Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory graduate student Natalie Accardo recently returned from fieldwork in Tanzania and Malawi, where she installed seismic instruments in both countries alongside Lamont seismologists Donna Shillington and Jim Gaherty. Natalie produced this video, which shows the scientists and their Tanzanian colleagues conducting a “stomp test” at one of their sites in the Tanzanian village of Manda. Check out the video to learn what a stomp test is and to see one in action.
Their work is part of the SEGMeNT (Study of Extension and maGmatism in Malawi aNd Tanzania) project, a multidisciplinary, multinational study focused on characterizing the past and present deformation and magmatism within the crust and mantle lithosphere surrounding the northern Malawi (Nyasa) rift. The northern Lake Malawi (Nyasa) region in the East African Rift System is an excellent locality to examine early-stage rifting at slow rates in strong, cold lithosphere. This project, first begun in 2009, will acquire a suite of geophysical, geological, and geochemical data to better understand the role of deformation and magmatism in early stage rifting.
During the summer of 2014, over a period of approximately 40 days, the seismic branch of the project deployed 40 seismic sensors across Malawi and Tanzania. These instruments, along with 14 additional instruments deployed in the summer of 2013, will sit, buried one meter below ground, for over a year recording ground motions from near and far earthquakes.
For more information about the project visit the SEGMeNT website.
