CAREER: The Detrital Record of Focused Rock Uplift and Exhumation, Northeast Indian Himalaya

这个CAREER项目整合了研究和教育，利用基岩冷却年龄和东喜马拉雅结下游的沉积记录来研究喜马拉雅构造。在印度-亚洲碰撞带的边缘，喜马拉雅山脉的地形在印度板块的拐角处弯曲，形成了巨大的弯曲或合成，大约占地球上最高活动山脉的三分之一。在东部构造结，岩石折返已经非常迅速和局部至少在过去的300万年，贡献不成比例的大雅鲁藏布江水系和孟加拉扇下游的沉积物通量。确定快速折返何时开始以及它在时间上的集中程度是理解地球变形定位的关键？的外壳。然而，基于基岩数据的限制仅限于过去几百万年，并没有延伸到接合带的南部，而正是在那里，一些结构模型预测快速折返。该项目将记录区域折返模式，与冷却年龄的基岩和现代河流沉积物的地区？的结构演变，并延长了折返记录，通过针对沉积物脱落的山区在过去的50万年，现在保存在盆地东北印度和孟加拉扇。这些结果将代表着解决两个广泛的地球科学问题的一个基本的新步骤：1）在什么时间和空间尺度上连接侵蚀和山区带的结构演变的过程？2）沉积物的变化如何反映这些过程？研究和教育将通过探究式教学、高中教师的专业发展以及主要为少数民族服务的学校的外联活动来整合。积极的学习方法和网络资源将使大学生参与一系列以教育研究为基础的课程，这些课程要求参与者提出有关喜马拉雅构造的原创研究建议。事实证明，以成绩优异的高中生为目标，是改善代表性不足的少数群体参与科学的有效手段。为了实施这一战略，主要研究员将指导和培训10名高中教师，为在社会经济上处于不利地位的少数民族高中提供大学学分的地球科学入门。研究结果将被纳入由本科生教授的高中实验室活动，在5年内共涉及40名本科生和600名高中生。大学课程相互加强研究和教学，培养学生制定和交流有意义的新的研究问题。通过永久性地提高少数民族服务学校的科学课程的质量，该项目将展示K-12和高等教育之间的合作如何激励多样化的学生群体，促进大学准备，并鼓励对物理科学的学术兴趣。

This CAREER project integrates research and education to investigate Himalayan tectonics using bedrock cooling ages and the sedimentary record downstream of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. At the margins of the India-Asia collision zone, Himalayan topography curves around the corners of the Indian plate defining great bends or syntaxes that represent roughly a third of the highest active mountain range on Earth. At the Eastern Syntaxis, rock exhumation has been extremely rapid and localized for at least the last 3 million years, contributing disproportionately to the sediment flux of the great Brahmaputra river system and Bengal Fan downstream. Determining when rapid exhumation initiated and how focused it has been through time are key to understanding this localization of deformation in Earth?s crust. However, constraints based on bedrock data are limited to the last few million years and do not extend south of the syntaxis, precisely where some structural models predict rapid exhumation. This project will document the regional exhumation pattern, relating cooling ages of bedrock and modern river sediments to the area?s structural evolution, and extend the exhumation record through time by targeting sediments shed from the mountains in the past 50 million years that are now preserved in basins of northeast India and the Bengal Fan. The results will represent a fundamental new step towards addressing two broad Earth Science questions: 1) Over what time and spatial scales do processes linking erosion and the structural evolution of mountain belts operate? and 2) How does variability in sediments reflect these processes?Research and education will be integrated through inquiry-based teaching, professional development for high school teachers, and outreach in primarily minority-serving schools. Active learning methodologies and web resources will engage university students in a series of courses grounded in educational research, which challenge participants to develop original research proposals pertaining to Himalayan tectonics. Targeting high-achieving high school students has been demonstrated as an effective means to improve participation of underrepresented minorities in science. To implement this strategy, the principal investigator will mentor and train 10 high school teachers to offer introductory Earth Science for college credit in socio-economically disadvantaged minority serving high schools. Research findings will be integrated into high school laboratory activities taught by undergraduate students, in total involving 40 undergraduates in outreach and 600 high school students over 5 years. The university courses mutually reinforce research and teaching, training students to formulate and communicate meaningful new research questions. By permanently raising the caliber of science offerings in minority-serving schools, this project will showcase how collaboration between K-12 and higher education can motivate a diverse population of students, promote college readiness, and encourage academic interest in the physical sciences.