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discovered_02_2013

PORTRAIT// The HZDR Research Magazine WWW.Hzdr.DE 36 37 // Geological processes and valuable mineral resources – to locate them, Richard Gloaguen uses remote sensing methods. The scientist must also routinely get out on the land, though. Richard Gloaguen has already seen a lot of the world during his career – Siberia, Tibet, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ecuador, and Cuba. The list goes on. For the last few years, Tajikistan and Afghanistan have been at the top. The common border of the countries runs through the middle of one of the highest mountains in the world, the Pamir. That is right where the French-born scientist and a couple of his students are drawn to. They collect rock samples along lakes and rivers, and survey strata of the Earth's surface using GPS and laser beams. The study trips are a small but important part of Gloaguen’s work. He heads the Remote Sensing Group at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) of HZDR and at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. The researcher uses satellite data to describe special processes on and beneath the Earth's surface. With the Pamir Mountains, for example, this involves understanding how mountains form. The Pamir mountain range, one of the most geologically active regions of the world, is an excellent example to study such processes, Gloaguen explains. To accomplish this, he collaborates with scientists in many different disciplines from Tübingen, Potsdam, and Jena. They also investigate when earthquakes took place that were responsible for having created several of the highest naturally occurring lakes in the world, which are in the Pamir. Another project involves flood models for rivers in the Pamir mountains. The research usually takes place on the computer in his office, but not only there. "We also need data acquired from the field to ground-truth the satellite data," says Gloaguen. He was travelling again in the Pamir with students in October. Despite its wonderful landscapes and unique regions for research, a field trip through Pamir is not for the faint- hearted. The conditions are harsh, the water quality often not _Text . Anja Weigl Clues in Stone HOW MOUNTAINS FORM: Based on rock samples from Pamir, a high mountain range in Central Asia, geological processes can be characterized. FAR-OUT EXPLORATION: Richard Gloaguen, Head of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology’s Remote Sensing Group. Photo: Detlev Müller

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