Under the auspices of ‘Tectonic transformation and environmental changes on the Pamir Plateau’, one of the international projects within the TPE program, ITP scientists including Profs. YAO Tandong, DING Lin, HE Jiankun, and TIAN Lide went to Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan.

They were welcomed by Tajikistan scientists from the Institute of Geology headed by Prof. Abdulhak Faisezev, who participated in the first TPE workshop at Beijing and was highly supportive of the TPE program.

The meeting between Chinese and Tajikistan scientists recalled the joint field work and academic visits between both sides at Dushanbe and Beijing in the past years. Both sides also wished to carry on with the cooperation, starting from monitoring station establishment on the Pamir plateau, joint field expedition and talents cultivation.

The discussion also harvested in the formation of Tajikistan-China Research Center of the Pamir Plateau, and the selection of suitable field for monitoring station. The field would be cleared and furnished with automotive weather station, consistent GPS monitoring, and automatic rain gauge for long-term study of climate and environment on the Pamir plateau.

A forty-day joint expedition would follow the meeting. In the expedition, scientists from both nations are expected to go on geologic expedition to the Pamir Plateau, expedition to the Fedchenko Glacier and GPS monitoring of tectonic transformation. Chinese scientific staff also hoped to try some shallow lake cores and collect samples from the Basin of Tajikistan for paleomagenetism study.