This Science in Developing Countries award will support the dissertation research of Juan Jose Estrada, A Colombian graduate student in geology at the State University of New York, Binghamton, under the supervision of Professor William MacDonald. The project aims to evaluate hypotheses of major accretionary events in the Colombian Andes Mountains. The researchers will collect paleomagnetic evidence from three major suspect terranes; make structural measurements on sense of shear on intervening suture zones; and integrate the results into computer models of tectonic trajectories and plate motions. Field emphasis will be on three main geographic regions of suspect terranes in the Colombian Andes. The investigators will identify latitudes of origin of these terranes. Outcrops in a mapped region will receive primary focus. Sense of shear and sequential changes will be sought along several fault zones. A major goal will be to verify ages of these zones' initial appearance. These new data will permit new computer-generated maps of collision events in relation to plate motions. With this award, the Colombian collaborator will acquire training in modern techniques of paleomagnetic field-oriented research, which will help train the next generation of Colombian geologists. The U.S. side will gain from the opportunity to obtain new insights into plate processes.
