Himalayan Research Laboratory (HRL) at Auburn Geology was established in
2000, with the overall objective to
analyze orogenic sediments and groundwater in the Himalayan foreland basins,
in order to help both reconstruct the history of Himalayan mountain building
and evaluate present-day environmental concerns in this highly populous
region.
Mineral phases of Cenozoic sediments from Himalayan foreland basins are
analyzed to develop history of petrofacies evolution of clastic wedges from
the Himalayas and the Indo-Burman ranges, and construct regional
stratigraphy in the greater Himalayan area. Groundwater and sediments from
alluvial aquifers are analyzed to suggest their mutual relationships with
the levels and mobilization of arsenic carried via
streams stream systems from the Himalayas
and the Indo-Burman ranges.
Research from this lab is critical in establishing a robust, basin-wide
stratigraphic framework for interpreting basin history, exploiting petroleum
potential, identify arsenic-free groundwater horizons, and deciphering
detrital record of mountain building in the eastern Himalayas and the
Indo-Burman ranges. The goals of HRL are (i) to improve our understanding
of the development of the Himalayas, providing ground truth necessary for
evaluating models of collisional processes, (ii) and to comprehend
water-sediment interactions and biogeochemical processes operating within
alluvial aquifers that hold arsenic of cataclysmic proportion in groundwater
that is being used by 100’s of millions of people in the southern Himalayan
basins.
