higher amplitude result in more damage

Post date: Aug 9, 2013 5:47:29 PM

The last two weeks of the internship were very busy, but I enjoyed every moment!

Last week, I stopped by the Branner Earth Sciences Library to pick up materials on the collision of Eurasia and India. I was so grateful to Julie, the librarian, who showed me exactly what I was hoping to find! I utilized the information from the library about the collision of the two continents as the introduction to the abstract I had been drafting.

For the past two weeks, I focused on the basin effects of Kathmandu Valley, trying to connect all the research I had gathered throughout the internship about the formation of Kathmandu Valley with its susceptibility to major earthquakes. I found that Kathmandu Valley, which is known as a “piggy-back basin“, may amplify ground motion due to its lacustrine sediments that result from the former existence of a lake.

Seismic waves travel faster through hard rock than through soft rock and sediments. Subsequently, when the waves move from the basement rock to the lacustrine sediments, they decrease in speed, but in order to maintain the same amount of energy, they must increase in amplitude. Earthquakes of higher amplitude result in more damage. Furthermore, thick sediments trap seismic energy, causing waves to travel through the basin for longer periods of time and prolonging ground motion. As a result, Kathmandu Valley may be most subject to earthquakes in the central area, under the city core, where the unconsolidated sediments are deepest.

In order to supplement the information I had gathered about the basin effects, I also created a map that showed a conceptual setting of the valley.

In the last week, Anne, Andrew, and I completed a layout of the poster and submitted our abstract. On the last day of the internship, it was fascinating to see what the other interns had been working on during the summer. I had never known that high school students could contribute in so many ways to earth sciences research. Watching the presentations made me want to be an earth scientist even more!

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Stanford Earth Sciences Internship Program. I am very thankful to Anne, Jenny, and Dr. Hilley for their tremendous guidance and support and Andrew for being a wonderful lab partner. I have learned priceless lessons this summer, not only about geology and research, but also about the workplace and college in general! Stanford is a beautiful place with such helpful, passionate people, and I hope to be a part of this amazing community!