Aspects of this project related to the Continental Shelves are the study 

 of continental margin prisms, their formation, collapse and structure, 

 continental accretion, and the character of the ocean floor. 



4. Environment and Structure of the North Pacific - This project, 

 presently located at the Joint Oceanographic Research Group in Seattle, 

 Washington, is currently being pursued on a very limited scale and is being 

 revised in terms of objectives and scope of activities. It is suggested 

 that at least half of the activities of this project will be related to the 

 physical oceanography and geophysics of the Continental Shelf. 



5. Marine Geophysics - Approximately half of this research project 

 is directed toward Continental Shelf activities. The objectives are to study 

 the growth of continental accretion, relationship of the continental margins 

 to continental drift and expansion of the earth, and continental margin 

 tectonics . 



6. Physical Oceanography and Sedimentation - This project is cur- 

 rently being totally revised. The new objectives will be directed toward 

 the investigation of the nature of interfaces in space and time variations 

 of thermal patterns; development of techniques and instrumentation for 

 measuring the properties and patterns of the interface on a variety of 

 spatial and temporal scales; showing the cause and effect of interface 

 properties to environment; using the Gulf Stream as an experimental model; 

 determining on a problem-oriented basis the interrelationships of tempera- 

 ture patterns with other oceanographic phenomena; development of prediction 

 criteria for temperature and interrelated events; and to explore means for 

 controlling aspects of temperature distribution. 



7. Land and Sea Interaction Laboratory - Primarily, this project 

 is designed to provide fundamental information on the response of beaches, 

 estuarine and continental-shelf sediments to applied static and dynamic 

 forces and to predict these responses. This is to be accomplished by the 

 development of the process-response mechanisms in the natural environment; 

 by the formulation of prediction equations for observed land-sea inter- 

 actions; and by verification of predictor equations by long-term environ- 

 mental studies. This project will ultimately provide a series of equations 

 to predict the behavior of all types of sediments under natural and arti- 

 ficial loads and to provide a comprehensive, automated, and computerized 

 data acquisition and analysis system providing 24-hour forecasts of wind, 

 wave, tide, current, and storm-surge effects on beaches and estuarine and 

 continental-shelf sediments. 



This is a summary of the Survey's activities on the Continental Shelf 

 and obviously all these oceanographic research projects are interrelated and 

 go together to make up our research program. These studies are also of 

 benefit to much of the geophysical research carried on in the Survey. 



We would welcome the opportunity at any time of discussing any or all 

 of these projects with anyone who is interested in our research program. 



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