National Science Foundation - Where Discoveries Begin

Antarctica is a dynamic and diverse continent with mountains, volcanoes, deserts, fossils, and some of the Earth's most ancient crust. The continental shelves and ocean basins surrounding Antarctica record ice-sheet histories as well as unique geodynamic processes and other geologic phenomena. Much of this geology is hidden beneath thick ice sheets or beneath the sea; therefore, innovative approaches are needed to decipher its history. Projects supported by the Antarctic Earth Sciences (AES) Program provide insights into Antarctica's rich history and lead to increased understanding of the processes that shape it today.

AES encourages and supports field, laboratory, and theoretical work in both terrestrial and marine settings in the fields of geology, geophysics, and other areas of earth sciences.

Emphasis areas include but are not limited to:

• Understanding the evolution of Antarctic ice sheets using sediment records from continental margins to reconstruct their history and determine the geologic controls of their formation and stability;

• Deciphering paleoenvironmental and paleobiological records to understand global climate, ocean circulation, and the evolution of life;
• Exploring Antarctica's tectonic evolution, from its central role in Gondwana's breakup to the present-day deformation driving volcanism, rifting, and orogenesis; and

• Investigating unique processes, such as the formation of subglacial lakes or the aeolian and permafrost sculpting of the Dry Valleys.

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

• The 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.biodiversity.ku.edu/PaleoCollections.htm), curating more than 7,000 specimens of antarctic fossil plants from throughout the Transantarctic Mountains.