97-06432 Axen One of the larger outstanding issues in plate tectonics concerns the initiation and evolution of continental rifting. A second important problem relates to the understanding of the evolution of transform faulting to strongly oblique rifting. The Gulf of Baja is the obvious natural laboratory for studying these problems because it is in the early stages of its evolution, it is well exposed, and it is accessible. Axen's study will contribute to our knowledge by providing an integrative data set including geological mapping, structural geology, and sedimentology, all supported by geochronologic work. By studying both the volcanic and the sedimentary rocks, as well as their structures and temporal relations, Axen's data will bear directly on the detailed geologic history of the evolution of the northern part of the Gulf of Baja.
