ONGOING AND POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY EARTHSCOPE AND OTHER LARGE FACILITIES TO U.S. GEOHERITAGE RESOURCES

All regions of the United States of geoheritage value and significance have rich geological histories, but significant aspects of the geodynamic or geomorphic evolution recorded in their rocks may be obscured by low relief, limited outcrop, or anthropogenic cover. However, the four-dimensional, non-invasive continental-scale geoscientific research conducted under the EarthScope Program and similar Large Facilities funded by the National Science Foundation are now revealing unprecented detail about subsurface structure and regional stratigraphy that have the potential to build on the geological narratives of existing geoheritage sites, and to open all-new places to consideration of their geoheritage value. The EarthScope Program fosters interdisciplinary exploration of the geologic structure and evolution of the North American continent by means of geodesy, seismology, magnetotellurics, in-situ fault-zone sampling, geochronology, and high-resolution topographic measurements. EarthScope, including facilities operated by IRIS and UNAVCO, is affiliated with other Large Facilities and programs with similar objectives. Both researchers and educators in these programs are also developing and disseminating educational resources and activities that are intended to share locally relevant geoscientific information with schools and the public, and these can readily be applied in support of local and regional geoheritage resources as well. Stakeholders served by these programs (including K-12 teachers, park rangers, and other interpreters) are in turn using EarthScope and other Large Facility science to enhance their own place-based teaching and interpretation. As these ongoing research programs continue to “unlock the secrets of the North American continent and the processes that cause earthquakes and volcanoes,” and to uncover deeper strata and structures, their practitioners should be encouraged and empowered to disseminate their work in ways that foster stewardship of geoheritage places as well as place-based geoscience education.