| Description |
The Interagency Task Force Project Plan (2009), which updates the report to Congress completed by Mayer and others (2002), identifies 5 general areas around the United States and its territories where the sediment thickness formula might be the deciding formula in making a submission: the Arctic, the Atlantic, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Sea, and west of the Marianas. An additional 9 areas need further study to determine whether the sediment thickness or bathymetry formula will be most beneficial (including the Gulf of Alaska). With these regions as priorities, there are two primary objectives of this project:(1) Develop the sediment thickness database, the geological prolongation arguments, and all other necessary geological information to define the outer limits of the ECS within the framework of the Interagency Task Force on the ECS; and (2) Conduct the scientific studies (including focused research questions and geological syntheses) that give new insights into continental margin and ocean floor geological processes in the areas of new data acquisition. Not only do these studies provide opportunities for frontier science, they support the geological basis for justifying the U.S. ECS. These objectives are achieved through collaboration and coordination with the other agencies (DOS, NOAA, MMS, Navy, DOE, etc.) as well as neighboring coastal States (e.g., Canada, Bahama, Japan, Kiribati) involved in mapping the limits of the extended continental shelf.Publication of the scientific data and interpretations is a USGS responsibility for the project. |
