Tracing uplift of the Northern Andes using luminescence sensitivity in quartz

• Grant number: 23/07536-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 29, 2023
• End date: November 17, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Mauricio Parra Amézquita
• Grantee: Carlos Andrés Ortiz Barrios
• Supervisor: Mayank Jain
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Denmark
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/16709-8 - Tracing Uplift of the Northern Andes using Luminescence Sensitivity in Quartz, BP.MS

Abstract

Provenance analysis allows the detection of erosional windows in active orogens by tracking sediment populations in their adjacent basins, providing information to track orogenic uplift and exhumation. Recently, luminescence sensitivity has arisen as a potential technique for fingerprinting provenance and tracing sediments. Specifically, quartz's optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) sensitivities are properties modified by irradiation-bleaching cycles driven by surface processes controlling sediment storage time. Although luminescence sensitivity has proven effective in discriminating sediments and fingerprinting provenance in modern deposits, its application to ancient rocks remains largely unexplored. This project aims to characterize, for the first time, luminescence sensitivity signatures of an entire exhumed upper crustal section of an active orogen and an adjacent basin with a well-constrained provenance history. We will use the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia in the northern Andes as a natural laboratory. This approach allows for direct source-to-sink analysis and will serve as a proof-of-concept of the applicability of the luminescence sensitivity as a provenance tool, attempting to link source area and basin surface processes with sensitivity changes over geological time. The purpose of the proposed scholarship for a Research Internship Abroad at the Denmark Technical University is to measure the sensitivities in quartz single grains using laser stimulation and EMCCD imaging to establish a statistically robust framework for sensitivity populations and assess the relationship between surface processes, as constrained by the Andean uplift, and changes in single grain sensitivity. (AU)