Victor A. Ramos
University of Buenos Aires
|
Primary Section: 15, Geology Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2010)
|
Research Interests
As a geologist, I have studied the tectonic evolution of the Andes, with emphasis in its present tectonic setting and in the evolution of its basement. The analyses of the Present tectonic kinematics of the Andes, as a natural laboratory to investigate the surface geological processes, have shown that these mountains have striking longitudinal geological variations controlled by the collision of aseismic and seismic oceanic ridges, as well as island arcs and oceanic plateaux. The understanding of these geological complexities allows me extrapolating these conditions through time, and this fact improves the comprehension of the processes that led to the formation of the Andes. Those mechanisms have been extrapolated to the Paleozoic times, and our Laboratorio de Tectonica Andina was the first to decipher the early history of amalgamation of the Andean basement through dockings and break-ups of microcontinental blocks. These processes have been identified along the Andean Chain, associated with different modes of subduction. We were able to recognize several geological processes associated with the shallowing and steepening of the oceanic slab being subducted beneath South America. The achieved knowledge was applied to ancient Precambrian orogens of the South American basement contributing to understand the evolution of the entire continent.
