Lydia M. Staisch

Erosional impact of seismically-induced landsliding in Northeast India

 

Historic and paleoseismic data indicate that the northeast Himalaya and Shillong Plateau are actively seismic regions that periodically experience great (M>8.0) earthquakes. The recurrence interval for great earthquakes in these two locations, and thus the seismic productivity, are quite different. The goal of this project is to test whether the seismicity of the Shillong Plateau and Northeast Himalaya is well correlated the erosion rate and to assess the extent to which seismically-induced landsliding contributes to the overall erosion. To do so, we compare detrital 10Be erosion rates to a simple model of erosion due to earthquake-induced landsliding.