9526753 Smithson The ACCRETE program is a collaborative endeavor to determine how continents grow by magmatic and terrane accretion, and to investigate the relative roles of these processes. This award is part of a project which involves a three year coordinated geophysical and geological study of mid-Mesozoic to mid-Cenozoic continental growth by accretion. The goal is to develop a four dimensional (X,Y,Z,and time) understanding of accretionary processes along the portion of the northwestern margin of North America underlain by the Coast Mountains orogen, British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Specifically, the project involves a transect of the orogen close to the British Columbia-Alaska border. A geophysical pilot project along this transect in the summer of 1994 resulted in over 1700 km of new marine MCS (Multi-Channel Seismic), gravity and magnetic data, and common receiver gathers from 60 REFTEK seismometers. Building on the high quality of this geophysical data base, the Principal Investigators propose a group of studies designed to construct a 400 km cross section of the orogen through the entire crust and into the upper mantle. To accomplish this, they must resolve fundamental questions regarding how continental crust is formed during terrane accretion. ***
