Research interest and ongoing projects
1. Amalgamation and dispersal of Rodinia and formation of Gondwana, as exemplified by the Pan-African mobile belts of southern Africa,
Madagascar and Sri Lanka
Specific projects include:
- Zircon geochronology and tectonic evolution of high-grade rocks in the Mozambique belt of eastern and southern Tanzania (in cooperation with S. Muhongo,
Dar-es-Salaam).
- Zircon geochronology and tectonic evolution of high-grade terrains in Madagascar (in cooperation with B.F. Windley, Leicester, U.K., A. Collins,
Adelaide, Australia, T. Razakamanana, Toliara, Madagascar, and E. Hegner, Munich, Germany).
- Zircon geochronology and tectonic evolution of the Basement Complex in Sri Lanka (in cooperation with W. Kehelpannala, Institute of Fundamental
Studies, Kandy, B. Prame, Geological Survey Dept., Colombo, and E. Hegner, Munich)
- Evolution of the Zambezi belt in northern Zimbabwe (in cooperation with C.W. Passchier, Mainz, and P. Dirks, Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg,
South Africa).
- Timing of granitoid magmatism in the Damara and Kaoko belts of Namibia (in cooperation with C.W. Passchier, Mainz, and K.-H. Hofmann, Windhoek,
Namibia).
2. Lithospheric evolution of Eastern Gondwana from Interdisciplinary Deep Surveys (LEGENDS)
This is an international initiative, included in the International Lithosphere Program (ILP). It is concerned with the crustal structure of the various
crustal fragments that once made up the eastern part of Gondwana (East Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, southern India, East Antarctica, Western
Australia). A north-south seismic survey is planned across southern India and Sri Lanka in 2004 and 2005, and workshops were held in India in
2003 and 2004. Symposia were organized at the joint EUG-EGS-AGU meeting in Nice in 2003 and at the first meeting of the Asia-Oceania Geoscience
Society (AOGS) in Singapore in 2004. Work by international groups from the US, Germany, Australia and Japan in cooperation with scientists
from India and Sri Lanka is now in progress.
3. Earth Accretionary Systems in Space and Time (ERAS)
This is an international multidisciplinary initiative, submitted to the International Lithosphere Program (ILP) by P.A. Cawood (Perth) and A. Kröner
(Mainz). It is specifically concerned with the recognition and evolution of pre-Mesozoic accretionary orogens and comparison with ongoing accretion
in the West Pacific, Alaska and the Caribbean, because the processes responsible for cratonization and incorporation of accretionary orogens
into continental nuclei and the mechanisms of formation of ancient accretionary orogens are poorly understood.
International workshops and conference sessions have so far been held at Geoscience Australia in Adelaide in 2003, a field workshop in Taiwan
in May 2004, and the first meeting of the Asia-Oceania Geoscience Society (AOGS) in Singapore in 2004. A special session will be held at the
GSA Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City in 2005.
4. Archaean crustal evolution
Specific projects include:
- Timing of granitoid magmatism and high-grade metamorphism in the Limpopo belt of southern Africa (in cooperation with G. Brandl, Council of
Geoscience, Pietersburg, South Africa, and T. Blenkinsop, University of Queensland, Townsville, Australia).
- Timing of felsic magmatism and tectonics of the southwestern Barberton belt, South Africa (in cooperation with M. van Kranendonk,
Geological Survey of Western Australia, Perth, Australia).
- Timing of granitoid magmatism and greenstone belt formation in the northeastern Kaapvaal craton, South Africa (in cooperation with G. Brandl, Council
for Geoscience, Pietersburg, South Africa).
- Evolution of the late Archaean granulite belts of northern China (in cooperation with P.J. O'Brien, Potsdam University, C.W. Passchier, Mainz, S.W.
Liu, Peking University, Beijing, G.C. Zhao and M. Sun, Hong Kong University and S. Wilde, Curtin University, Perth, Australia).
5. Evolution of the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic Epupa Complex of northwestern Namibia
This is an ongoing collaboration with the Geological Survey of Namibia and investigates granitoid gneisses and migmatites of the predominantly
Palaeoproterozoic Epupa Complex and structural overprinting during the formation of the Pan-African Kaoko belt. This is a contribution to a new
IGCP-Project on Palaeoproterotoic crustal evolution.
6. Tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt
Also part of ERAS (see above) and a contribution to IGCP-Project 480. This project aims at reconstructing the accretionary
history of one of the largest
orogenic belts in the world and involves fieldwork in Mongolia, southern Siberia, Kazakhstan and China. Specific projects
include:
- Ophiolites, arc terrains and microcontinents in Tuva and southern Siberia (in cooperation with J. Pfänder, Freiberg; W. Todt, Max-Planck-Institut für
Chemie, Mainz; A. Kotov, I. Kosakov, V. Kovach and E.B. Salnikova, Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology, Russian Academy of Sciences,
St. Petersburg, Russia; E. Khain and V. Kuzmichev, Institute of Geology, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; E. Sklyarov and D. Gladkochub,
Institute of the Earth´s Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia; V.I. Lebedev, Tuvinian Institute for the Exploration of Natural
Resources, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kyzyl, Tuva Autonomous Republic, Russia).
- Terrane accretion and tectonic evolution of Mongolia and northern China (in cooperation with B.F. Windley, University of Leicester, U.K., G. Badarch
and O. Tomurtogoo, Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulanbaatar, Mongolia; E. Hegner and J. Tait, University
of Munich, Germany; Liu Dunyi, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China; C. Buchan, Curtin University of Technology, Perth,
Australia, M.T.D. Wingate, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia).
7. Tectonic evolution of central and eastern Cuba
Also part of ERAS, see above. This project in cooperation with Y. Rojas-Agramonte (Havana, currently Mainz University), J. Tait (Munich) M. Itturalde-Vinent
(Havana) and scientists of the
University of Moa tries to identify terranes in central and eastern Cuba and reconstruct their histories through structural work and zircon dating.
8. Micro-geochronological investigation of the timing of high-grade metamorphism (jointly with A. Möller and P.J. O'Brien, Potsdam University, Germany)
Emphasis is on:
U-Pb isotopic systematics in UHT granulites from Enderby Land, Antarctica (in cooperation with S. Harley, Edinburgh
University, U.K.), UHT
granulites from Namaqualand,
South Africa (in cooperation with D. Waters, Oxford University, U.K.), and UHT granulites from southern Norway (in
cooperation with B. Bingen, Trondheim,
Norway, and J. Schumacher, Bristol, U.K.).
9. Variscan and pre-Variscan events in east-central Europe
Specific projects include
- Timing of magmatic and metamorphic events in the Erzgebirge (in cooperation with A. Willner, Bochum, E. Hegner, Munich, B. Ingram, Potsdam and
O. Krentz, Freiberg).
- Evolution of the Czech and Polish Sudetes (in cooperation with K. Schulmann and P. ·tipska, Strasbourg University, France, S. Masur, Wroclav University,
Poland, E. Hegner, University of Munich, M. Opletal, Czech Geological Survey, Prague).
- Timing of formation of HP-HT granulites in southern Bohemia (in cooperation with P.J. O'Brien, Potsdam University).