This award supports cooperative research in geology to be conducted by Dr. Stephen Marshak of the University of Illinois, Urbana, Dr. Hannes Brueckner of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and Drs. Fernando Alkmim, Hanna Jordt Evangelista and Farid Chemale, Jr. from the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP), Brazil. The objective of the project is to work out the detailed tectonic history of the eastern margin of the Sao Francisco craton. One, and possibly two, detailed transects of this margin will incorporate new field studies of structural geology and petrology, new advanced geochronological analysis, and a synthesis of existing, but largely unavailable, local studies in the region. The results of the project will define the geometry, style and age of the Brasiliano tectonism west of the coastal mobile belt; the nature of the basins in which Late Proterozoic strata were deposited; and the age and style of pre-Brasiliano orogenies. The award will foster continuation of a productive U.S.-Brazil collaboration.
