Co-convenors:
 
 

Paul Mann, University of Texas at Austin
Larry Peterson, University of Miami
Andre Droxler, Rice University

The Caribbean Sea is well recognized to occupy a critical location as a gateway between major ocean basins, in both an east-west direction (Atlantic-Pacific connection) and in a north-south direction (North Atlantic-South Atlantic connection including the Loop Current and Gulf Stream). As its complex tectonic history becomes better understood, there are increasing opportunities for placing the region into an improved paleoceanographic framework necessary to understand its role as a critical inter-seaway "valve" that controlled the paleoceanography and paleoclimate of both the region and the Earth. For example, closure of the Caribbean valve between the Atlantic and Pacific as a result of the collision of the Panama arc with northwestern South America is widely recognized as a major change in interoceanic circulation with consequent climatic effects including strengthening of northern hemisphere glaciations.

Photo from IODP website.

Nesbitt and Young, 1997

The purpose of this Workshop is to discuss and plan potential scientific ocean drilling in the Caribbean Sea and its approaches. The principal goals are to formulate key scientific questions, evaluate existing geologic and geophysical data, use these data to identify and prioritize drilling sites, discuss drilling platform options, and begin coordinating subsequent geophysical surveys, proposals, and multi-proxy analyses. Applications are open, with limited travel support for U.S.-based scientists. Researchers from diverse geoscientific specialties including chemical and physical oceanography, paleoclimatology, paleomagnetic studies, sedimentology, stratigraphy, structure/tectonics, and thermochronology are encouraged to apply. International participation and student/post-doc applicants are also encouraged.