COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: St. Elias Erosion and Tectonics Project (STEEP)

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This project provides funds for a two-year renewal of the St. Elias Erosion-tectonics Project (STEEP). STEEP is a 9 institution, multidisciplinary study of the St. Elias orogen in southern Alaska that involves researchers examining the system from the outcrop to lithosphere scale. To date, STEEP has produced 17 papers with another 9 submitted or nearing submission, sponsored 71 abstracts, will have matriculated 5 masters and 4 Doctoral students by Spring 2010, and fundamentally changed our understanding of Alaskan tectonics and the interaction of tectonics and climate in mountain building. The renewal funds will be used for: 1) final processing and interpretation of some key datasets that were not acquired until year 5 of the project including the marine seismic survey (ship delays) and reoccupation of key GPS sites (weather problems in 2008); and 2) a complete integration of results which was not possible until now due to these delays. A complete integration and synthesis of these superb datasets has the potential to be transformative in our understanding of how crustal structure and tectonic forces interact with Earth surface processes of glacial erosion and sedimentary transport to grow a mountain range and a massive continental shelf.