Contact
| Postal Address
|
Department of Mineralogy
University of Geneva 13 Rue des Maraîchers 1211 Geneva 4 Switzerland Office : Room 707
|
| email: | spikings@terre.unige.ch |
| Tel.: | Office:
+41 22 379 6826
Ar/Ar lab.: +41 22 379 6639 |
| Fax: | +41 22 379 3210 |
Education
| 1989-1993 | St.
Andrews University, Scotland. BSc. (Hons. 1st class) Geochemistry.
Dissertation "REE in carbonatite complexes, Namibia, an ICP-MS study" supervisor, Prof. P. Bowden |
| 1995-1998 | Postgraduate research, La Trobe University, Australia |
| 1998 | Ph.D. "Thermochronology and Tectonics of the Mount Isa, Murphy and Georgetown Inliers, Northeastern Australia" supervisors, Dr. David Foster, Dr. Barry Kohn |
Professional academic experience
| 1998 - 2001 | Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Geology, ETH-Zürich, Switzerland |
| 1999 | Contract geochronologist for the British Geological Survey |
| 2001 - 2002 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Assistant Professor), Institute of Earth Sciences, Universität Potsdam, Germany |
| 2002 - | Research Fellow, University of Geneva |
My main research interests are the application of thermochronological methods to a wide range of geological problems and the development of methods and techniques to improve the precision of thermochronological data acquisition.
Precambrian shield areas provide a window into early tectonic processes and also host a majority of the worlds largest base and precious metal deposits. However, regional unconformities, usually spanning more than 1Ga lie above many Precambrian Inliers and effectively mask a significant proportion of their post-orogenic evolution. Thermochronological methods (e.g. 40Ar/39Ar analysis, fission-track analysis and U/Th-He analysis) provide a means to quantify the timing, magnitude and duration of thermal events at an intra- and inter-terrane scale, which can be used to define the geological processes responsible. The post-orogenic record of Palaeo- Mesoproterozoic cratonic regions of Australia has shown that their thermal response (either via in-situ heating, heating as a result of sedimentary and tectonic burial or cooling via sedimentary or tectonic exhumation) to distally focused tectonism has provided information that can contribute to our reconstructions of the assembly and break-up of supercontinents such as Rodinia and Gondwana.
The Andes are an excellent region to study the interaction between heterogeneous oceanic crust and continental crust. The age, composition and strength of the subducted Nazca Plate varies from north to south. How does this variation affect the growth of the Andean mountain chain and the associated hydrocarbon hosting foreland basins? Has the Andean mountain chain developed continuously or during distinct phases? These questions are particularly applicable in the northern Andean Segment (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela) as the interactions between the influence of the Caribbean Plate and the flat and steep subducting segments of the Nazca Plate interfere to create a complex tectonic environent. Thermochronological data from the Andes, intermontane basins and foreland basin of Ecuador has been able to constrain particular periods of surface uplift, rock uplift and exhumation. This information has in turn been used to interpret tectonic phases and provide a reliable space-time link between orogenesis and ocean-continent interaction.
The apatite fission-track method uniquely provides thermal history information over the temperature range of approximately 110 - 60°C and has been used extensively in the past 20 years to constrain the thermal and exhumation histories of rocks in the upper crust. However, many important questions remain regarding the method and interpretation of the data. Do laboratory track-revelation (chemical etching) conditions vary with age and composition? How do track annealing kinetics vary with composition and age? Do we really need to go through the laborious process of neutron irradiation to determine the uranium content of particular regions of the crystals? How can we increase the precision of fission-track ages? A collaborative investigation is currently underway, which aims to address some of these questions.
Current or recent projects and interests
Several projects are currently active, which are collectively providing
information regarding the pre-accretionary, accretionary and orogenic history
of the Northern Andean Segment and its relationship with the Caribbean
province. These projects are:
- A paleomagnetic, geochronological (U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar),
sedimentological
and stratigraphic study of the Costa and Cordillera Occidental in Ecuador
(in collaboration with Dr. Wilfried Winkler, Dr. Peter Hochuli, Dr. Friedrich
Heller (all ETH-Zürich) and
Dr. Richard Hughes, BGS, Nottingham).
Click here to see a gallery of photographs from
Ecuador.
- An investigation into the origin of the Interandean Depression, Ecuador. This project includes: i) U/Th-He analysis of apatite from the Ecuadorian Cordilleras with Dr. Peter Crowhurst, CSIRO, Sydney. Our aim is to understand the response of the bounding cordilleras to the formation of an intermontane, ramp basin, ii) The production of a high resolution, 40Ar/39Ar based chronostratigraphy for sedimentary basins within the Interandean Depression. This work is in collaboration with Prof. George Gorin and Ing. Diego Villagomez (University of Geneva).
- Fission-track analysis and U/Pb geochronology of mafic rocks exposed along the western boundary of the Cordillera Real, Ecuador (the so-called "Peltetec Suture"; in collaboration with Dr. Arturo Eguez and Pedro Reyes, EPN-Quito).
Geochronology, thermochronology and geochemistry of granitoids in the cordillera of central Chile (in collaboration with Prof. Mike Dungan and Daniel Selles, University of Geneva).
Quantification of the post-orogenic tectonic and exhumational processes that occur within cratonic interiors; landscape evolution and supercontinent connections. See also the WWW pages for the Mt. Isa Tectonic Synthesis group and the Thermochronology of Australian Basement Terranes.
Geochronology of economic metalliferous volcanic bodies in southern Ecuador and Peru (in collaboration with Prof. Bernado Beate, Escuela Politecnica National, Quito).
Calibration of laboratory fission track revelation using chemical etching (in collaboration with Dr. Diane Seward, ETH-Zürich).
Editorships
October 1999 - October 2000: Editor
of OnTrack, the newsletter for the international fission-track
community.
The next editor is Prof.
Rod Brown, contact him for access to various electronic issues or see
the www site:
http://w
ww.geo.uni-potsdam.de/Labore/Spaltspurlabor/ontrack.html.
1996
Foster, D.A., Lister, G.S. and Spikings, R.A., 1996. 40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology and Post-Orogenic Events in the Mount Isa Inlier. Northern Australia. Australian Crustal Research Centre, Technical Publication, 46, 37 - 38.
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A., Kohn, B.P. and Gleadow, AJ.W., 1996, Phanerozoic tectonic and denudation history of the Mount Isa Inlier. Northern Australia. Australian Crustal Research Centre, Technical Publication, 46, p. 39 - 43.
1997
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A. and Kohn, B.P., 1997. Phanerozoic denudation history of the Mount Isa Inlier, Northern Australia: a record of the response of a Proterozoic mobile belt to intraplate tectonics. International Geological Reviews, 39, 107 - 124. (abstract)
1999
Aspden, J.A., McCourt, W.J. and Spikings, R.A., 1999. Nuevas determinaciones radiometricas de la edad del Grupo Saraguro. Politecnica, 18.
2000
Spikings, R.A., Seward, D., Winkler, W. and Ruiz, G. 2000. Low temperature thermochronology of the northern Cordillera Real, Ecuador: tectonic insights from zircon and apatite fission track analysis. Tectonics, 19, 649 - 668. (abstract)
2001
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A., Kohn, B.P. and O´Sullivan, P.B., 2001. The Late Neoproterozoic to Recent thermal history of the Precambrian Georgetown Inlier, northeast Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 48, 9 - 24. (abstract)
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W, Seward, D. and Handler, R., 2001. Along strike variations in the thermal and tectonic response of the continental Ecuadorian Andes to the collision with heterogeneous oceanic crust. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 186, 57 - 73. (full article)
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A., Kohn, B.P. and Lister, G.S., 2001. Post-orogenic thermal history of the Mesoproterozoic Eastern Successions, Mount Isa Inlier, Australia. Precambrian Research 109, 103 - 144. (full article)
Beate, B., Monzier, M., Spikings, R., Cotton, J., Silva, J., Bourdon, E. and Eissen, J-P., 2001. Mio-Pliocene adakite generation related to flat subduction: Quimsacocha volcanic center (Southern Ecuador). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 192, 561 - 570. (full article)
2002
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A., Kohn, B.P. and Lister, G.S., 2002. Post-orogenic (<1500 Ma) thermal and tectonic reactivation history of some Palaeo- Mesoproterozoic provinces in NE Australia. Tectonophysics 349, 327 - 365. (full article)
In Press
Winkler, W., Villagomez, D., Spikings, R., Eguez, A., Tobler. S. and Abegglen, P. The Chota Basin and its significance for the formation of the Inter-Andean Depression in Ecuador. Journal of South American Earth Sciences (2004).
Spikings, R.A., Kohn, B.P. and Foster, D.A., A regional scale low temperature (<110°C) thermal history study of the Mt. Isa and Murphy Inliers, NE Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences (2004).
Spikings, R. and Crowhurst, P. (U-Th)/He thermochronometric constraints on the Late Miocene ? Pliocene tectonic development of the northern Cordillera Real and the Interandean Depression, Ecuador. Journal of South American Earth Sciences (2004).
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Hughes, R.A., Handler, R. and Seward, D. Thermochronology of the Cordillera Occidental and the Amotape Complex, Ecuador: unravelling the accretionary and post-accretionary history of the Northern Andes. Tectonophysics (2004).
Spikings, R.A., Foster, D.A. and Kohn, B.P., The post-Isan Orogeny thermal history of the Mount Isa Inlier: a summary of Ar-Ar results. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences (submitted).
Selected Abstracts
(2000 onwards)
2000
Spikings, R.A., Kohn, B.P. and Foster, D.A., 2000. 40Ar/39Ar and apatite fission-track thermochronology of Palaeoproterozoic cratons in NE Australia. In W.P. Noble, P.B. OíSullivan and R.W. Brown eds. 9th International Conference on Fission Track Dating and Thermochronology, Lorne. Geological Society of Australia Abstracts No. 58, 297 ? 299.
Spikings, R.A., Seward, D. and Winkler, W., 2000. Post-Palaeocene tectonic history of the Northern Cordillera Real, Ecuador: tectonic insights from zircon and apatite fission-track analysis. In W.P. Noble, P.B. OíSullivan and R.W. Brown eds. 9th International Conference on Fission Track Dating and Thermochronology, Lorne. Geological Society of Australia Abstracts No. 58, 301 - 303.
2001
Ruiz, G., Seward, D., Winkler, W., Spikings, R., Poda, O., 2001. Apatite and Zircon Fission Track Analysis of the Ecuadorian Sub-Andean Zone: A Record of the Cretaceous and Tertiary Andean Geodynamics. 8-12.3.2001, EUG 11, Strasbourg, France, Journal of Conference Abstracts, 6, 712
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Seward, D., Handler, M. and Ruiz, G., 2001. Variations in the cooling and denudation history of the continental Ecuadorian Andes to collision with oceanic crust: evidence from 40Ar/39Ar and fission-track thermochronology. 8-12.3.2001, EUG 11, Strasbourg, France, Journal of Conference Abstracts, 6, 712
Vallejo, C, Ruiz, G., Hochuli, P.A., Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., 2001. Basin settings and depositional environment of the Napo Group (Subandean Zone and Oriente Basin, Ecuador). 8-12.3.2001, EUG 11, Strasbourg, France, Journal of Conference Abstracts,6, 251
Spikings, R.A., 2001. Cenozoic evolution of the Ecuadorian Eastern Cordillera: a thermochronological approach. DMG, 9.14.9.2001, Potsdam, European Journal of Mineralogy 13, 178.
2002
Spikings, R.A., Seward, D. and Winkler, W., 2002. The timing and geographical extent of accretion of oceanic crust in Ecuador; a combined 40Ar/39Ar and fission-track approach. In ìFission-track analysis: theory and applicationsî Eds (Luis Barbero and Ferrán Colombo), GEOTEMAS 4, p. 147.
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Seward, D., Ruiz, G. and Handler, R., 2002. Terrane accretion and orogenic growth in Ecuador. ISAG 2002, Tolouse, p. 617.
Winkler, W., Spikings, R., Villagomez, D., Eguez, A., Abegglen, P. and Tobler, S., 2002. The Chota Basin and its significance for the formation of the Inter-andean valley in Ecuador. ISAG 2002, Tolouse, p. 705.
Ruiz, G., Seward, D.,Winkler, W. and Spikings, R.A., 2002. Detrital provenance and Exhumation in the Ecuadorian Sub-Andean Zone: a key region leading to the understanding of Andean Geodynamics. ISAG 2002, Tolouse, p. 565.
Villagomez, D., Eguez, A., Winkler, W. and Spikings, R., 2002. Plio-Quaternary sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the central Inter-andean Valley in Ecuador. ISAG 2002, Tolouse, p. 689.
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Seward, D., Handler, R. and Ruiz, G., 2002. The thermal and tectonic response of the Ecuadorian continental margin to the accretion and subduction of heterogeneous oceanic crust. VIII Congesso Ecuatoriano, Quayaquil, Ecuador. (Key note presentation)
2003
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Seward, D., Hughes, R., Handler, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2003. The relationship between orogenesis, terrane accretion and the subduction of oceanic ridges in the Ecuadorian Andes. EGS-AGU-EUG Joint Assembly, Nice, 6th ? 11th April.
Crowhurst, P.V. and Spikings, R.A., 2003. Late Miocene - Recent tectonic development of the northern Cordillera Real, Ecuador: new insights using U-Th-He thermochronology. SGTSG Kalbarri, Australia, September.
Luzieux, L., Vallejo, C., Winkler, W., Heller, F., Spikings, R. and Hochuli, P., 2003. Origin and accretionary history of oceanic terranes along the Ecuadorian margin between 2°S-1°N: Preliminary results. Swiss Geosciences Meeting, Basel.
Winkler, W., Villagómez, D., Spikings, R., Tobler, S., Abegglen, P. and Egüez, A., 2003. The Inter-Andean Depression in Ecuador, revisited. Swiss Geosciences Meeting, Basel.
Spikings, R., Winkler, W., Hughes, R., Handler, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2003. Orogenesis, terrane accretion and the subduction of oceanic ridges in the Ecuadorian Andes: a 40Ar/39Ar, fission-track and (U-Th)/He study. Swiss Geosciences Meeting, Basel.
Dungan, M.A., Davidson, J.P., Frey, F.A., Hildreth, W., Lopez-Escobar, L., Spikings, R., Selles, D. and Rodriguez, C., 2003. Do along-strikegeochemical patterns in the Quaternary Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes (SVZ: 33° - 41°S) record major discontinuities in the Andean crust? Terrane processes at the Pacific margin of Gondwana (TAPMOG) meeting.
2004
Spikings, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2004. A comparison of thermal histories derived from apatite fission track analysis and apatite (U-Th)/He analysis: an example from the Cordillera Real, Ecuador. EGU Assembly, Nice, 25th 30th April.
Page, L., Spikings, R. Bendezú and Fontboté, L., 2004. Step-wise infra-red (CO2) laser ablation 40Ar/39Ar analysis of hydrothermal alunites: an example from Colquijirca district, central Peru. EGU Assembly, Nice, 25th 30th April.
Spikings, R., Winkler, W., Hughes, R., Handler, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2004. 40Ar/39Ar, fission-track and (U-Th)/He data from the northern Andes: interactions between the Pacific, Caribbean and South American plates. 10th International Conference on Fission Track Dating and Thermochronology, Amsterdam.
Spikings, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2004. Complimentary thermal histories derived from fission track and (U-Th)/He analyses of apatites: an example from the Cordillera Real, Ecuador. 10th International Conference on Fission Track Dating and Thermochronology, Amsterdam.
Bendezú, R. Baumgartner, R., Fontboté, L. Page, L., Pecskay , Z and Spikings, R., 2004. ~2 My of pulsed high sulfidation hydrothermal activity in the Cerro de Pasco-Colquijirca "super district", Peru. Combining furnace and infra-red laser 40Ar/39Ar, and K/Ar analysis on alunite. Society of Economic Geologists, Perth, Australia, September 2004.
Luzieux, L., Vallejo, C., Winkler, W., Heller, F., Spikings,
R. and Hochuli, P., 2004. A palaeomagnetic investigation of allochthonous
blocks in the Ecuadorian forearc between 1°N-3°S.