This award will support U.S. students to engage in international geological research activities in Botswana and Zambia. Over the three-year project, 10 U.S. students will travel to Botswana and Zambia to work with peers and faculty from the University of Botswana and University of Zambia to conduct field-based, multi-disciplinary research on the interplay between recent tectonics and surficial processes due to continental rifting. Students will investigate how faulting can be used to diagnose the development of early rift basins and linking of rift basin segments, how environmental change information is preserved in rift basin sediments, and how magma below the rift basin affects surface water chemical properties. The main goal of the program is to attract and stimulate motivated students to pursue careers in the geosciences by providing them with an international, hands-on research experience. Student projects will develop and enhance the research capabilities of the students, while contributing to a more complete picture of the development and evolution of continental rifts. Because Botswana and Zambia have the youngest rift basins in the East African Rift System, the field sites will provide students a unique opportunity to study the early stages of rifting processes in a natural laboratory better suited for such studies than anywhere else on earth.
Students will be provided with hands-on field research experience in geophysical surveying, field geologic and global positioning satellite (GPS) mapping, and geochemical and hydrogeologic techniques necessary for addressing basic research questions in the geosciences, as well as for resource exploration (e.g., hydrocarbon, water resources, mineral, geothermal, etc.). By interacting with peers from the University of Botswana and Zambia, the U.S. students will acquire an enriching cultural experience, make personal contacts, and build relationships that will form the core of future international research collaborations. At the same time, project activities will result in capacity building in the African nations involved. In Botswana, the results of the projects will benefit the long term strategic planning for sustainable management of the Okavango delta and its delicate ecosystem and water resources potential, while in Zambia, the results will aid in the design of hazard mitigation in earthquake prone zones. Students will disseminate their work in on-campus undergraduate and graduate student research symposia and at regional or national scientific conferences.