The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) will consider proposals for multidisciplinary research that focuses on an improved understanding of the processes governing the origin, structure, composition, and dynamical evolution of the continents and continental building blocks. The program is particularly oriented toward projects whose scope and complexity require a cooperative or multi-institutional approach and multi-year planning and execution. The intent of the program is to fund only relatively large projects that do not fit easily within other Earth Sciences programs and that have broad support of major sections of the Earth Science community.