US-India/Bangladesh Cooperative Research: Architecture, Dynamics, and Hazards of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta

该奖项支持“美国-印度/孟加拉国合作研究：恒河-布拉马普特拉河三角洲的建筑、动力和危害”项目。哥伦比亚大学Lamont-Doherty地球观测站的Michael Steckler将与加尔各答大学的Pradip Dasgupta和孟加拉国达卡大学的Md. Hussain Monsur合作，描绘恒河-雅鲁藏布江三角洲（GB）的沉降和地层特征，以及形成它们的地质过程。三角洲长期以来一直是文明的中心；然而，他们的环境是脆弱的，依赖于所有过程之间的微妙平衡，造成下沉和沉积填满可用空间。监测和分析影响世界上最大和最活跃的三角洲的显著变化，为了解基本的地质过程提供了独特的机会。GB是三角洲沿海地区的一个极端例子，由于其处于板块边界，容易受到风暴潮、洪水、盐水入侵和构造活动等自然灾害的影响。此外，在过去的几十年里，地下水的开采已经从地下沉积物中调动了自然存在的砷，造成了重大的砷中毒灾难。研究范围：本研究启动了一个重大的多学科、多机构的国际项目来研究GB三角洲。三角洲中活动元素之间的相互作用程度需要一种综合的方法。主要目标是将三角洲的地质、大地测量、地震和地球化学过程与正在进行的和计划中的工程活动以及社会发展联系起来。将基础研究与即时和长期应用相结合，对于对减轻灾害感兴趣的各种国家和国际机构非常重要。本项目由海洋科学学部海洋地质与地球物理学部、国际项目学部联合支持。

9900487Steckler Description: This award supports the project "US-India/Bangladesh Cooperative Research: Architecture, Dynamics, and Hazards of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta." Michael Steckler, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University will collaborate with Pradip Dasgupta, University of Calcutta and Md. Hussain Monsur, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh to characterize the subsidence and stratigraphy of the Ganges-Brahmaputra (GB) delta and the geologic processes which have shaped them. Deltas have long been centers of civilization; however, their environment is fragile, dependent upon the delicate balance between all processes causing subsidence and sedimentation filling in the available space. Monitoring and analyzing the prominent changes affecting the world's largest and most active delta offers unique opportunities for understanding fundamental geologic processes. The GB is an extreme example of a deltaic coastal region susceptible to natural disaster from storm surges, flooding, salt-water intrusion, and tectonic activity due to its situation at a plate boundary. Additionally, groundwater pumping over the past few decades has mobilized naturally occurring arsenic from the underlying sediments and poses a major arsenic-poisoning calamity. Scope: This research initiates a major multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional international project to study the GB delta. The degree of interaction among elements active in the delta requires an integrated approach. The principal objective is to link an improved understanding of the geologic, geodetic, seismologic, and geochemical processes of the delta with ongoing and planned engineering activities and with societal development. Combining fundamental research with immediate and long-term applications will be important to a variety of national and international agencies interested in hazard mitigation. This project is supported jointly by the Marine Geology and Geophysics Program, Division of Ocean Sciences and the Division of International Programs.