This EarthScope workshop was held on April 11-13, 2010 at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). The purpose of this workshop was to help define research questions and outline a research agenda that can take advantage of EarthScope-related data that will be obtained in the U.S. Midcontinent during 2011 and 2012.
The workshop focused specifically on a lithospheric block that encompasses major epeirogenic features such as the Ozark Plateau, the Illinois Basin, and the northern Mississippi Embayment, as well as numerous rifts and fault zones, some of which (e.g., New Madrid; Wabash Valley) remain significantly seismogenic (see figure). Thus, EarthScope-related study of the block has the potential to address questions ranging from the process of continental crust formation and cratonization, to the formation and maintenance of intracratonic epeirogenic features, to the nature of long-term and contemporary tectonism in plate interiors.
The two-day workshop provided a forum for focused discussion and analysis of existing geological and geophysical data and identification of key targets for new interdisciplinary research projects in this region. Probable areas include seismological, structural, sedimentological, geomorphic, geochronologic, isotopic, and geodetic constraints on cratonic structure and tectonism. Thus, participants were invited from a wide spectrum of disciplines, and students were especially encouraged to apply.
The project summary can be found here.
