Page 117 - CTB-1 10 May

PIONEERING A NEW FUTURE 117
Eurasian plate. The UHP-coesite bearing eclogitic rocks suggest that the Indian crust was subjected to high degree of metamorphism at pressure >28 kbars and temperature > 640 0 C.
Great Earthquakes along the Himalayan Arc:
Paleoseismicity programme of WIHG has extended the earthquake history of the Himalayas by at
least two millennium past historical records.
In the Central Seismic Gap of Himalayas two earthquakes, during 1344 CE and 1505 CE, occurred and the result shows an apparent long- term quiescence (~600-500 years) implying an impending large earthquake in this region.
Several earthquake faults in the Kumaun- Garhwal regions have been identified through field surveys with the aid of satellite imageries, and geomorphic expression. Likewise, in northeast Himalayas, a consensus that a great Himalayan earthquake occurred on blind faults was recently
challenged by discovering evidence for a surface breaking fault of the 15 August 1950 Tibet-Assam earthquake (Mw ~8.6) at Pasighat, Aborfoot hills, and at Wakro in Mishmi foothills, Arunachal Pradesh. The data has helped in developing earthquake recurrence and energy budget models of the Himalayas, which is quite helpful in making earthquake mitigation policies.
River Landscape of the Himalayas: WIHG has produced the largest database on the chronology, sedimentary architecture and landscape evolution of rivers Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and tributaries in the Himalaya. The concept of climate change leading to river erosion and formation of terraces with known hotspots of deposition has been globally accepted and researched by
several groups internationally. The study comprises details on the Indus, the Ganga, the Brahmaputra
and their
tributaries flowing across full climatic and tectonic spectrum of the Himalayas. •
Mammalian fossils on display at the museum
ARCHIVES
The museum was established in 1976 when rocks and fossils from the Himalayas were brought by scientists and several paintings including Siwalik mammals and drifting continents
were made
and displayed.
This is the
only museum
in the country
dedicated to
geology of
the Himalayas
and is visited
by more
than twenty
thousand
visitors each
year. The institute has designed a clock which is based on geological time scales of life evolution.
SCHEMES
The institute has a very strong scholarship programme that encourages fellows
to pursue research in Himalayan geology both at doctoral and postdoctoral levels. Summer and winter internship is another unique programme that WIHG offers to master’s students. WIHG organizes ‘National
Geo Research Scholar’s Meet’ (NGRSM) annually where young research scholars are given a platform to listen to experts, interact and
present their research findings with a short
field trip.
Geological clock depicting evolution of life at the Wadia Institute museum