US-Bhutan Workshop: Seismotectonics and its Relationship to Natural Hazards in the Bhutanese Himalaya

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0325020Miller This award supports a workshop on seismotectonics and natural hazards in the Bhutanese Himalaya. US PI Kate Miller and Aaron Velasco, both from the University of Texas at El Paso will hold a workshop with scientists from the Geological Survey of Bhutan (GSB) in order to identify common research priorities between GSB scientists and a number of western scientists interested in collaborative research in this region. Bhutan is located in mountain belts formed by episodes of continent-to-continent collisions of the Indian subcontinent with Asia. A consequence of the continuous motion is devastating great earthquakes, such as the one at Bhuj in 2001, which was the most recent catastrophic event caused by the ongoing process of continental collision. Bhutan is at high seismic risk and, only recently, have highest level Government officials and scientists at the GSB come to recognize its significance and the urgency for assistance in its evaluation. Scope: This workshop follows a planning visit carried out in May 2001 that led to the establishment of a temporary seismic network and GPS monitoring site in Bhutan. This effort was a major breakthrough for geologic studies in the region, which had previously been all but inaccessible to earth scientists. The workshop will train Bhutanese scientists and engineers in seismic hazard assessment from the perspective of earthquake monitoring and the natural hazard consequences. For the Bhutanese, it will help in highlighting the national need for a permanent seismic monitoring network; for the U.S., the workshop will enable geoscientists to define research priorities that link our fundamental interests in mountain forming processes to the hazards-oriented priorities of the GSB. This activity is jointly funded with the Continental Dynamics Program of the Directorate for Geosciences.