REU Site: Digital Mapping and Strain Analysis of Deformed Veins and Intrusions

University Of Southern Maine, Portland ME

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT The PI's work with 9 undergraduates/year using precision digital mapping instruments developing a series of high-resolution analytical base maps of crystal deformation processes visible in coastal Maine outcrops. This 5-year summer research program of digital mapping and strain analysis will build on the results of our previous 2-year RUE-site effort. Detailed mapping of deformed veins and intrusions in coastal exposures have helped to document the pattern of regional strain accommodation associated with strike-slip shearing on the Nuremberg Fault Zone. Geometries of deformed quartz veins and granite intrusions are mapped into a geographic information system (GIS) using global positioning systems (GPS) and electronic total stations in an integrated system of precision digital mapping. Each project year will include a 6-week summer research session that includes initial training (1 wk), field survey/computer lab work (4 wks) and final analysis (1 wk). In initial training the students will learn to recognize key structural features and kinematic indicators, and to use digital and traditional survey techniques during a four-day sea kayak trip across Casco Bay. In the field component students will use digital survey instruments (GPS & total station) to map the geometry of syntectonic intrusions and veins, and collect GPS positioned structural data at targeted sites in mid-coast Maine. Travel to selected island sites and reconnaissance exploration of adjoining shoreline exposures will also be by sea kayak. During the analysis phase in the GIS lab students will finalize GIS coverage's and layouts from their survey data, compile other field observations, prepare structural and topographic outcrop maps, plot structural orientation on data in stereo nets, use georeferenced digital images, and generate digital terrain models for the mapped exposures. Each year 3-student teams will develop a trio of abstracts and posters for submission to the annual spring meeting of the Northeast Section of the Geological Society of America (NEGSA).