 ---Background Information--- There is no other place on Earth that is as little understood as the Arctic. Very basic scientific questions remain unanswered, and its vast and diverse natural resources are not adequately assessed. Over the last century, systematic scientific study of the Arctic has been hampered by the natural elements, the extreme financial costs of collecting data, and by limitations in technology. In addition, another more imposing roadblock to studies in the Arctic has been world politics. Hopefully, the changes occurring in the this last area will make it an easier obstacle to overcome. However, the change for the better in one realm of barriers, is often met with a change for the worse in another. Financial obstacles for research and exploration in the Arctic are becoming the major roadblock. The lack of travel funds and money for research results in the same state of affairs for the free exchange of information and ideas, whether the impediment is from politics or economics. The lack of funding for research has placed the future of Russian science in jeopardy. But they are not alone. Arctic science is also in jeopardy. The new challenge facing Arctic researchers and explorationists is cooperation, both on the intranational and international level and the abandonment of "territorialism" in scientific politics. This kind of cooperation is not only more possible now, but it is now also imperative. The International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM) was founded by the U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service in 1991 with the underlying two-point theme of 1) Arctic understanding, 2) international cooperation in Arctic research. To these ends, ICAM has provided a forum for the exchange of information and presentation of research. The 1994 ICAM Magadan, Russia meeting was the second in a series focusing on the earth science of Arctic regions. The program featured sessions on Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy; Paleoclimate and Paleogeography of the Arctic; Regional Terrane and Paleobasin Correlation; Regional Geophysics, Dynamics of the Lithosphere, and Seismology; Resource Potential; Permafrost and Engineering Geology and Mining Ecology; and the round table discussion on Present and Future Cooperative Alliances Between Science, Industry, and Government. There were numerous symposia and selected workshops on specific topics. The Proceedings of the 1994 ICAM was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences Far Eastern Branch, Magadan and contain 45 scientific papers. The 1992 International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM), held in Anchorage, Alaska, was the first. The conference was hosted by the Alaska Geological Society. Nearly four hundred scientists attended the Anchorage meeting; scientists from 12 nations made nearly two hundred technical presentations on Arctic earth sciences. The Proceedings of the 1992 ICAM contain 70 scientific papers and is available from the Department of Interior Minerals Management Service, Alaska Region.
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