Organizational structure for Rocky Mountain EarthScope: science and education planning

为了优化其科学和教育遗产，EarthScope需要在科学家中孵化区域综合努力，这些努力将远远超出典型的个人PI或小组研究项目的范围。这项提议是新墨西哥大学和新墨西哥矿业与技术学院的共同努力，目的是建立一个全国性的组织结构，集中和整合落基山脉地区(落基山脉北部到美国西南部)的EarthScope科学和教育活动。在包括桑迪亚和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室以及新墨西哥州地质局在内的这一总体框架下，该项目包括一系列多学科的地区性研讨会，这些研讨会将作为促进科学交流的协调努力的一部分，帮助规划未来的EarthScope活动，整合现有的和尚未收集的地质和地球物理数据集，并帮助充当落基山脉地区的网络信息中心。智力价值：落基山脉地区的EarthScope的十年科学愿景是利用这种独特的构造和地球动力学环境来回答有关岩石圈演化和地球动力学过程的基本问题。落基山脉形成了北美构造不活动核心和西海岸活动板块边缘区域之间的复杂过渡。因此，这一区域为EarthScope提供了独特的潜力，可以在不同的尺度上研究岩石圈-软流圈的相互作用，以回答有关大陆内部构造过程的问题。广泛的影响：在可能的情况下，地球望远镜应强调与地质灾害(火山活动和地震)、水量和水质以及教育等社会问题的联系。落基山地球范围的十年教育愿景包括改善不同群体之间的联系和交流，同时讨论提高社会对地球科学的普遍欣赏的联合战略。由于该地区相对较少的人口和感兴趣的机构的独特协会，落基山地球范围提供了一个历史性的机会和凝聚点，以改善地球科学教育。该区域大量的美洲原住民和西班牙裔人口为使这类努力多样化提供了全国范围内的重要机会。

To optimize its scientific and educational legacy, EarthScope needs to incubate regional integrated efforts among scientists that will go well beyond the scope of typical individual PI or small group research projects. This proposal is a joint effort of the University of New Mexico and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to establish a national organizational structure to focus and integrate EarthScope science and education activities in the Rocky Mountain region (northern Rockies to the southwestern U.S.). Under this umbrella, which includes Sandia and Los Alamos National laboratories, and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology, the project includes a series of multidisciplinary regional workshops that will serve as part of a coordinated effort to foster scientific exchange, help plan future EarthScope activities, integrate existing and yet-to-be collected geologic and geophysical datasets, and help serve as a web-based information center for the Rocky Mountain region. Intellectual Merit: A decadal scientific vision for EarthScope in the Rocky Mountain region is to utilize this unique tectonic and geodynamic setting to answer fundamental questions about lithospheric evolution and geodynamic processes. The Rocky Mountains form a complex transition between the tectonically inactive core of North America and the active plate margin domain along the west coast. This region thus offers unique potential for EarthScope to examine lithosphere-asthenosphere interactions at a variety of scales to answer questions about tectonic processes within continental interiors.Broader Impacts: EarthScope should, where possible, emphasize ties to societal issues such as geologic hazards (volcanism and seismicity), water quantity and quality, and education. A decadal educational vision for Rocky Mountain EarthScope includes improving connections and communications between diverse groups, while discussing joint strategies for raising the general appreciation of Earth science in society. Because of the region's relatively small population and unique association of interested institutions, Rocky Mountain EarthScope offers an historic opportunity and rallying point to improve Earth science education. The large Native American and Hispanic populations of the region provide nationally significant opportunities for diversifying such efforts.