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Executive Summary
Meeting of the InterMARGINS interim Steering Committee
National Science Foundation,
13 August 1999
Washington D.C. |
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| Host: |
Bilal Haq, NSF, Washington, USA |
| SC Members: |
Warner Brueckmann, GEOMAR, Germany (chair)
Brian Taylor, US-MARGINS, SOEST-Hawaii, USA
Anthony Watts, Oxford University, Great Britain
Nadine Ellouz, IFP, Paris, France
Shinichi Kuramoto, STA, Japan |
| Observers: |
Mike Purdy, NSF, Washington
Mike Reeves, NSF, Washington
Bruce Malfait, NSF, Washington
Paul Dauphin, NSF, Washington
Jamie Allan, NSF, Washington
Don Heinrichs, NSF, Washington
Tadeusz Gladczenko, JOI, Washington |
| InterMARGINS Office: |
Tobias Moerz, GEOMAR, Germany |
On Friday 13 August 1999 representatives from Germany, France, France, UK, and USA met at the NSF headquarters in Washington D.C. to hold the first meeting of the interim Steering Committee (iSC) of the International Margins Program, InterMARGINS. After hearing reports about national Margins programs and initiatives from France, UK, Japan, USA, and Germany the group discussed goals and objectives of InterMARGINS and identified necessary steps to make InterMARGINS a fully functional entity in international science planning. |
Presentation of National Programs
France
N. Ellouz presented scientific strategy, organisational structure and timeliness of the emerging French Margins program GDR Marge, which is focussed on the three main themes:
- Thermicity, subsidence and structural evolution of continental margins
- Architecture and sedimentological processes of continental margins
- Geochemistry, organic matter and fluids
These themes evolved from responses to a call for proposals earlier this year, for which 66 proposals were received. The program was announced to the academic and industrial communities this spring and accepted by the Steering Committee formed this summer. GDR Marge is carried by a group of 4 academic institutions (CNRS, BRGM, IRD, IFREMER) and 3 industry partners (Total, ELF, IFP) and will have an annual budget of up to 2 M FF.
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Japan
S. Kuramoto outlined the structure of science planning and funding with respect to margins research in Japan. One major program of STA is the mechanism "SHINKO-CHOSEI-HI" which provides the framework for research projects and activities. A premier program funded under this mechanism is the project to study the seismogenic zone in the Nankai Trough area. This area is the focus of several other initiatives between JAMSTEC and other international partners.
In a major committment to continental margins research Japan is developing a new scientific riser vessel capable of very deep drilling at continental margins. Targets identified for this vessel are:
- Seismogenic Zone Processes
- Subduction Factory Processes
- Deep Biosphere
- Gas Hydrates studies
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UK
A. Watts outlined the new "Ocean MARGINS" LINK program, which will be jointly funded by NERC and an industry consortium of major oil companies. A Program Management Committee of 5 academic and 5 industrial representatives will be established this fall and solicit input from academia and industry. The "Ocean MARGINS" program manager will try to match academic proposal with industry interests and capabilities. All projects should be jointly funded. The themes favored for the program are:
Rifting processes
- Passive Margins
- Deep Structures
Sedimentary Processes and Products
- Transport (shelf to deep sea)
- Slope stability and failure
- High resolution stratigraphy
- Sub-seafloor fluid flow
- Gas-hydrates (unassigned, but may be brought eventually up by industry)
The NERC budget for the LINK program totals 4.5 M£ for 5 years with matching contributions from industry for the same period.
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USA
B. Taylor presented the history and current status of the US MARGINS program which is currently focusing on four initiatives:
- Rupturing Continental Lithosphere
- Seismogenic Zone Experiment
- Subduction Factory
- Sediment Dynamics and Strata Formation
The US MARGINS is embracing new research strategies. Achieving the MARGINS research objectives will generally require new experimental approaches, including:
Developing Multidisciplinary Case Studies
One goal of the MARGINS Program is to coordinate a community consensus on a small number of in-depth, multidisciplinary case studies carefully designed to address one or more scientific objectives.
Focusing on Active Systems
One corollary of the process-based systems approach is that it is most useful to study active systems, as opposed to their fossil counterparts.
Studying Whole Systems
An important aspect will be to adopt a whole system approach, rather than targeting a particular physical or chemical component in isolation.
Including Comparative Global Studies
While the emphasis in MARGINS will be on a few in-depth case studies, more global and satellite studies will be necessary for the purpose of making informed choices on the sites for some case studies.
With the MARGINS Program announcement published by NSF in Fall 1998, the first set of proposals were submitted to the January 15th MARGINS deadline. The joint EAR (CD) - OCE (MGG, ODP) MARGINS review panel met the first week of May and decided to provide funding for 10 proposals through the NSF. NSF´s current annual budget for MARGINS research is 4 M $. |
Germany
W. Brückmann presented the current status of continental margins research in Germany. While not yet committed to a formal Margins program, marine research on continental margins was fostered through many years of funding for cruises-related research on RV SONNE. Recently a DFG commission produced the "Geotechnologies" White Paper, which outlines 13 key areas of geoscience research in Germany for the next 10 - 15 years. Under the key theme of "Continental Margins - Focal points of Earths Utilization and Risk Potential" and "Gas Hydrates - Potential Resource and Agent of Change"
two areas with Margins relevant issues are identified. It is expected that these themes will be supported on the order of 4.5 M $ and 1.5 M $ annually. Among the focus regions of future German Margins Research are:
- Peru / Andes (convergent margin, errosive/accretionary)
- Sunda Arc (intraoceanic convergent margin)
- Namibia / Argentina (passive, conjugate margins)
- Costa Rica / Nicaragua (convergent margin, gas hydrates, BSR)
- Eastern Mediterranean (continent-continent collision, earthquake research)
- Kamchatka (accretionary convergent margin)
It is expected that this focus will lead to a formal Margins program in the near future.
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Membership in InterMARGINS
Representatives from the US and Germany reiterated their intent to support the InterMARGINS initiative both financially and logistically. Representatives from Japan, France, and the UK indicated their interest in joining InterMARINS as Full members for 1 January 2000 and requested formal letters of invitation from the iSC chair. Norway has indicated interest in joining InterMARGINS in the near future after establishment of a national support program.
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Working Groups
Based on presentations and discussions at the meeting the iSC identified the following 5 key themes for InterMARGINS and decided to form working groups to address these topics. The goal of the working groups will be to develop a broadly focussed science program for InterMARGINS and to identify the scientific challenges for the next decade.
- Rifting processes
- Sedimentary processes at continental margins
- Fluid processes, geochemistry, microbiology at continental margins
- Subduction factory processes
- Seismogenic zone processes
At the national committee meetings (France, Uk, Germany) scheduled for this Fall members are asked to nominate two candidates for each of the working groups. The working groups will be established at the iSC meeting.
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Program Administration
The group present discussed and revised the draft program administration plan. The revised Program Administration Plan will be distributed with the draft minutes of the meeting and finalized at the next iSC meeting.
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Next Meeting
The next Steering Committee Meeting was tentatively scheduled for 12 December 1999 to be held in conjunction with the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, USA. The InterMARGINS Office will distribute a draft agenda by 1 November.
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Action Items: |
| (99-1-1) |
The Chair of the Interim Steering Committee (iSC) will send formal letters of invitation to Japan, the UK, and France, inviting their participation in InterMARGINS as full members. |
(99-1-2) |
The InterMARGINS Office will prepare and distribute the first InterMARGINS newsletter by 15 October, which will be widely distributed to the international community in US, Japan, and Europe. |
| (99-1-3) |
The InterMARGINS Office will prepare a press release and other information for public release to the broader geoscience community (to be published in EOS, the JOIDES Journal, JOI-USSAC newsletter, RIDGE etc). |
| (99-1-2) |
The chair will contact SCOR regarding possible InterMARGINS affiliation. |
| (99-1-3) |
The InterMARGINS Office will prepare a draft budget for 2000 based on contribution levels suggested in the draft program plan (for submission to all principal members by 1 December 1999. |
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