Collaborative Research: Quantifying temporal relationships between tectonic forcing and landscape responses in the central Andean Precordillera, Argentina

该项目将侧重于了解地质板块碰撞造成的地貌变化，如造山和侵蚀。通过使用一种结合两种不同类型分析（热年代学和宇宙成因放射性核素测年）的新方法，研究小组将能够确定断层如何生长的模式以及碰撞系统中景观变化的速度。这两种不同的测年技术是互补的，因为它们记录了不同但重叠的时间尺度上的地质变化信息，因此将它们结合起来将填补短期和长期地质变化之间的重要空白。该项目将通过提供研究和教学方面的专业培训以及与国际同行建立联系，促进博士后研究员的专业发展。博士后研究员将接受教学和教育的新方法的指导，并通过参与K-12推广的既定计划以及领导地球科学研讨会和实地考察来应用这些方法。该项目将开发和使用一种新颖的低成本和低成本的组合。温度热年代测定法和宇宙成因放射性核素技术，以量化与断层作用和沉积作用有关的近期和古侵蚀速率的变化，挤压构造这项研究将开发和完善两种跨越不同时空尺度的地质年代学方法的组合，以了解岩石隆起，断层，盆地沉降之间的联系，以及侵蚀和沉积物沉积之间的滞后时间。安第斯山脉中部是这项研究的理想地区，因为从中新世早期到现在，该地区一直存在活跃的断层和变形，当时气候条件相对稳定和干旱。这表明，景观发展主要是由构造而不是气候驱动的。获取新的数据来解决几个地质结构的变形率和景观响应时间，不仅会增进对安第斯山脉中部前科迪勒拉褶皱冲断带发展的了解，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This project will focus on understanding landscape changes, such as mountain building and erosion, caused by the collision of tectonic plates. By using a new method of combining two different types of analyses (thermochronology and cosmogenic radio nuclide dating) the research team will be able to determine patterns in how faults grow and how fast a landscape can change in a collisional system. The two different dating techniques are complementary as they record information about geologic changes on different but overlapping timescales, and thus combining them will fill an important gap between shorter- and longer-term geologic changes. This project will facilitate the professional development of a postdoctoral fellow by providing professional training in both research and teaching, and by establishing connections with international colleagues. The postdoctoral fellow will receive instruction on new methods of teaching and education and apply these approaches through participation in established programs for K-12 outreach and by leading Earth Science seminars and field trips.The project will develop and use a novel combination of low-temperature thermochronometry and cosmogenic radionuclide techniques to quantify changes in recent and paleo erosion rates related to faulting and sedimentation driven by compressional tectonics. This study will develop and refine the combination of two geochronological methods that span different spatiotemporal scales to understand links between rock uplift, faulting, basin subsidence, and lag times between erosion and sediment deposition. The central Andean Precordillera is ideal for this study as there has been active faulting and deformation from the early Miocene to present in a region with relatively stable and arid climate conditions during that time. This suggests that landscape development has been driven primarily by tectonics rather than climate. Acquiring new data to address rates of deformation and landscape response times across several geologic structures will not only advance knowledge about the development of the central Andean Precordillera fold-thrust belt, but also contribute more generally to the growing body of research on landscape responses to tectonic perturbations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.