Intermediate
Processes from 1day to 10000years
The principal aim of these two Postdoc projects is to determine how climate shifts and variability influence the dynamics of surface processes and affect landscape evolution over various timescales. Given the demonstrated sensitivity of landscape denudation rates to precipitation along the steep slopes of the eastern margin of the Andean Plateau1, we hypothesize that the generation of thick late Pleistocene sedimentary fill terraces is linked to wetter climate conditions, and possibly also to changes in the variability of rainfall.
The Cenozoic central Andes host orogen-parallel belts of magmatic-related ore deposits with contrasting metal associations (Fe, Cu-Au, vs. polymetallic, Sn-Ag). This project will investigate the role of magmas vs. hydrothermal fluids in metal transport and metallogenesis. There a close linkages to projects G3.5 and G4.1.
The Chaco-Paraná Basin is located east of the Sierras Pampeanas and the Santa Barbara System. The basin has been a depocenter since the early Paleozoic and has been under strong influence of the Andean orogeny since the Cenozoic. In the basin, a gradient of different deformation styles developed due to the Andean orogeny. This project aims to construct a data-consistent, integrated three-dimensional structural model of the Chaco-Paraná Basin on a lithospheric scale.
The evolution of the inter-mountain Salta basin is related to the evolution of the Central Andes. An intracontinental rift was formed by extensional processes and subsequently filled by up to 5500 m sediments from the Neocomian to the Paleogene intercalated by minor volumes of magmatic rocks. This complex constitutes the Salta group. Paleoenvironmental analysis reveals depositional history controlled by tectonic and climatic changes.
Lacustrine deposits are perfect environmental and climatic records of changes in lake-internal processes and catchment conditions, and exhibit information to understand past, present and future climatic changes. The aim of this project is to decipher past climatic changes in NW Argentina with special focus on variations of precipitation.