Media Advisory: Researchers to Discuss Antarctica's Deep Past

PRESS CONFERENCE - AGU Fall Meeting

What: Media are invited to attend a press conference titled "Antarctica: Back to the Future" during the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting.

When: Monday, Dec. 15, 10:00 a.m.

Where: AGU Press Conference Room, Moscone West, Room 3015

Who: Steve Cande, professor of marine geophysics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego and colleagues from Northern Illinois University and Ohio State University

Background: During the AGU press conference, Cande will provide an analysis of ongoing research into the global tectonic plate circuit and seafloor spreading that occurred 50 million years ago during the Cenozoic era. Cande and colleagues will discuss new research from several International Polar Year (IPY) expeditions in the region, which can offer possible future scenarios for Antarctica's ice sheets.

The ancient movements that shaped the present-day configuration of the east and west Antarctic plates, creating the West Antarctica ice sheet, is an ongoing geological puzzle to scientists. These ancient movements can potentially offer new insights into plate tectonics, volcanism and convection in the earth's mantle as well as provide new information for models of global climate change and sea-level rise.

RELATED TO: V11F-03 INVITED · MON., DEC. 15, 8:00 A.M.
MOSCONE WEST 3009 · "CENOZOIC MOTION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST ANTARCTICA AND THE GLOBAL PLATE CIRCUIT"