Cx-02 Program, Workshop on Modeling Complex Systems

By Victor G. Mossotti¹, Jo Ann Barragan¹, and Todd D. Westergard¹

U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-364

2003

U.S. Department of the Interior
Gale A. Norton

U.S. Geological Survey
Charles G. Groat, Director

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

¹ 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Introduction

Complex systems are ubiquitous within the realm of the earth sciences. Geological systems consist of a multiplicity of linked components with nested feedback loops; the dynamics of these systems are non-linear, iterative, multi-scale, and operate far from equilibrium. That notwithstanding, It appears that, with the exception of papers on seismic studies, geology and geophysics work has been disproportionally underrepresented at regional and national meetings on complex systems relative to papers in the life sciences. This is somewhat puzzling because geologists and geophysicists are, in many ways, preadapted to thinking of complex system mechanisms. Geologists and geophysicists think about processes involving large volumes of rock below the sunlit surface of Earth, the accumulated consequence of processes extending hundreds of millions of years in the past. Not only do geologists think in the abstract by virtue of the vast time spans, most of the evidence is out-of-sight.

A primary goal of this workshop is to begin to bridge the gap between the Earth sciences and life sciences through demonstration of the universality of complex systems science, both philosophically and in model structures.

"These blind men, every one honest in his contentions and certain of having the truth, formed schools and sects and factions... --Buddha

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Data

Cx-02_participants folder contains the list of participants in three file formats: .csv, .dbf, and .fp5

Shape_files_Cx-02_Participants folder contains spacial data about the participants that you can use in your GIS.

Readme file

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