This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation, provides support for a workshop to develop a structural and stratigraphic framework for the McMurdo Sound region of the western Ross Sea. Extensive new information has accumulated in recent years on the structure, stratigraphy, landscape evolution, glacial history, and volcanic chronology of the Transantarctic Mountains and Victoria Land Basin in the southern McMurdo Sound region. New seismic, magnetic and gravity data have also been acquired in the area. Participants in the workshop will assess and synthesize both old and new data sets in the context of modern knowledge of the rift basin architecture. The principle objective of the workshop is to produce an updated, regional structural and stratigraphic framework for the coupled rift/rift-flank system in the southern McMurdo Sound region, incorporating volcanic and glacial processes as key drivers of this unique geodynamic system.
Broader Impact The workshop will be international in scope, with participants from Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The workshop activities will improve and enhance international collaboration on Antarctic sciences questions and will help to develop a well-integrated science community with international partnerships for future interdisciplinary research. Workshop results will be reported at international science symposia, future planning workshops focused on Antarctic research frontiers, and via established community World Wide Web sites, to ensure broad dissemination
