Skip To Content
NSF Logo Search GraphicGuide To Programs GraphicImage Library GraphicSite Map GraphicHelp GraphicPrivacy Policy Graphic
OLPA Header Graphic
 
     
 

NSF Press Release

 


NSF PR 03-120 - October 15, 2003

Media contact:

 Cheryl Dybas

 (703) 292-7734

 cdybas@nsf.gov

Program contact:

 Jim Whitcomb

 (703) 292-8553

 jwhitcom@nsf.gov

NSF Awards $219 Million Over Five Years for Earthscope Project: Far-Reaching Geosciences Effort to Understand the North American Continent

Map of California with inset showing earthquake zone of the San Andreas Fault and pilot hole
EarthScope will drill directly into the earthquake zone of the San Andreas Fault to measure changes in rock properties before, during, and after earthquakes. Linked to other EarthScope measurements at the surface, these direct observations will, for the first time, monitor how an active fault and responds to regional and local changes in stress.
Credit: EarthScope
Select image for larger version
(Size: 925KB)

Map of the U.S. with dots indicating seismic instruments
EarthScope will use a transportable array of 400 seismic instruments that will gradually roll across the entire United States over a ten-year period, making observations for one to two years at some 2000 sites.
Credit: EarthScope
Select image for larger version
(Size: 7.6MB)

Map showing western margin of North America from Mexico to Alaska and proposed PBO stations
EarthScope will use an array of permanent stations equipped with global positioning satellite receivers and strainmeters, extending along the western margin of North America from Mexico to Alaska to monitor the boundary of the North American plate. Clusters of additional instruments will be installed on volcanoes, along the San Andreas fault system and near other major faults, to provide detailed measurements in areas of rapid deformation.
Credit: EarthScope
Select image for larger version
(Size: 4.9MB)

Larger versions (Total Size: 29.5MB) of all images from this document

 Note About Images

Arlington, Va.—When President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark across the nation to explore the American West in 1803, the world knew little about western America. The discoveries the expedition made, many unprecedented, led us to appreciate our nation's natural resources, settle the West, and eventually, to establish national parks.

Now, exactly two centuries later, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a latter-day Lewis and Clark expedition: EarthScope, a scientific exploration of the structure and evolution of the North American continent, and the physical processes controlling its earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This time, however, instead of toting sextants and compasses to map the surface, scientists will bring seismometers, state-of-the-art drilling equipment, satellites and GPS receivers to map Earth's interior.

"Studies of geology have enabled us to infer the processes that shaped and continue to shape our continent," said Margaret Leinen, assistant director of NSF for geosciences. "Now technology can allow us to watch these processes on a human time scale, one as short as an academic school year. EarthScope will not only help us understand how the North American continent formed, it will make possible the mapping of the continent's changing structure."

The EarthScope infrastructure will be constructed over the next five years. "The effort capitalizes on new broadband seismic sensors, developments in GPS technologies, reduced telecommunication costs, and a data distribution infrastructure now in place," said scientist Gregory van der Vink, director of the EarthScope project. "EarthScope will collect and integrate scientific information derived from geology, seismology, remote sensing and geodesy, the science of measuring Earth's surface features."

An array of 400 seismometers will form a moving net of geologic sensors across the contiguous 48 states and Alaska, occupying 2,000 locations over 10 years to assemble an image of the internal structure of the continent and underlying mantle from "crust to core." The array, to be constructed by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), will investigate earthquakes, volcanoes, and active mountain-building in Alaska and the West. In the eastern United States, the array will study the early development and roots of our continent, imaging the deep Earth for clues about the origin of the magnetic field and the driving mechanisms of plate tectonics.

"EarthScope will create some of the most exciting science of our generation," said Jim Whitcomb, section head in NSF's division of earth sciences, which funded EarthScope. "In practical terms, our improved knowledge of North American continent dynamics will greatly advance efforts to reduce earthquake hazards."

A network of GPS receivers, to be constructed by the University NAVSTAR Consortium, Inc. (UNAVCO, Inc.), will continuously record the deformation of the earth's surface. Sensitive bore-hole strain meters will measure changes in stress along the plate boundary of the western United States and Alaska, explained van der Vink. "These sensors will measure how the North American crust is deforming, how earthquakes start and how magma flows beneath active volcanoes."

EarthScope will also work with NASA to develop a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite. These data will map changes in Earth's surface before, during and after major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

An observatory, to be constructed by Stanford University in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), that will be placed four kilometers deep into the San Andreas fault will provide the first opportunity to determine directly the conditions under which earthquakes occur, to collect fault rocks and fluids for laboratory study and to monitor continuously an active fault zone at depth.

Data from all EarthScope components will be integrated to produce models of continental structure and dynamics, and to determine how those structures evolve, said Whitcomb. "The seismological and drilling components will yield detailed images of Earth below the surface," he said, "while the GPS, strain meter and radar images will allow us to view changes in those structures through time."

For the first time, concluded van der Vink, "we are no longer limited to inferring plate tectonics from the geologic record. EarthScope will allow us to observe these geologic processes in real time."

All data from EarthScope will be available to the public in real-time to maximize participation from the scientific community and to provide on-going educational opportunities for students of all ages.

EarthScope is a multi-agency, national program with important roles played by NSF, USGS, NASA, and other federal agencies. Partnerships are also being developed with state agencies, regional seismic networks, organizations in Mexico and Canada, and the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP).

Lewis and Clark likely wouldn't believe where 200 years has taken us.

-NSF-

EarthScope Project Contact: Greg van der Vink, (202) 682-2220, gvdv@earthscope.org

For more information: www.earthscope.org

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards. The NSF also awards over $200 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

Receive official NSF news electronically through the e-mail delivery system, NSFnews. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to join-nsfnews@lists.nsf.gov. In the body of the message, type "subscribe nsfnews" and then type your name. (Ex.: "subscribe nsfnews John Smith")

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
News Highlights: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa
Newsroom: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/media/start.htm
Science Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm
Awards Searches: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a6/A6Start.htm

 

 
 
     
 

 
National Science Foundation
Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA
Tel: 703-292-8070
FIRS: 800-877-8339 | TDD: 703-292-5090
 

NSF Logo Graphic