River-dominated Ocean Margins [RiOMar]: Workshop Management

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ABSTRACTRivers are the primary interface between terrestrial and ocean environments and play a central and multi-faceted role in linking the terrestrial and marine cycles of bioactive elements --- carbon in particular. The magnitude of weathering and erosion processes on land, sediment storage within the river system, and cycling and burial processes in adjacent ocean margins collectively support the premise that rivers and RiOMar environments play an important role in global change. We seek support for a community workshop, to be held on the Tulane University campus (Fall, 2001), in which approximately 50 scientists from the earth and ocean science communities will participate. Major goals to be addressed at this RiOMar workshop are: (1) To assess the current state-of-knowledge regarding the role of rivers and associated margins in the global cycles of carbon and other bioactive elements. (2) To identify, by community consensus, the major unresolved questions regarding RiOMar environments and their role in these global cycles. Outstanding iuburning questionslg will be prioritized as a means to focus future research efforts. (3) To identify salient areas of research in which interdisciplinary and/or cross-cutting research approaches will be needed, and to evaluate the manner in which these various research approaches can be facilitated.The central goal of RiOMar is to evaluate the role of rivers and associated ocean margins in the global cycles of carbon and other bioactive elements, and to better characterize the processes that govern the cycling and fate of bioactive elements in these environments.