Post date: Jul 26, 2013 6:10:30 PM
The knowledge intake meter is heightening day-by-day! I am continuing to make exciting discoveries in research, and I am learning various new things every day, ranging from thrusting in the Himalayas to survey-conducting methods.
In the fourth week of the internship, I created a final version of the table of tectonic units (as shown below), which describes the age, location, and rock type of each of the four major tectonic zones in Nepal with cited references and accurate terminology. The resources I used to compile the table included a geologic time scale for determining the ages of the zones, maps for the locations of the areas, and papers and publications for how the units formed and their current features. In the process of creating the final version, I learned valuable lessons in how to cite references (see below).
After learning in detail about the areas of Nepal, and Kathmandu, I moved onto constructing maps. The map I created was a cross-section of an ancient lake in Kathmandu Valley, called the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake. I used earlier versions of maps of the area and combined information to draw a conceptual cross-section of formations in the ancient lakebed of the valley, using Paint. I am also working on a brief timeline of the history of the ancient lake to supplement the map.
In the fifth week, I started on a new aspect of Anne’s project. The state of Oregon recently learned that it is at much higher seismic risk than originally expected. Subsequently, parents in Oregon schools convened and wrote a petition, requesting the governor to retrofit the schools in the state. I read through the petition and the reasons people provided for signing it. The most common reasons for signing the petition included that the people signing it had family attending the schools or were concerned about the safety of the schoolchildren and school administration. I recorded the data in a table and created visuals. Analysis of this data would help in understanding when and why people support retrofitting and can be used in making conclusions of how to persuade people in Kathmandu Valley to support retrofitting in their area.
I have also been helping Anne on other aspects of the project. One of the most interesting things I learned is that people in Kathmandu Valley would be motivated to support retrofitting when they see people like them retrofitting buildings. In order to record the responses of people to retrofitting in Kathmandu Valley in terms of data and create a statistical analysis, we need to formulate hypotheses and find a type of test that can be used to analyze the data. Taking a statistics class is actually useful! :)
The presentations from the post-docs on their areas of research have been fascinating. In recent weeks, we have heard talks about hydrology and arsenic contamination of water and the quake-catcher network created by seismic sensors. The field trip to the San Andreas fault was amazing! I never knew I could learn so much in a few hours! The best part of the trip was when Dr. Hilley explained to us how pressure building up in rocks is released in earthquakes, triggering the rocks’ elasticity and moving material in the fault. It was funny how we could infer more about the San Andreas fault from a hundred meters high than we could from standing right on top of it. Overall, the field trip was a great experience, and I loved it!
In the upcoming weeks, I look forward to learning more about the infilling of water in the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake and continuing to uncover more mysteries. I am learning so much from the internship, and I could not have asked for a better summer experience!
Table 1. Age, location, and rock type of major tectonostratigraphic zones, from south to north, of the central Nepal area of the Himalayas.
References Cited
1) Upreti, B. (1999). An overview of the stratigraphy and tectonics of the Nepal Himalaya. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 17.
2) Hagen, T., 1968, Report on the geological survey of Nepal. Geology of the Thakkhola. Denkschr. Schweiz. naturforsch. Ges., v. 86/2, 159 p.
3) Burbank, D.W., Beck, R. A. & Mulder, T. 1996. The Himalayan Foreland Basin. In: Yin, A. & Harrison, T.M. (eds) The Tectonic Evolution of Asia. Cambridge University Press, 149-188.
4) Gautam, P., & Rösler, W. (1999). Depositional chronology and fabric of Siwalik Group sediments in central Nepal from magnetostratigraphy and magnetic anisotropy. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 17(1999).
5) Decelles, G., Robinson, M., Quade, J., & Ojha, T. P. (2001). Himalayan fold-thrust belt in western Nepal, 20(4), 487–509.
6) Valdiya, K. (1980). The two intracrustal boundary thrusts of the Himalaya. Tectonophysics, 66, 323–348.
7) Stöcklin, J. (1980). Geology of Nepal and its regional frame Thirty-third William Smith Lecture. Journal of the Geological Society, 137(1), 1–34.
8) Heim, A. and Gansser, A., 1939, Central Himalaya. Geological observations of the Swiss expedition 1936. Mém. Soc. Helv. Sci. Nat., v. 73/1, 245 p.
9) Bodenhausen, J. W. A ., De Booy, T., Egeler, C. G. & Nihjhuis, H. J. 1964. On the geology of Central West Nepal. A preliminary note. Rep. 22nd sess. Int. geol. Congr., 11, 101-23.
10) Gansser, A., 1964, Geology of the Himalayas. London (Interscience Publishers).