*NOT OFFERED IN 2012*
Field Course in Geological Sciences
The Greater Andes Mountains of San Juan and Mendoza Provinces, Argentina
The Andes Field camp is supported by generous contributions from Shell Oil Company.
*EAS 4170 will be offered in Northern Hemisphere Summer 2011
Applications from Non-Cornell Students Preferred by February 10, 2011
Decisions Will Be Made in Late-February or Early-March
INFORMATION FOR POTENTIAL STUDENTS
Contact for American students: Professor Suzanne Mahlburg Kay, Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; E-mail: smk16@cornell.edu; FAX: 1-607-254-4780; Phone: 1-607-255-4701 for more information.
Argentine students: Professor Victor A. Ramos, Dept. of Geology, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, andes@gl.fcen.uba.ar. Phone and FAX (54-11-4701 6947).
OVERVIEW
Course: Cornell Summer Session Course EAS 4170. All students register for 4 credits of EAS 4170 through the Cornell summer session. Regular Cornell may students sign up for an additional credit of EAS 4910 (1 credit) in the fall semester which includes preparation of a report on some aspect of the field region using the field work, notes on regional geology, library resources, and computer-based satellite imagery at Cornell. Some Cornell students have used the field course as a spring board for doing undergraduate research projects. Enrollment is limited to 15 American students.
Minimum prerequisites: An introductory course in physical geology and a course in structural geology (EAS 3040 and EAS 4260). Some field experience through an introductory field course or field experience in other course is recommended. Spanish is useful, but not required. Lectures and explanations are given in both English and Spanish. All Argentine instructors are fluent in English. All Argentine students have studied English and many are relatively fluent. Language restrictions are considered in assigning groups when joint efforts are required.
Application Procedure
To apply for the class, you need to send Prof. Suzanne Mahlburg Kay (Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, smk16@cornell.edu) a letter (an e-mail attachment is preferred) that includes: a) your name, address (including e-mail and telephone), b) your class year and expected graduation date; c) a description of the geological sciences and related science courses that you have taken along with your grades in those course, d) a statement as to your interest in the earth sciences, and d) a discussion of any physical or mental health problems you have, that would affect your participation in a vigorous outdoor setting that involves living in a tent for part of the time, We would also like to know, for interest, if you can speak any Spanish. The ability to speak Spanish is not required. Students not enrolled at Cornell also need to have a letter of reference sent to Prof. Kay from a professor in the earth sciences.
We will notify you of acceptance by March 1, 2011. Subsequently, you will receive information on officially registering for the class through the Cornell Summer School. You will receive an information packet about the end of May with equipment lists, etc and some material to be read before arriving in Argentina. As described in the class information, you need to make your own travel plans to and from Buenos Aires as the course officially begins and ends there. Cornell does not allow us to take responsibility for making international travel plans. There are a number of discount air-fares available WEB and through travel agencies.
Cost: Tuition cost in 2010-2011 is $1,055 per credit or $4220 for 4 credits. Tuition covers all course material, transportation and lodging in Argentina. Most meal costs are included. Students pay their own round-trip airfare from the US to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Discount air fares from the US are generally available for less than $1000.00. Course officially starts and ends in Buenos Aires.
Financial Aid: Regular Cornell students can apply for financial aid if they qualify for financial aid in the regular academic year – see Suzanne Kay in Snee 3140 for details.
Registration Procedure with Cornell:
After being accepted by Professor Kay, you need to register officially for EAS 4170 in the special program division of the Cornell Summer Session. EAS4170 is an official Cornell course and credit can be transferred to other colleges and universities. Forms and instructions for registration are in the Cornell summer brochure available through the Cornell Summer Session, B20 Day Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phone: 1-607-255-4987. FAX: 255-9697. E-mail: cusce@cornell.edu. Registration information is available online at http://www.sce.cornell.edu/sp/index.php.
Staff:
Cornell University
Prof. Suzanne Kay and graduate teaching assistant
University of Buenos Aires
Prof. Victor A. Ramos and graduate teaching assistant (s).
Dr. Daniel Perez
Prof. Graciela Vujovich
Air fare:
Cornell requires students to buy their own airline tickets. Traveling in groups of two or three is encouraged.
Equipment and Living Conditions:
Housing in Buenos Aires is at INGEIS, the geochemical institute at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Space is limited so some students will have to use sleeping bags. The facility is spartan, but is clean, includes a kitchen, and is well located relative to the UBA geology department and transportation to downtown Buenos Aires. A commercial bus will be rented for transportation to San Juan Province for the field exercises. Regular bus service will be used to return to Buenos Aires at the end of the course. In San Juan, we will camp out and cook for the first part of the course, and then move to rustic cabins for the second part. You will need a sleeping bag, a tent if you have one (we have some), and equipment for the weather conditions and field work. Also a good pair of boots, a day pack, a geological hammer, a GPS is desirable – not required, dishes.
Sanitary Conditions: Argentina is a first world country in terms of health and sanitation. No special precautions are needed against disease. The same common sense practices used in the US for drinking water and food will be followed.
Weather: July is winter in Argentina. The San Juan region has a climate like the Mojave around Las Vegas, Nevada. Daytime temperatures should range from a low in the forties to a high in the low seventies. Night temperatures could be near freezing some nights. Temperatures will be colder in the Main Cordillera the last few days. We will staying in cabins at this point. You will need an adequate sleeping bag and sensible field clothes. There will be no big snow falls or blizzards, it's not Ithaca, New York.
Documents: A valid passport is needed. No visas are required for US or Canadian citizens. Other international students are responsible for their own tourist visas.
Money: Transportation, lodging and most meals are included. When in Buenos Aires, in transit on the bus, or in San Juan, you will be eating out. Bring adequate money for a few days in restaurants and souvenirs, etc. Prices in San Juan are like Ithaca and cheaper. Prices in Buenos Aires are like or less than those in major cities (e.g., Boston, New York) in the US or cheaper. The unit of currency is the peso.
A REPORT FROM PRIOR FIELD CLASSES
THE ARGENTINE PRECORDILLERAN REGION:
A laboratory of Eastern and Western North American geology and tectonics
EASTERN NORTH AMERICAN AFFINITIES
- PRECAMBRIAN AND LOWER PALEOZOIC SECTION
The Precordillera and Pie de Palo Ranges and surrounding area have geologic characteristics suggesting that this region constitutes a terrane that rifted away from southeastern North America (Laurentia) in Late Precambrian-Cambrian times and collided with South America (Gondwana) in the Ordovician.
IN PARTICULAR:
- The PIE DE PALO RANGE is largely composed of high-grade Grenville-age Precambrian metamorphic rocks with affinities to those of Grenville basement in the Eastern US.
- The PRECORDILLERA RANGE has a Cambrian sequence identical to that of eastern North America. The Ordovician through Devonian sequences are lithologically and environmentally similar to those of the Appalachians and have been deformed in Ordovician and Devonian deformational events.
- Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic Precordillera sequences have a Gondwana-southern hemisphere flavor.
WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN AFFINITIES
- LARAMIDE STYLE TECTONICS
The Tertiary evolution of the Precordillera Range and surrounding region is dominated by a tectonic style related to a shallowly dipping subducting oceanic plate. The modern tectonic setting of this region of the Central Andes is the modern analogue for understanding the Laramide Ranges of the Rocky Mountains and Colorado-Wyoming fold-thrust belt.
IN PARTICULAR:
- The PIE DE PALO RANGE is a block-style uplift that is the analogue for the Big Horn, Laramide, Medicine Bow, Uinta, Rocky Mountain and other Ranges of the western US. The Pie de Palo Range has been uplifted in the last 2 to 3 Ma. This is a region of active tectonics. In addition, it house the world's best preserved Proterozoic ophiolite which apparently formed in a Lau Basin western Pacific arc/backarc basin complex.
- The PRECORDILLERA FOLD-THRUST belt is the analogue for the Colorado-Wyoming fold-thrust belt. The range is bordered by an impressive Tertiary foreland basin that is still actively forming.
- Volcanic rocks of Miocene age cut the Precordillera fold-thrust belt.
Textbook examples of geologic processes and features are numerous in the region; this is just a sampling of the incredible geology of the Precordillera Region.
