Continent‐ocean interactions within the East Asian Marginal seas

Interactions between continents and oceans are a frontier area for the Earth sciences in the 21st century. An AGU Chapman Conference, Continent‐Ocean Interactions within the East Asian Marginal Seas, examined the nature of these interactions in the marginal seas of east Asia. The objective was to highlight both recent advances, and especially the contributions made by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)semi; as well as to identify key future science goals. The types of continent‐ocean interactions discussed were wide‐ranging, including climate‐tectonic interactions, continental‐oceanic climate linkages, and the material flux from the rivers of Asia to the ocean, as well as how continental tectonic evolution since the India‐Asia collision has influenced the tectonics of the western Pacific and vice‐versa. The marginal seas of east Asia form the transition between the world's largest continent and its largest ocean, and are major repositories of information on the interaction between the two.