• prebiotic molecules, origin of life, and early evolution,
• biological and environmental controls on species diversity, including
ecological and biogeographic selectivity, causes of extinction and
survival, and the nature of evolutionary innovation,
• response of organisms, communities, and ecosystems to environmental
perturbations, including the role of extreme events in reshaping
ecosystems and climate,
• biogeochemical interactions and cycling among organisms, ecosystems,
and the environment, with applications to monitoring and remediating
environmental degradation, and
• effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on the
habitability of the Earth.
3. Research on Earth and planetary materials, which uses advanced
instrumentation and theory to determine properties at the molecular
level for understanding materials and processes at all scales relevant to
planets. This field is being stimulated by enhanced research
capabilities, such as synchrotron-beamlines for micro-diffraction and
spectroscopy, experimental apparatus for accessing ultra-high
pressures and temperatures, resonance techniques for precise
measurements of elastic properties, quantum-mechanical simulations
of complex minerals, and novel approaches to geomicrobiology and
biomineralogy. A number of opportunities for basic research can be
identified:
• biomineralization—natural growth of minerals within organisms,
with applications to the development of synthetic analogs,
• characterization of extraterrestrial samples from Mars, comets, and
interplanetary space,
• super-high pressure (terapascal) research, with applications to
planetary and stellar interiors,
• nonlinear interactions and interfacial phenomena in rocks—strain
localization, nonlinear wave propagation, fluid-mineral reactions,
and coupling of chemical reactions to fracturing,
• nanophases and interfaces, including microbiology at interfaces and
applications to the physics and chemistry of soils,
• quantum and molecular theory applied to minerals and their
interfaces, and
• studies of granular media, including the nonlinear physics of soils and
loose aggregates.
4. Investigations of the continents. New space-based geodetic
techniques—the Global Positioning System and interferometric
synthetic aperture
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.
• biological and environmental controls on species diversity, including
ecological and biogeographic selectivity, causes of extinction and
survival, and the nature of evolutionary innovation,
• response of organisms, communities, and ecosystems to environmental
perturbations, including the role of extreme events in reshaping
ecosystems and climate,
• biogeochemical interactions and cycling among organisms, ecosystems,
and the environment, with applications to monitoring and remediating
environmental degradation, and
• effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on the
habitability of the Earth.
3. Research on Earth and planetary materials, which uses advanced
instrumentation and theory to determine properties at the molecular
level for understanding materials and processes at all scales relevant to
planets. This field is being stimulated by enhanced research
capabilities, such as synchrotron-beamlines for micro-diffraction and
spectroscopy, experimental apparatus for accessing ultra-high
pressures and temperatures, resonance techniques for precise
measurements of elastic properties, quantum-mechanical simulations
of complex minerals, and novel approaches to geomicrobiology and
biomineralogy. A number of opportunities for basic research can be
identified:
• biomineralization—natural growth of minerals within organisms,
with applications to the development of synthetic analogs,
• characterization of extraterrestrial samples from Mars, comets, and
interplanetary space,
• super-high pressure (terapascal) research, with applications to
planetary and stellar interiors,
• nonlinear interactions and interfacial phenomena in rocks—strain
localization, nonlinear wave propagation, fluid-mineral reactions,
and coupling of chemical reactions to fracturing,
• nanophases and interfaces, including microbiology at interfaces and
applications to the physics and chemistry of soils,
• quantum and molecular theory applied to minerals and their
interfaces, and
• studies of granular media, including the nonlinear physics of soils and
loose aggregates.
4. Investigations of the continents. New space-based geodetic
techniques—the Global Positioning System and interferometric
synthetic aperture
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.