Albert Eduardo Monterroza Rios (Colombia)

Email: aemonter　@gmail.com

Thesis title:  Petrology, geochemistry and isotope geology of the Segovia Batholith and associated plutonic bodies, Colombia.

Supervisor:  Assoc. Prof. Atsushi Kamei (2006-2008).

Plutonic rocks crop out extensively in the northern mountain ranges of the Andes, but very few data are available to understand their evolution and formation processes. The plutonic rocks in my study area are divided into three bodies known as the Segovia batholith, the Antioquia batholith (la Culebra Stock), and the Santa Isabel stock. These three plutonic bodies have differing petrographic features and timing of intrusion. However, geochemical aspects of their petrogenesis and isotopic age determinations for the plutonic bodies are not yet clear.

One of the most important bodies in the Segovia batholith has a reported K-Ar age of 165 Ma (Feininger et al 1972). More recent fieldwork data suggests that this age is not appropriate, and the batholith may in fact be post-Cretaceous in age. Moreover, this area is an important gold mining district in the Andes. The area contains the biggest gold deposit in Colombia, which is characterized mainly by vein-type mineralization. The mineralization may be genetically linked to the plutonism.

My study is aimed at the petrogenesis and intrusive ages of the plutonic rocks, based on geology, petrography, geochemistry, and isotope geochemistry. The genetic links between their plutonism and the gold mineralization will also be investigated using geochemistry.