Beneath its thick ice sheets, Antarctica is a dynamic and diverse continent with mountains, volcanoes, deserts, meteorites, dinosaur fossils, and some of the Earth’s most ancient crust. The Antarctic Earth Sciences Program supports research to interpret this rich history and the processes that shape Antarctica today. Current projects address such diverse topics as:

• Exploring Antarctica’s tectonic evolution; from its central role in Gondwana's breakup to the present-day deformation driving volcanism, rifting, and orogenesis
• Investigating unique geologic processes; such as the formation of subglacial lakes or the aeolian and permafrost sculpting of the Dry Valleys
• Deciphering paleoenvironmental and paleobiological records to understand global climate, ocean circulation, and the evolution of life
• Understanding the ice sheets using sediment records to reconstruct their history, and determining the geologic controls of their formation and stability

All of these problems require a better understanding of Antarctica's geology, including its crustal structure and how Antarctica and its surrounding ocean basins were shaped by global tectonic patterns. The program therefore supports and encourages field, laboratory, and theoretical work in terrestrial and marine earth sciences, including the intersections between these fields and biology, glaciology, and oceanography.

The program also strongly encourages work on existing samples and data. Proposers should investigate availability from individual researchers and repositories such as:

• The Byrd Polar Rock Repository at Ohio State University (http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/), host to thousands of rock samples from around Antarctica
• The Antarctic Research Facility at Florida State University (http://www.arf.fsu.edu/), housing over 25,000 meters of sediment core from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica
• The Paleobotany Collection of Kansas University (http://paleobotany.bio.ku.edu/PaleoCollections.htm), curating more than 7,000 specimens of antarctic fossil plants from throughout the Transantarctic Mountains.

Proposers should also be aware that during IPY, the program is supporting drilling in McMurdo Sound under the ANDRILL (http://andrill.org/) program. Samples may be available to researchers offering unique contributions.