Field Excursion Guidebook Series on Geology and Natural Hazards in Nepal Himalaya

Field Excursion Guidebook Series on Geology and Natural Hazards in Nepal Himalaya Masaru Yoshida 1)2), Bishal Nath Upreti, Santa Man Rai 2), Tara N. Bhattarai 2), Prakash D. Ulak 2), Ananta P. Gajurel 2), Ranjan K. Dahal 2)3), Subodh Dhakal 2), and Matrica P. Koirala 2) Abstract The Himalaya is the best laboratory to study nature and natural hazards. It is because the range exhibits distinct zonal arrangements of geology, geomorphology, and climate, and consequently, a variety of natural hazards including landslides occur in this mountain range and they are also zonally arranged along the range. There is, however, no guidebook of the Himalaya in the world market to study geology and natural hazards. We started a plan of forming a geoguidebook series in 2004, and some English and Japanese guidebooks for studying geology and natural hazards in the Nepal Himalaya were published. They included guidebooks for the Kaligandaki Valley of Annapurna region (English), Everest area (Japanese) and Langtang Valley (Japanese). Formation of the series of guidebooks covering important parts of the Nepal Himalaya is in progress. Published guidebooks have been utilized to study geology and natural hazards in the Himalayan field by at least three groups mostly Japanese people including engineers, scientist, teachers, students and citizens. The publicity, distribution, utilization, as well as writing, editing and publication of other guidebooks are expected to be further improved and are progressing. A plan of forming geostudy tours in the Himalaya for future several years is presented. The plan included two tours of every year, one for people of various fields as mentioned above, and another, specifically for students, to be utilized as a part of the university curriculum. The guidebooks, as well as geostudy tours may invite wide spectrum of people worldwide to visit and study the Himalaya, and let Nepalese people to be proud of and get some profits from the Himalaya on which they live. We also expect that the guidebook may work as a catalyzer to enhance the importance of the field study in related sciences and technology. Key words: Himalayan geology, Natural hazards in Himalaya, Natural hazards guidebook, Field guidebook, Himalayan guidebook. Introduction The Himalaya is a very large, the highest and most active mountain range on the globe. The range exhibits distinct zonal arrangements of geology, geomorphology, and climate (Figs. 1,2,3). Consequently, a variety of natural hazards including landslides occurs in this mountain range and they are also zonally arranged along the range. Thus, the Himalaya is the best laboratory to study nature and natural hazards. However by now, there is no guidebook of the Himalaya in the world market to study geology and natural hazards. 1) Gondwana Institute for Geology and Environment, 147-2 Hashiramoto, Hashimoto 648-0091, Japan (Gondwana@gaia.eonet.ne.jp) 2) Department of Geology, Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Ghanta Ghar, Kathmandu, Nepal 3) Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-machi, Takamatsu 761-0396,, Japan 335

Fig. 1 Geologic outline of the Himalaya (Upreti and Yoshida, 2005, modified after Gansser, 1964) Fig. 2 Schematic geologic cross section of the Himalaya (Upreti and Yoshida, 2005, modified after Harris and Whalley, 2001) Fig. 3 Simplified physiographic and geologic cross section of the Himalaya along with climatic zones (Upreti and Yoshida, 2005, cited after Kizaki, 1994). MCT: Main Central Thrust, MBT: Main Boundary Thrust, MFT: Main Frontal Thrust. 336

We have started to form a field excursion guidebook series for geology and natural hazards of the Nepal Himalaya. The Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers, Series No.1, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Kaligandaki Valley, Western Nepal was published in 2005 (Upreti and Yoshida, 2005). The series No.2, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Everest Trekking Routs, Eastern Nepal is under the process of publication, and a provisional Japanese version, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Dudhkoshi Valley, Everest Area was published in 2007 (Yoshida et al., 2007). The field program for the guidebook series No3, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Langtang Valley, Central Nepal was conducted in October 2008 year, and a provisional field excursion guidebook (in Japanese), Geology and Natural Hazards along the Lang Tang Valley, Central Nepal appeared simultaneously (Yoshida et al., 2008). The publication of successive numbers of the series is planned for the area surrounding Katmandu, the Tansen to Lumbini route, the Moleku area, and so on, to cover important areas in the Nepal Himalaya. The guidebooks series may contribute to help international scientists, engineers, teachers, students, and citizens to get general information of natural environment specifically of geology and natural hazards in the Himalaya. The guidebooks are also expected to be useful to local people and local governmental officers to understand natural environment on which their lives rely and natural hazards by which their lives are facing danger. The first publication of the guidebook was planned in early 2004 when an international seminar on Natural Disaster Mitigation and Issues on Technology Transfer in South and Southeast Asia (Yoshida et al., 2005) as the Asian first Regional Seminar of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was planned to be conducted in Kathmandu. At that time an embryonic version of the English guidebook for the field study along the Kaligandaki Valley was prepared (Yoshida and Upreti, 2004), and a geotour attached with the seminar was conducted in October 2004. The successful formation of the guidebook at that time prompted us to create the geoguidebook series of the Himalaya. The guidebook series is expected first, to form the fund for the field research of the Himalaya by the Tribhuvan University, which has quite poor research funds. Further, the guidebook may invite a wide spectrum of people worldwide to visit and study Himalaya, let Nepalese people to be proud of and get some profits from the Himalaya on which they live, and also, may work as a catalyzer to encourage the field study in related science and technology. Published guidebooks Kaligandaki valley, Annapurna area Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers Ser. No. 1, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Kaligandaki Valley, Nepal (Fig. 4, Upreti and Yoshida, 2005) was published in March 2005 as the Special Publication No. 1 of the Department of Geology Trichandra Campus, Tribhuvan University (DGTC), in collaboration with the Nepal office of JICA and the Gondwana Institute for Geology and Environment (GIGE). About one year before this publication, an embryonic version (Yoshida and Upreti, 2004) of the same guidebook appeared as mentioned above. The Kaligandaki River cuts through the deepest valley in the world having over 8000m high Annapurna and Dhaulagiri peaks on both sides. As one treks from south to north, an amazing change of beautiful mountain scenery, as well as geology, topography, climate and vegetation can be clearly noticed. The trekking along the valley provides an exciting opportunity to experience the essence of the natural beauty, fascinating geology and geography. 337

Fig. 4 The Kaligandaki guidebook published in 2005 This guidebook is composed of three parts. The first quarter of the book deals with the general introduction of nature, particularly of earth science and environment of the whole Himalayan range and then of the Kaligandaki area. The following major part of the book gives general physiographic and geologic characters of all six sectors along the Kaligandaki valley route and the Pokhara area, followed by detailed explanation of observation stops. Topographic maps of about 1:100,000 scale along the entire trekking route are also provided. The last part makes up the appendix including terrace maps, glossary, geological time scale etc. for the readers conveniences. The guidebook is written in a way so that the trekkers even without special knowledge on earth science can enjoy reading it. The guidebook thus provides valuable information to Himalayan trekkers who wish to learn more about the nature of Himalaya and of our Mother Earth. One page of the guidebook is shown below as an example (Fig. 5). Fig. 5 One example page of the guidebook. 338

The embryonic version of the guidebook (in English) was used by an international team of JICA in October 2004 as mentioned above, and a Japanese version is in progress for the field excursion of the Chugoku-Shikoku Branch of the Japan Society of Engineering Geology (Hasegawa and Ranjan, in preparation) for the 15 anniversary of the inauguration of the Branch. Everest area Geology and Natural Hazards along Everest Trekking Routes, Eastern Nepal: Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers Ser. No. 2 is under the preparation, and a Japanese version Geology and Natural Hazards along the Dudhukoshi Valley, Everest Area, was published in October 2007 as the Miscellaneous Publication No. 18, Gondwana Institute for Geology and Environment (GIGE) (Figs. 6, 7, Yoshida, et al., 2007). These guidebooks generally followed their book styles and contents to those of the Kaligandaki Valley described above. The Japanese guidebook was utilized for a geostudy tour along the Dudhukoshi Valley by a Japanese group in October 2007. The 2nd edition of the Japanese guidebook is in progress and will appear in near future. Fig. 6 Cover of the Japanese version of the Everest geoguidebook 339

Fig. 7 Example page of the Japanese version of the Everest geotour guidebook. Langtang Valley, Central Nepal. Geology and Natural Hazards along the Langtang Valley, Central Nepal - Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers Ser. No. 3 is planned to be published following the Ser. No. 2 and the work is in progress. A Japanese version, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Langtang Valley, Central Nepal Himalaya was published in October 2008 as the Miscellaneous Publication No. 19 of the GIGE (Yoshida et al., 2008c). This guidebook in Japanese generally followed the book style and contents to those of the Kaligandaki guidebook described above, although descriptions of each observation are more or less in a general way, due to the lack of detailed field studies which will be completed by the end of 2010. The Japanese guidebook was utilized by a Japanese team in October 2008 for their 10 days study tour in the Langtang Valley. Revision of the Japanese version is in progress and the second edition will appear in near future. The front cover and an example page of the Japanese guidebook are shown in Fig. 8. 340

Fig. 8 Cover and example page of the Langtang Valley geotrekking guidebook. Public distribution of the guidebook The guidebook has been advertised on the websites of the DGTC and GIGE. Further, the guidebook and/or the guidebook series were introduced at several international and local conferences (mostly academic symposiums, Dahal and Yoshida, 2006; Dahal et al., 2007; Dahal and Hasegawa, 2007; Rai et al., 2007, 2008; Upreti et al., 2006; Yoshida, 2006; Yoshida et al., 2008a, b). Some examples of the presentations are given in Figs. 9 and 10). The distribution of the Kaligandaki English guidebook was also done either at several conferences or through the Internet market. Fig. 9 Advertisement leaflet dispatched at the Fifty years anniversary conference of Japan-Nepal diplomatic relationship (JN50), Tokyo, Sept. 2006. 341

Fig. 10 Poster display of the Kaligandaki and Everest guidebooks, JN50, Tokyo, 2006, with GIGE staff. Field excursions utilizing the guidebooks As stated above, the 2004 Kaligandaki excursion was the embryonic stage, utilizing the provisional version of the English guidebook. In this geotour, 30 people including JICA Senior Volunteers from south Asian countries and their counterparts in each country joined. After the publications of the guidebooks in 2005 and onwards, two Japanese groups conducted field excursions, first in the Everest area in October 2007 (Fig. 11), and the second in the Langtang Valley in October 2008, both having utilized the Japanese guidebooks. These Japanese excursions are regarded to be examples of study tours utilizing the present guidebooks. There should have been some other groups or individuals utilized some of the guidebooks above, although nothing is known to us at present. Fig. 11 Field excursion of a JICA group, October 2004. As stated below, such study tours are planned to be conducted every year in the Himalaya by us. We believe that the success of the publications of the guidebook series will result in the regular increase of the study tours in the Himalaya. 342

Organizations for the production and utilization of the guidebooks Presently the guidebooks are published as the Special Publication series of the DGTC for the English version, and as the Miscellaneous Publication series of GIGE for the Japanese version. Authors and editors of the guidebooks included scientists belonging these two organizations. However in future, invitation of authors/editors from other organizations throughout Japan (from 2008/2009 onwards) and worldwide (in some future) is in progress. The invitation of organizations taking part for the future publications will also be further examined. Future plans of geostudy tours in the Himalaya We plan to continuously conduct geostudy tours every year in future. There are four major candidate areas at present; NW Indian Himalaya, Kaligandaki of western Central Nepal, Langtang Valley of Central Nepal, and the Everest area of Eastern Nepal. For the first several years, these areas will successively and recurrently be visited, until when guidebooks of other areas such as Pokhara-Lumbini route will have been published. In addition to the above geotours in which engineers, scientists, students, teachers, and citizens may participate, we plan to organize student exercise field tours every year along the Kaligandaki Valley; this may start from 2010 onwards. The student geotour may encourage students and universities to be interested in field studies, which are very poor in recent Japanese school/university educations. It will also help Japanese youngsters as well as science world to increase internationality, which is also very poor in Japan. Summary Some English and Japanese guidebooks for studying geology and natural hazards in the Nepal Himalaya have been published. They included guidebooks for the Kaligandaki Valley of Annapurna region (English), Everest area (Japanese) and Langtang Valley (Japanese). Formation of the series of English guidebooks covering the Nepal Himalaya is in progress. These guidebooks were utilized to study geology and natural hazards in the Himalayan field by at least some groups mostly of Japanese people including engineers, scientists, teachers, students and citizens. The publicity, distribution, utilization, as well as writing, editing and publication are under the progress and will be further improved so that the guidebooks may invite a wide spectrum of people worldwide to visit and study the Himalaya, and let Nepalese people to be proud of and get some profits from the Himalaya on which they live. We also expect that the guidebook may work as a catalyzer to enhance the field study in related sciences and technology. References Dahal, R.K. and Yoshida, M. (2006) Geology and natural hazards in central Nepal Himalaya: workshop course and guidebook. Geol. Soc. of Japan 2006 annual meeting, Kochi, 16-18 Sept. 2006. Dahal, R.K. and Hasegawa, S. (2007) Engineering geology along the Kaligandaki river, central Nepal Himalaya. 2007 annual conference of the Chugoku-Shikoku Branch of the Japan Society of Engineering Geology, Yamaguchi. Rai, S.M., Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Bhattarai, T.N., Ulak, P.D., Gajurel, A.P., Dahal, R.K., 343

Dhakal, S. and Koirala, M.P. (2007) Eco-trekking guidebook project for Nepal Himalaya: geology and natural hazards along the Kaligandaki and Dudhukoshi valleys. 22nd International Seminar on Himalaya, Karakoram and Tibet (22nd HKT), Hong Kong, March 2007. Rai, S.M., Upreti, B.N., Yoshida, M. and Bhattarai, T.N. (2008) Studying geology and natural hazards in the Nepal Himalaya: publication of a guidebook series for scientists, students and trekkers. Fifth symposium of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Kathmandu, 10-12 Oct. 2008. Upreti, B.N. and Yoshida, M. (2005, eds.) Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers, Ser. No. 1, Geology and Natural Hazards along the Kaligandaki Valley, Nepal. Special Publication No. 1, Department of Geology, Trichandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, 1-165 pages. Upreti, B.N., Yoshida, M., Bhattarai, T.N., Rai, S.M., Ulak, P.D., Gajurel, A.P., Dahal, R.K., Dhakal, S. and Koirala, M.P. (2006) Geology and natural hazards along the Kaligandaki Valley, Nepal Himalaya: publications of a guidebook series for Himalayan trekkers. 21st HKT (International Seminar on Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet), April 2006, Cambridge. Jour. Asian Earth Sci. 26, 165-165. Yoshida, M. and Upreti, B.N. (2004) Geology and Natural Hazards along the Kaligandaki Valley, Central-west Nepal Himalaya - Field Workshop Guidebook. Department of Geology, Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. 1-72 pages. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Bhattarai, T.N. and Dhakal, S. (2005) Natural Disaster Mitigation and Issues on Technology Transfer in South and Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the JICA Regional Seminar, Kathmandu, October 2004. Special Publication No. 2, Department of Geology, Trichandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, 1-197 pages. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Rai, S.M., Bhattarai, T.N., Ulak, P.D., Gajurel, A.P., Dahal, R.K., Dhakal, S. and Koirara, M.P. (2006) Guidebook for Himalayan Trekkers Series Nos. 1 and 2, Kaligandaki and Everest courses. In: Omori, K. (Ed), Volume of Reports of the Fifty Years Anniversary of the Japan-Nepal Diplomatic Relationship. Association of Collaboration for the Fifty Years Anniversary of the Japan-Nepal Diplomatic Relationship (JN50), Yokohama, 132-134. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N. and Rai, S.M. (2007) Geology and Natural Hazards along the Dudhukoshi Valley, Everest Area - Field excursion guidebook (in Japanese). GRG/GIGE Miscellaneous Publication No. 18, Field Science Publishers, Hashimoto, 1-41 pages. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Rai, S.M., Bhattarai, T.N., Ulak, P.D., Gajurel, A.P., Dahal, R.K., Dhakal, S. and Koirara, M.P. (2008a) Eco-trekking guidebook project for Nepal Himalaya: Geology and natural hazards along three transverse valleys of Nepal Himalaya. International conference on Tectonics of the Indian Subcontinent, 5-7 March 2008, Mumbai. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Rai, S.M., Bhattarai, T.N., Ulak, P.D., Gajurel, A.P., Dahal, R.K., Dhakal, S. and Koirara, M.P. (2008b) Geo-guidebook series of Nepal Himalaya. 33rd International Geological Congress (33rd IGC), 6-14 August 2008, Oslo. Yoshida, M., Upreti, B.N., Rai, S.M. and Bhattarai, T.N. (2008c) Geology and Natural Hazards along the Langtang Valley, Central Nepal Himalaya (in Japanese). GRG/GIGE Miscl. Pub. No. 19, Field Science Publishers, Gondwana Institute for Geology and Environment (GIGE), Hashimoto (Japan), 1-31 pages. 344