46151-GB8
The Timing of Deformation and Landscape Evolution Along the Central Range Fault System, Trinidad
Three undergraduate students funded by the grant, as well as a fourth funded by an internal grant, have worked on the project over the past two summers. Specifically, the grant has paid for the summer salary for one student and the field expenses for all four students. During the 2007-2008 academic year Jenna Hojnowski and Kathleen Sharman worked ten weeks over the summer and then completed a undergraduate senior research project in the Spring of 2008. Both students graduated with a BA in Geology in the Spring of 2008 and are currently working towards at MS in Geology (Hojnowski) or employed as an Earth Science teacher (Sharman). During the 2008-2009 academic year Michael Oliver and William Pierce worked for three weeks over the summer and are currently working on undergraduate senior thesis projects to be completed by the end of the Fall 2008 semester. Specific accomplishments include:
(1) Completion of a MATLAB program that incorporates isostatic compensation and erosion into a numerical model of transpressional plate motion; the model and the results from its application to the Central Range fault zone in Trinidad were submitted to the Journal of Structural Geology in June of 2008; the manuscript is currently under review.
(2) Analysis of 2,806 gravity stations from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency database; all standard gravity corrections have been applied; calculation of the terrane and isostatic corrections are complete; an isostatic residual anomaly map of the Central Range fault zone will be presented in October of 2008 at the national Geological Society of America meeting.
(3) Development of a MATLAB program to analyze the shape and orientation of folds in the Central Range fault zone based on data extracted from an ArcGIS database; the MATLAB program was written and tested during the Spring and Summer of 2008; an analysis of the data collected from Trinidad will be presented at the national Geological Society of America meeting in October of 2008.
(4) Collection of a suite of apatite fission track samples from the Central Range mountains; analysis of these samples by Apatite to Zircon, Inc., is expected to be complete by Fall 2008.
Analysis of the gravity data, fold shape and
orientation data, and the paleomagnetic data continues and will form the basis
for additional undergraduate senior thesis projects during the 2009-2010
academic year. Progress on this research and its results
have been presented by SUNY Geneseo undergraduate students and myself at regional
and national Geological Society of America meetings: (1) Pierce, W., and Giorgis, S., 2008, Using
orthographic projection and ArcGIS to constrain the kinematics of folding in
the Central Range fault zone, Trinidad: Geological Society of America Abstracts
with Programs. (to be given on Oct. 5, 2008) (2) Oliver, M., and Giorgis, S., 2008, A
terrain corrected, Bouguer anomaly map of central Trinidad: Looking for a
crustal root beneath the neotectonic Central Range fault zone: Geological
Society of America Abstracts with Programs. (to be given on Oct. 5, 2008) (3) Giorgis, S., Hojnowski, J., and Sharman,
S., 2008, Geologic constrains on the timing and magnitude of neotectonic
transpressional deformation in the Central Range fault zone, Trinidad: Geological
Society of America Abstracts with Programs. (to be given on Oct. 5, 2008) (4) Sharman, K., and Giorgis, S., 2008,
Paleomagnetism of the Tamana,
Chaudiere, and Point-a-Pierre Formations, Central Range fault zone,
Trinidad: Geological Society of
America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, n. 2, p. 68. (5) Hojnowski, J., Sharman, K., Giorgis, S.,
and Weber, J., 2007, Neotectonic
kinematics (GPS) vs. geologic kinematics of the Central Range Fault System,
South American-Caribbean Plate Boundary,
Trinidad: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39,
n. 6. p.. 468. (6) Sharman, K., Hojnowski, J., Giorgis, S.,
and Weber, J., 2007, Block rotation in the Central Range Fault System,
Caribbean-South American Plate Boundary, Trinidad: Geological Society of
America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, n. 6., p. 469. (7) Giorgis, S., Sirianni, R., and Tong, J.,
2007, Topographic relief as a
strain marker in neotectonic settings:
the effects of isostatic compensation and erosion on transpressional
models of obliquely convergent plate boundaries: Geological Society of America
Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, n. 6., p. 183.
