Avinesh Kumar
Graduated MSc Student
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Avinesh Kumar earned his BS-MS in chemical sciences (2018) from the Indian Institute of Science Education Research at Mohali. His MSc project deals with sea level reconstruction and tsunami records in the Cascadia Margin (Oregon, USA). A multi-proxy interdisciplinary method will be used on a series of cores (lacustrine) aiming to reconstruct long and short-term sea level changes for the last couple of thousands of years. In fact, as among all the geographical regions on Earth, coastlines are perhaps one of the most dynamic and critical for understanding the interrelationships between humans and nature. Avinesh's research aims to better understand the complex interactions between natural and anthropological activities that intersect at the coastal environment and its implication on humans.
Avinesh is currently a PhD student at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, IUI branch with Prof. Gilad Antler.
Current research
Current research
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of western US following the Missoula floods: insights from Lake Bell, Idaho
The mid-late Holocene period is known for major climatic change, which also witnessed substantial anthropogenic growth. Given this, this project aims to reconstruct the paleo-environmental reconstruction of the western US region utilizing a 15 m long core obtained from Lake Bell (Idaho). Through the amalgamation of petrophysical and sedimentological parameters, we aim to reconstruct the environmental changes that occurred in the region since the lake was initially formed following the Missoula Floods (15,000 and 13,000 years ago). We further aim to utilize the core for tracking after past volcanic explosions of Mount Saint Helens, which is situated SE of Bells Lake.
The results obtained so far tentatively suggest the presence of events characterized by higher sedimentation, as is calculated by increased amount of magnetically-charged particles that are sourced from the catchment area, during initial stages of lake evolution. We estimate that this data is related to volcanic eruptions of Mount St. Helens since the early Holocene until the famous collapse of this caldera in 1980. Initial results show heavily magnetically-charged units occurring during ~4.2 ka, 7.6 ka, 9.5 Ka, 11.3 Ka, and ~13.8 Ka. Further analyses of the pollen data suggests the transition of flora from pine type forest to conifer forest in late Holocene, while the tentative paleo-geomorphological study of the lake indicates the evolution of a delta ~5.5 Ka into the lake the system, though the origin of the basin of the lake is still unknown. This study will try to provide insights into the evolution of Lake Bell since its creation ~15 Ka following the Missoula Floods.
Following the collapse of the Cordilleran ice sheets, glacial Lake Missoula was drained in a series of floods through the Columbia River towards the Pacific Ocean. Lake Bell was formed following these series of floods along the Coeur d'Alene River (image courtesy of http://hugefloods.com/).
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