Taiwan Mountain Project Looks at the Geological Powers of Change
Contact: Phaedra Upton (207) 581-2221
David Munson (207) 581-3777
ORONO, Maine – UMaine earth sciences researcher Phaedra Upton will be collaborating with colleagues from the University of Colorado, Boulder in an effort to better understand the forces that have shaped the topography of Taiwan’s mountains.
Utilizing $45,272 in funding from the National Science Foundation, Upton and her team will examine the ways in which the forces of erosion and plate tectonics interact. Exceptionally high erosion rates, combined with tectonic convergence rates that are among the fastest in the world, create a unique and dynamic environment for studying topographic development.
The project will utilize both field studies and three-dimensional mechanical models. Researchers hope that the data will provide new insights into the region’s unusual geological activity that may help to better understand the interaction between surface processes and tectonics in a world context.