Patterns of Andean growth in the Ecuadorian Andes

• Grant number: 21/13551-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2022
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Mauricio Parra Amézquita
• Grantee: Daniel Ricardo Hernández Chaparro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Energia e Ambiente (IEE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15613-1 - Topographic construction along the northeastern Andes and the origin of the Transcontinental Amazon Basin, AP.JP2
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/13766-0 - Patterns of Andean Growth in the Ecuadorian Andes, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This Master thesis will focus on the acquisition of new thermochronometric ages based on the apatite fission-track and apatite (U-Th)/He systems along one transect across the the Napo Uplift in the Ecuadorian Amazonian Andes. The main goal is to characterize rock exhumation in order to evaluate (1) the spatial and temporal distribution of thrust-induced exhumation along the Subandean thrust sheets and (2) enable comparison with surface uplift proxies studied by the post-doctoral researchers. The student will be co-supervised in the field by the PI and the Post-doctoral researchers working in the same areas in paleoelevation and Quaternary dating and uplift. The transect will consist of ~12 AFT and ~10 AHe sample localities distributed along hanging-wall blocks of major faults, and trying to cover important elevation differences. In a second stage, the student will perform 1D and 2D modeling of their studied transect and nearby areas using the modeling strategy described in the main proposal, which aims the quantification of fault slip rates and surface uplift rates. (AU)