This project provides funding for international travel support to approximately 4 early-career professionals and 8 students to attend the international conference "Fragile Earth: Geological Processes from Global to Local Scales, Associated Hazards & Resources" that will be held in Munich, Germany, from September, 4-7, 2011. Major topics addressed at this conference are: (1) subduction zone processes at global, regional, and local scales; (2) intraplate earthquakes, natural hazards and risks; (3) geological resources and sedimentary geodynamic processes; and (4) geoeducation in highschools, universities and public outreach through geoparks and geoheritage.
This international conference addresses many current and central research topics in tectonics and related fields, including sessions devoted to the recent Tohoku earthquake. The conference affords international participants the opportunity to share recent research results and initiate new international research partnerships. Conveners will make efforts to broaden participation through support students and early career researchers from underrepresented groups in the earth sciences.
This project provided travel support for 17 students and young professionals to attend two different international geoscience conferences. At the conferences, the students present research papers and networked with other students and professionals from around the world. These types of activities help ensure that students and young professional develop skills and contacts to become leading geosciencetists. The two conferences are described below Fragile Earth Geological Processes from Global to Local Scales, Associated Hazards & Resources An international conference presented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Geowissenschaften (DGG), Geologische Vereinigung (GV) and The Geological Society of America (GSA) Munich, Germany 4-7 September 2011 The geosciences are one of the most important scientific fields of the 21st century. The growing world population faces risks due to geological hazards — such as the great Tohoku-Oki earthquake-tsunami events of 11 March 2011, in Japan — but also profits from geological resources. Mitigation of risks and availability of resources depends on the understanding of complex and transient geological processes acting at global, regional and local scales. Over 580 participants made 400 presentations, which were organized into 45 theme sessions, 18 field trips and 7 workshops. The conference participants come from over 37 countries and from all continents - except Antarctica. Geological Society of America Penrose Conference Deformation, Fluid Flow, and Mass Transfer in the Forearc of Convergent Margins This conference was held 26-31 March 2012 at Il Ciocco, a venue in the hills overlooking the town of Barga, Italy at the foot of the Apuane Alps. The meeting location was ideally suited for field trips, including a 2-day pre-meeting field trip and a one-day post-meeting trip in the Apuane Alps. The purpose of this Penrose Conference was to explore recent developments related to deformation, fluid flow, and mass transfer in the forearc of convergent plate boundaries and their potential relationships to earthquake phenomena and seismogenesis. The conference brought together 64 scientists from 15 different countries. Talks and posters were grouped into four themes: 1) Short and Long Time Scales of Deformation, 2) Structure of Margins and Relationship to Seismicity, 3) Deformation Processes and Seismicity in the Forearc, and 4) Fluids and Forearc Properties. We would like to thank the Tectonics Program of the National Science Foundation for support of graduate students and early career faculty. We would also like to thank the support of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) for the support to P. Vannucchi and R. von Huene as EGU ambassadors
