The Earth Science Series of the Circum-Pacific Funding for ship time was made available through Council for Energy and Mineral Resources (CPCEMR) the U. S. Agency for International Development, the is designed to convey the results of geologic research in USGS, the U. S. Office of Naval Research (for RIG's and around the Pacific Basin. Topics of interest include 1982 work), the Australian Development Assistance framework geology, petroleum geology, hard minerals, Bureau, the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources geothermal energy, environmental geology, volcanology, (BMR) , the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, oceanography, tectonics, geophysics, geochemistry, and the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial applications of renewable energy. The CPCEMR sup Research (DSIR), the New Zealand Geological Survey, ports and publishes results of scientific research that will and the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute (NZOI). Coordination of the program was provided by the U. S. advance the knowledge of energy and mineral resource potential in the circum-Pacific region. The Earth Sci Department of State and the South Pacific Applied Geo ence Series is specifically designed to publish papers that science Commission (SOPAC, formerly the United include new data and new maps, report on CPCEMR Nations-sponsored Committee for the Coordination of sponsored symposia and workshops, and describe the Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in South Pacific results of onshore and marine geological and geophysical Offshore Areas CCOP/SOPAC) in Fiji. Over 150 scien explorations.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 88. This volume focuses on the volcanic, fluid, sedimentary, and tectonic processes occurring in the trencharc-backarc systems of the western Pacific—a natural regional focus for studies of these themes. The results of ocean drilling and associated site surveys in the western Pacific have brought fundamental changes to our understanding of volcanism, crustal deformation, fluid circulation, and sedimentation in active margins and marginal basins. Our goal here is to synthesize the results of ocean drilling in a multi-disciplinary manner, including a comparison of the findings from drilling legs having similar themes, and to emphasize the significance of these results to the broader geoscience community.

Experts in the field offer the first comprehensive review of the tectonics and magmatism of backarc basins, covering their initial rift stage to mature spreading. Complete with numerous illustrations, each of the twelve chapters focuses on a young, active backarc basin of the circum-Pacific-where volcano-tectonic processes are best studied because of their activity. Key themes in this volume include volcano-tectonics setting; cause and location; rift magmas; and hydrothermal activity. Researchers also present models of the dynamic processes occurring in backarc basins.