Provenance History of Upper Cenozoic Sandstones of the Bengal Basin, Bangladesh

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Description: This dissertation improvement grant supports travel and provides field expenses for Dr. Neil Lundberg and his doctoral candidate, Ashraf Uddin of Bangladesh. In addition, a U.S. undergraduate student will participate in the research and gain experience in working with Bangladesh geologists. The project will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Monirul Hoque of the Department of Geology, University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. It seeks to study the quaternary sequences of the Bengal basin for petrographic, mineralogic and geochronologic evidence of the tectonic history of the adjacent mountain belts. Sample collection and sedimentologic observations in the field will be followed by detailed analysis of sediment composition and fission-track geochronology. Modal analysis of sandstones and heavy-metal studies, complemented by fission-track analysis of detrital apatite and zircon, will be used to evaluate changes in source-area composition, to determine unroofing trends and rates, and to test hypothesized episodes of uplift. These data will be compared to existing data sets for equivalent deposits of the Sub-Himalayan Siwalik sequence and the Bengal fan. Scope: This project is likely to provide detailed quantitative data on the stratigraphic record of the Himalayan collision. It will provide research opportunity in an excellent natural laboratory for a graduate and undergraduate students in a U.S. university. It can also help the host country by provding an improved understanding of the regional geological framework and basin history, important in developing petroleum resources of the Bengal basin.