NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
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Support for this project was provided jointly by the Department of the Interior/U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the Arthur Day Fund.
Cover: “Passage Through the Ice, June 16, 1818,” as drawn by Capt. John Ross, British Royal Navy, during a voyage of discovery for the purposes of exploring Baffin’s Bay and inquiring into the probability of a North-West Passage. Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1819. (Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.)
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COMMITTEE ON ARCTIC SOLID-EARTH GEOSCIENCES
ARTHUR GRANTZ,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park,
Chairman
DAVID A. G. FORSYTH,
Geological Survey of Canada
KAZUYA FUJITA,
Michigan State University, East Lansing
ARTHUR R. GREEN,
Exxon Production Research Company, Houston
KENNETH HUNKINS,
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
G. LEONARD JOHNSON,
Office of Naval Research
YNGVE KRISTOFFERSEN,
University of Bergen, Norway
E. FRED ROOTS,
Department of the Environment, Ottawa
DAVID B. STONE,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
JÖRN THIEDE,
Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany
Other Contributors
JULIE BRIGHAM-GRETTE,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
D. E. BROWNLEE,
University of Washington, Seattle
DAVID L. CLARK,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
DAVID M. HOPKINS,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
GLENN A. JONES,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
MARCUS G. LANGSETH,
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
LOUIE N. MARINCOVICH,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
CAPT. ROBERT G. MOORE, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
R. L. PHILLIPS,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
ERK REIMNITZ,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park
ROBERT A. SPICER,
Oxford University, United Kingdom
PATRICK T. TAYLOR,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Project Staff
SHERBURNE B. ABBOTT, Staff Director
MARIANN S. PLATT, Administrative Secretary
POLAR RESEARCH BOARD
ROBERT H. RUTFORD,
University of Texas at Dallas,
Chairman
RITA R. COLWELL,
Maryland Biotechnology Institute, University of Maryland,
Vice Chair
NORBERT UNTERSTEINER,
University of Washington, Seattle,
Vice Chair
ROGER G. BARRY, CIRES,
University of Colorado, Boulder
EDDY C. CARMACK,
Department of Fisheries & Oceans, Sidney, Canada
F. STUART CHAPIN, III,
University of California at Berkeley
IAN W. D. DALZIEL,
University of Texas at Austin
PAUL K. DAYTON,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
INEZ Y. FUNG,
Goddard Institute of Space Studies
JOHN E. HOBBIE,
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole
JOHN L. LABRECQUE,
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
MARK F. MEIER, INSTAAR,
University of Colorado, Boulder
JOHN P. MIDDAUGH,
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
THEODORE J. ROSENBERG,
University of Maryland, College Park
DONALD B. SINIFF,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
SUSAN SOLOMON,
NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory, Boulder
WILFORD F. WEEKS,
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
ORAN R. YOUNG,
Dartmouth College
Ex-Officio Members
CHARLES R. BENTLEY,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
JEFF DOZIER,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
TED S. VINSON,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
Staff
SHERBURNE B. ABBOTT, Staff Director
MARIANN S. PLATT, Administrative Secretary
COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES
M. GORDON WOLMAN,
The Johns Hopkins University,
Chairman
ROBERT C. BEARDSLEY,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
B. CLARK BURCHFIEL,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RALPH I. CICERONE,
University of California at Irvine
PETER S. EAGLESON,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
HELEN M. INGRAM,
University of Arizona
GENE E. LIKENS,
New York Botanical Garden
SYUKURO MANABE,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
JACK E. OLIVER,
Cornell University
PHILIP A. PALMER,
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company
FRANK L. PARKER,
Vanderbilt University
DUNCAN T. PATTEN,
Arizona State University
MAXINE L. SAVITZ,
Allied Signal Aerospace Company
LARRY L. SMARR,
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
Case Western Reserve University
SIR CRISPIN TICKELL,
UK Representative to the United Nations
KARL K. TUREKIAN,
Yale University
IRVIN L. WHITE,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
JAMES H. ZUMBERGE,
University of Southern California
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director
JANICE E. MEHLER, Assistant Executive Director
JEANETTE A. SPOON, Financial Officer
CARLITA PERRY, Administrative Assistant
Illustrations
Figures
1. |
Subdivisions of the Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary periods of the geologic time scale that are widely used in this report. |
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2. |
Principal geographic and physiographic features of the Arctic Ocean region. |
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3. |
Major structural features of the arctic region. |
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4. |
Recent status of published topographic and bathymetric mapping in the Arctic Ocean region. |
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5. |
Recent status of onshore geologic mapping in the Arctic Ocean region. |
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6. |
Recent status of gravity field surveys in the Arctic Ocean region. |
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7. |
Recent status of aeromagnetic field surveys in the Arctic Ocean region. |
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8. |
Location of proposed continental margin transects in the Arctic Ocean region. |
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9. |
The pre-Pleistocene stratigraphic record in the Arctic Ocean Basin represented by paleontologically dated cores as of 1990. |
Table
1. |
Matrix for evaluating the priority of research needs in the arctic solid-earth geosciences. |