Geoscience Reference
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• studies of granular media, including the nonlinear physics of soils and
loose aggregates.
The potential for initiatives in these areas has been increased by numerous
new collaborations of geoscientists with chemists, biologists, physicists and
materials scientists. 5 Past successes in applying major facilities, such as
synchrotron beamlines, argues for the community's leading in the development
of new facilities (e.g., new-generation neutron and X-ray beamlines and
microanalytical tools) and their application to Earth, environmental and planetary
problems. These are just becoming feasible, and their development, enhanced by
recent major advances in theory, is being pursued in associated disciplines.
Recommendation: EAR should seek new funds for the long-term support of
investigator-initiated research on Earth and planetary materials to take
advantage of major new facilities, advanced instrumentation and theory in
an atomistic approach to properties and processes.
A research program in Earth and planetary materials would offer a new
mechanism to create more substantial linkages with existing programs outside
EAR, including in NSF's Astronomy Division (studies of planetary origins and
interiors; superhigh-pressure research) and Division of Materials Research
(research on complex oxides and other mineral-like materials), DOE (e.g., Basic
Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, and Environmental
Management), and NASA (e.g., Planetary Geology and Geophysics, and
Cosmochemistry). Moreover, the scientists that study Earth and planetary
materials have been at the forefront of research on nanomaterials and are well
positioned, therefore, to contribute to the interagency National Nanotechnology
Initiative. 6
Hydrology, Geology, and the Critical Zone
Integrative studies of the Critical Zone will depend on strong disciplinary
programs in soil science, hydrology, geobiology, sedimentology, stratigraphy,
5 Microscopic to Macroscopic: Opportunities in Mineral and Rock Physics and
Chemistry, results of a workshop held in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 28-30, 1999.
6 The multiagency National Nanotechnology Initiative is concerned with the creation of
useful materials, devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer scale
and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena at that scale. See http://
www2.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/committee/ct.html .
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