This book discusses the results of the transects program, which involves compilations of maps and cross sections showing geological, geophysical, and geochemical data and interpretations along 23 transects from the continental craton to the oceanic lithosphere around North America. The book contains two sections, an overview and a set of recommendations for the program and synopses, findings, and problems associated with the 23 transects.

CD-ROM contains: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Database and Supplementary Data for Chapters.

As environmental problems move upward on the public agenda, our knowledge of the earth's systems and how to sustain the habitability of our world becomes more critical. This volume reports on the state of earth science and outlines a research agenda, with priorities keyed to the real-world challenges facing human society. The product of four years of development with input from more than 200 earth-science specialists, the volume offers a wealth of historical background and current information on: Plate tectonics, volcanism, and other heat-generated earth processes. Evolution of our global environment and of life itself, as revealed in the fossil record. Human exploitation of water, fossil fuels, and minerals. Interaction between human populations and the earth's surface, discussing the role we play in earth's systems and the dangers we face from natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides. This volume offers a comprehensive look at how earth science is currently practiced and what should be done to train professionals and adequately equip them to find the answers necessary to manage more effectively the earth's systems. This well-organized and practical book will be of immediate interest to solid-earth scientists, researchers, and college and high school faculty, as well as policymakers in the environmental arena.

Fourteen chapters discuss regional stratigraphy by time intervals from Precambrian to Quaternary, while other chapters describe the geography, geomorphology, tectonics, geophysical characteristics, and resources of the region. A summary chapter includes geologic maps, structural cross-sections, a geotectonic correlation chart, a gravity map, and a location map for exploration wells in the Arctic Islands and northern Greenland. A wealth of additional information is contained on the nine accompanying plates.

For many years, the two subjects of (1) postglacial rebound and its potential for generating earthquakes and (2) the seismicity of passive continental ml!rgins have been of interest and concern to earth scientists on both sides of the North Atlantic. New data and theoretical interpretations have given rise to vigorous discussions on how much the two phenomena inter-relate and whether a significant controlling factor on seismicity in northeastern North America and Scandinavia is the crustal uplift that has been occurring since the latest ice age. The lack of a good understanding of these phenomena presented a particular problem for engineering seismologists attempting to prepare accurate seismic hazard estimates for facili ties both on land (e. g. , nuclear power stations and radioactive waste repositories) and offshore (e. g. , petroleum production facili ties) . The NATO Advanced Research Workshop programme provided an opportuni ty to bring together a group of relevant geophysicists, geologists and geodesists from both sides of the North Atlantic, and a workshop on "Causes and Effects of Earthquakes at Passive Margins and in Areas of Postglacial Rebound on both Sides of the North Atlantic" was held in Vordingborg, Denmark, 9-13 May 1988. The sup port of the NATO Science Committee is gratefully acknowledged.