantage of the allocated ship-time.
