June 2005
Tahoe Coring Workshop
Scientists seek new data on climate change, tsunamis, earthquakes at Lake Tahoe
Nevada and California researchers are gathering Sept. 15 – Sept. 18 to plan a comprehensive program of scientific coring in the Tahoe basin that aims to uncover the mysteries of the alpine lake's geologic origins. The results should help public agencies keep the lake blue and the groundwater clean, and assess the threat of landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis.
The workshop builds on decades of research that has shown, for example, that the area surrounding and underneath the lake is riddled with active faults.
Rich Schweickert, professor of geological sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno, and author of numerous papers about faulting at Lake Tahoe, said coring could answer fundamental questions about the history of climate change at Tahoe as long as 1 million years ago.
"We could reconstruct a record of warm and cold periods that goes back thousands of years, and show how the lake has fluctuated through time before and after humans took up residence," he said. This data could help scientists evaluate the normal range of the lake's clarity and size, and help planners and policymakers learn to best protect and restore Tahoe's unique environment.
Research at Tahoe will also contribute to better understanding threats to Tahoe's residents and structures from geologic hazards, as well as the control and remediation of groundwater contamination from MTBE and other pollutants.
Participants in the workshop will work in teams to develop detailed science plans that will form the basis for proposals that can be submitted to the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, and other funding agencies. Participants will also address technical, logistical and political issues that will arise from a large complex coring program.
Any researcher interested in the Tahoe basin is invited to apply to the workshop. To apply, please send an e-mail to [email protected] and include the following: name, position, contact information, a brief statement of the reasons for wanting to attend the workshop, and if appropriate, a second brief statement about prior work in the Tahoe basin.
The deadline for applications is July 31. Participants will be notified by Aug. 15.
The workshop will be held at Granlibakken Lodge in Tahoe City. Lodging and per diem for all participants, as well as travel expenses up to $200 (perhaps more in exceptional cases) will be paid by the workshop organizers.
The workshop is funded by a grant from Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earth's Continental Crust, a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide leadership and technical support in subsurface sampling and monitoring technology for addressing topics of scientific and societal importance.
Additional support for the workshop is provided from the Academy for the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno; the John Muir Institute for the Environment at the University of California, Davis; the Desert Research Institute, the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics at University of California, San Diego, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The members of the organizing committee for the Tahoe Coring Workshop are Gary Acton (UC Davis), Ken Adams (Desert Research Institute), Irina Delusina (UC Davis), Alan Heyvaert (UC Davis), Graham Kent (UC San Diego), Vic Mossotti (USGS), Dave Osleger (UC Davis), André Sarna-Wojcicki (USGS), Geoff Schladow (UC Davis), Rich Schweickert (University of Nevada, Reno), Gordon Seitz (San Diego State University), Scott Starratt (USGS) and Ken Verosub (UC Davis). Specific questions about the workshop should be directed to Ken Verosub at [email protected], who is the chair of the organizing committee.