Scientists Study QuakesChinese and American geophysicists will conduct an expedition to Southwest China in August, announced the Institute of Geophysics of the State Seismological Bureau recently.The Sino-American joint project on earthquake prospecting and research passed experts examination on June 22. Corresponding field surveys will begin on August 20 in west Sichuan Province and east Tibet Autonomous Region, said institute director Wang Chunyong and project head. "The project aims to provide empirical data to explain the cause of earthquakes from crustal structure and scientific evidence for the rise of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," Wang said. The research will help evaluate the area's mineral resources, said Zeng Rongsheng, a member of the China Academy of Sciences. The project is part of the two State-sponsored key research programmes on mechanics and prediction of strong earthquakes in China's mainland and geodynamics of East Asia. Scientists with the institute and the Maryland-based Multimax Geophysics Center in the United States will travel a total of 3,500 kilometers along two lines. Preparations, including theoretical and field work, for the project began more than a decade ago, institute sources said. |
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