Geohazards research expedition, Dominica, Caribbean – July-August 2007

A research team from Portsmouth University will carry out field research in Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean to map the threats to the population posed by tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic activity and landslides and devising processes by which warnings could be given by the local Red Cross and other NGOs.

Dominica is a small volcanic island in the centre of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc. With one of the highest concentrations of potentially active volcanoes in the world (nine volcanic peaks over 1000 m), Dominica also has one of the planet’s highest drainage densities. The island is very hilly, with numerous landslides, particularly on the wetter eastern and northern coasts. The team (Jessica Roberts, Naomi Morris, Penelope Brown, Paul Usher, Verity Flower and Amber Huntly) will be working in association with the government authorities in Dominica and the University of the West Indies' Seismic Research Center.

The £1,000 funding from the JWCT has been provided in March 2007 as the first annual award in memory of Jeremy as part of the Royal Geographical Society’s Geographical Fieldwork Grant programme. Jeremy’s geological expedition to the Andes of north-west Argentina in 1997-98 received support from the same programme.

It is intended that the Jeremy Willson Award will support a field-based project with a distinct physical geography or geological focus. The criteria for a qualifying project is that it will have inherent value, be innovative, have an adventurous element, and those participating will be undergraduates or postgraduates demonstrating a strong spirit of ‘get-up-and-go’.

No reports available.