Project Grant 2039962

This four-year Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences provides $145,779 to Cornell University's Office of Sponsored Programs to support collaborative research unraveling distributed deformation during early-stage rifting in the western and southwestern African rifts. The grant is part of NSF's Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), which aims to strengthen understanding of the integrated Earth system through basic research in atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences. Specifically, the funding will enable researchers to advance knowledge of deformation processes during the initial phases of continental rifting through integrated geophysical and geological investigations of key areas in Africa. Insights gained from this work have the potential to enhance scientific understanding of rift evolution critical to fields such as natural resource exploration and natural hazard assessment.