Crustal Dynamics: Chaotic Behavior and Fractal Structures Workshop

在过去的十年里，复杂动力系统中混沌行为的一般领域在各种基础和应用科学学科中受到了极大的关注。密切相关的主题是分形学、相变、成核和重整化群方法。对确定性混沌存在的认识提出了关于因果关系、偶然性的作用以及在地球科学中对物理过程(如地震)进行确定性预测的前景的重要问题。只有少数地球科学家在这些领域积极工作。这一奖项有助于支持一个小型研讨会形式的会议，这将在激发人们对这一领域的兴趣和发展专门知识方面发挥宝贵的作用。20-30名地球科学家将与10-20名非线性动态学家非正式会面，探讨如何最好地使用这些新开发的想法来理解地壳动力学中所看到的复杂性。

During the preceeding decade, the general area of chaotic behavior in complicated dynamical systems has received a great deal of attention in a variety of fundamental and applied scientific disciplines. Closely related subjects are fractals, phase transitions, nucleation, and the renormalization group approach. The recognition of the existence of deterministic chaos raises important questions about the role of causality, chance, and the prospects for deterministic prediction of physical processes, such as earthquakes, in the earth sciences. Only a small number of earth scientists are actively working in these areas. This award contributes support to a small workshop - format conference, which will be invaluable in stimulating interest and developing expertise in this area. 20 - 30 earth scientists will informally meet with 10 - 20 nonlinear dynamicists to explore how these newly developed ideas might best be used in understanding the complexity seen in the dynamics of the earth's crust.