Tibetan Tectonics

Rushing water jarred the SUV against the mud bank. The rear end of the vehicle tipped back, and became submerged in muddy water. Mike Taylor yelled to his drivers Gidgum and Hagba to get out. Watching the half-sunken SUV from a safe distance, Taylor waited until the jarring stopped to run back and retrieve the $60,000 in GPS equipment from the car.

"There are always problems when you go to Tibet," Taylor said.

Assistant professor Mike Taylor, who holds a doctorate in geology, has made about 10 trips to the Tibetan Plateau. He is a tectonicist, and studies the mountain-building process, which occurs when tectonic plates under the earth's crust collide with each other. The part of the Tibetan Plateau he travels to is called the Lunggar Shan. It takes Taylor seven days to reach the desolate area of Tibet after departing Lawrence.

"The only people you run into there are nomads," Taylor said.

On Nov. 14, Taylor and scientific researchers across the country submitted a proposal called the Neotectonic Exploration of Tibet, or NEXT. Taylor is the only person at the University involved with submitting the almost 200-page proposal to the National Science Foundation. The proposal asks for funding to do further research of the Tibetan Plateau. Research efforts would include collaboration of eight other American universities, including Harvard and Purdue, along with three Chinese institutions.

"We just have to cross out fingers and toes and our eyes and hope it gets funded," Taylor said.

Tibet is one of the most dynamic places on earth in terms of tectonic movement. With India moving northward at a rate of five centimeters per year, Tibet is feeling the pressure. Taylor said that there is a fairly certain consensus in the scientific community that India has actually been thrust up underneath Tibet. To put the phenomenon in perspective, he compares the movement to that of a snowplow As snow is pushed up into a plow, it gathers at the edges, and is ultimately pushed out over the side. It's devastatingly clear to scientists that this is what's happening to Tibet; it's being pushed eastward because of the pressure from India. In fact, the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province this past May occurred right along the eastern Tibetan border, where the movement is most obvious.

The NEXT project will try to further understand the deformation of the Tibetan Plateau by looking to see what's going on deep in the earth- up to 50 miles deep, to be exact. Taylor said that if the movement of mountain formation is truly to be understood, Tibet is the place to look.

Although Tibet is a prime example, the understanding of earth deformation is not limited to Tibet. Understanding earth processes applies in Kansas, as well. Andrew Herrs, Clay Center graduate research assistant, is currently studying sinkholes in Hutchinson, Kan. Herrs explained that sinkholes are formed when underground salt is eaten away by water that seeps in from poorly capped oil wells and groundwater movement. When the salt is no longer in the earth, huge voids can be left in its place. Surface rocks then cave in to the voids, leaving evidence to be seen on the earth's surface. Sometimes these voids form gradually, but sometimes they don't.

"Sometimes it is catastrophic, where the ground suddenly caves in unexpectedly in seconds," Herrs said.

Herrs uses a Light Detection and Ranging scanner, or LIDAR scanner, to produce 3D images of the sinkholes to calculate the rate at which the sinkholes are forming. Herrs said this information will be useful in terms of future city planning, and can be applied to mitigate any potential threat from sinkholes in the future by identifying dangerous areas to be avoided. After he finishes this sinkhole research project, Herrs said he is considering taking his knowledge to join Taylor and others in an effort to understand the geologic phenomenon in Tibet.

Other tectonic hotspots around the globe garnish attention similar to Tibet. Richard Styron is a PhD candidate in Geology at the University, and spent a total of five months abroad in Nicaragua during his master's program at the University of Arkansas. Using GPS systems, he and other researchers discovered that the land near the Pacific coast was moving about 1.5 cm per year relative to the interior of the country. All this was occurring at one fault. Styron said that, unfortunately, about 80 percent of the population of Nicaragua lives almost on top of the fault dangerous fault, in the shadow of very active volcanoes.

Styron says that while scientists and professors within the University and the field of geology collaborate and understand the importance of tectonic research, it can be overlooked by the general public.

"Geology influences human society to an extent that is often taken for granted," Styron said. "Mike's and my little slice of the science is largely unnoticed except for the occasional disaster, like the May 12 earthquake in China that killed some 70,000 people."

Department Chair of Geology Richard Goldstein said that this kind of globe-trotting research Taylor is doing is some of the most interesting in the department. Talyor's next trip will be to the Andes in January, where he will conduct research similar to what he did in Tibet. Taylor said he's just trying to do his tiny part in the world by doing what he loves best as an avid outdoors enthusiast.

"I like to call myself an overly-educated backpacker," Taylor said. "I just love it. I couldn't imagine doing anything else."