 | Origin and Evolution of Sedimentary Basins and Their Energy and Mineral Resources Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 48. The International Lithosphere Program was launched in 1981 as a ten-year project of interdisciplinary research in the solid earth sciences. It is a natural outgrowth of the Geodynamics Program of the 1970's, and of its predecessor, the Upper Mantle Project. The Program -- "Dynamics and Evolution of the Lithosphere: The Hazards" -- is concerned primarily with the current state, origin and development of the lithosphere, with special attention to the continents and their margins. One special goal of the program is the strengthening of interactions between basic research and the applications of geology, geophysics, geochemistry and geodesy to mineral and energy resource exploration and development, to the mitigation of geological hazards, and to protection of the environment; another special goal is the strengthening of the earth sciences and their effective application in developing countries.The origin and evolution of sedimentary basins is an obvious focus of the International Lithosphere Program because it is fundamentally a problem in the dynamics and evolution of the lithosphere, and moreover, it provides special opportunities for strengthening the interactions between basic research and the applications of geology, geophysics, geochemistry and geodesy to mineral and energy exploration and development. Accordingly, at both the XXVIIth International Geological Congress in Moscow, in 1984, and at the XIXth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in Vancouver, in 1987, the International Lithosphere Program convened special symposia on the subject of the origin and evolution of sedimentary basins and their mineral and energy resources. This special volume presents some of the principal results of those symposia. Raymond Alexander Price, OC FRSC is an award winning Canadian geologist. He has used his research on the structure and tectonics of North America's lithosphere to produce extensive geological maps. He has also provided guidance for nuclear fuel waste disposal and reports on the human contribution to Global warming. |
