Over the last 15 years marine scientists in Europe have come together to work on a range of scientific problems related to the geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes that control the functioning of the ocean margin system, the most important area for our natural marine resources. These projects have been commissioned due to the increasing need to understand the offshore environment, especially since its exploitation by the hydrocarbon, telecommunication cable, and fishing industries is increasing rapidly. The most recently funded projects have been brought together by two overarching projects that create clusters of related science activities. The EU-funded OMARC (Ocean Margin Deep Water Research Consortium) project links 13 EU-funded projects on continental margins. The European Science Foundation (ESF)-funded EUROMARGINS (for example Slope Stability on Europe’s Passive Continental Margins) program includes 14 projects that study a range of European margin settings from the active margins of the Mediterranean Seas to the passive high-latitude margins of the Northeast Atlantic.

Mienert, J., P.P.E. Weaver, S. Berné, W.C. Dullo, D. Evans, A. Freiwald, J.-P. Henriet, B.B. Joergensen, G. Lericolais, V. Lykousis, J. Parkes, F. Trincardi, and G. Westbrook. 2004. Overview of recent, ongoing, and future investigations on the dynamics and evolution of European margins. Oceanography 17(4):16–33, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2004.01.

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