Where We Are Today (9/21/98)

(25 kilometers west of Tosontsengel)

Location Map.

Progress Report:

Ulaanbaatar or bust. We've just completed three days of trenching and mapping offsets from the 1905 and prior earthquake from a section of the Bulnay fault centered near the town of Du'n Hangay. We left the Bulnay fault about noon today and are sad to leave such a magnificent geological picture.

Findings:

We have been measuring offsets of about 7 to 8 meters associated with the 1905 earthquake. Some streams and gullies have 16 to 18 meter offsets which we interpret as slip from 1905 plus slip from the penultimate event. Our final paleoseismic effort was made this morning in a trench that exposed evidence of the pre-1905 earthquake. At this location the pre-1905 movement blocked the stream and led to the formation of a small pond behind the fault scarp. We were able to observe these deposits in the trench and we hope the carbon 14 dating of the soil on which they sit will give us the age of this earthquake.

Miscellaneous:

We must be doing something right now because the weather has changed for the better. For the last three days we've had daytime temperatures in the mid 60's, sunny skies, and little wind. Almost weather for shorts. We'd like to be back in Ulaanbaatar by Wednesday, but likely won't arrive until Thursday, at which time we'll brief the U.S. Embassy on our findings. Because our route back to Ulaanbaatar is the same one that we took out, we will not be sending any further updates from Mongolia. We were disappointed that some late 20th century technology (our laptop computer) failed us and that we were not able to send longer reports, photos, or respond to questions about our study in Mongolia. However, we'll make up for this when we return to the U.S. with a full photo summary of the expedition and more details of our scientific results. So keep tuned in to this web page. We really thank all of you who showed interest in this project.

From Mongolia we say bayartai (goodbye).