Beginnings

The past three weeks at Stanford have been amazing! I have learned so much, and I have met so many people who are passionate about their fields. Upon initially being accepted to the internship, I imagined I would be working outside and interacting with the environment because of the word “earth science.” However, now, I know that there are multiple aspects to the field and numerous ways to contribute to the research. In fact, I have mostly been working indoors, where, thankfully, the temperature is much cooler!

When I walked into Stanford on the day of the orientation, the campus seemed a lot busier than I had originally expected. As my mentor Anne tells me, there is a season for school and another for construction. During the orientation, the interns had a chance to tour the mineral collection. I also visited the library where I realized the knowledge at Stanford is truly endless!

My mentor, Anne, is working on the implementation of disaster mitigation programs in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, an area that is highly vulnerable to earthquakes. The damage of the 1934 earthquake in Kathmandu is shown in the picture beside. The project involves retrofitting public schools throughout Kathmandu Valley, or making them more earthquake-safe, not only to protect the children, but also to serve as a shelter for residents in the valley during and after earthquakes.

In order to help Anne with the project, I will be researching the geomorphic and tectonic history of Kathmandu, Nepal and correlating it to the occurrence of earthquakes in the area by reading publication and papers and watching videos. During the first week, I collected background information about Kathmandu, Nepal, and the area surrounding them from publications. I also printed out maps to understand the location of the region. The location of Kathmandu and Nepal can be seen in the map above.

In the second week, I narrowed my focus into the tectonic makeup of Nepal. I learned that the country has four major tectonic units or zones, and I created a table summarizing the age, location, rock type, and a brief description of each, as shown below. Anne mentioned that I could create a map of Kathmandu Valley in ArcGIS or Google Earth. The ArcGIS workshop was especially helpful because the instructors had taught the interns how to create maps from scratch. I also researched the history of Kathmandu Valley and how it came to be located on an ancient lakebed. I created a timeline summarizing how the ancient lakebed had been created. So far, I have learned that the tectonic uplift of a mountain range and the damming of a river had led to the formation of the Paleo-Kathmandu Lake. Around thirty-thousand years ago, a lake-wall failure caused the lake to be drained, and today the area is known as the Kathmandu Valley. The formations that were present while the lake existed are shown in the picture.

In the third week, I showed the table of the major tectonic units in Nepal and the timeline of Kathmandu Valley’s history to Anne, who provided me with feedback. The next day, I presented the research I had collected to Dr. Hilley, Anne’s advisor.

In addition to the research, I loved the talks by the Stanford post-docs/professors on their different areas of research and how they became involved. So far, I have heard topics about the arsenic contamination of water, carbon sequestration, and the genetics of photoplankton. The field trip to Jasper Ridge where I could witness the biological diversity was also very interesting!

During these weeks, I have also been exploring the Stanford campus, which seems infinite. Anne and I have made it our morning mission to find a new coffee place near the premises of the earth science buildings every day! I am loving learning at Stanford, and I am so grateful for this opportunity. I can’t wait for the upcoming weeks!