IRES Track 1: Baja Basins International Research Experiences for Students in Mexico

University Of Missouri-Kansas City, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this Baja Basins International Research Experiences for Students (Baja Basins IRES) project is for undergraduate student participants to develop skills in conducting and communicating scientific research, to utilize an integrative field and lab research approach using digital technology and modern analytical lab equipment, and to learn international cooperation by collaborating side-by-side with Mexican students, professors, and mining professionals to address research questions on the tectonic evolution of economically important rift margin basins in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Each year of this three-year program, a cohort of ten undergraduate students will be hosted by Minera Boleo mine for four weeks in January in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Students will conduct geologic fieldwork in topical groups (basin analysis, volcanology, neotectonics, and mineralogy) that will be co-mentored by Mexican and U.S. faculty. Field samples will be sent for geochemical, petrographic, and geochronological analyses. Then in July of the same year, Baja Basins IRES students will reconvene for collaborative lab work and data analyses at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. This will culminate in preparation of student abstracts and poster displays for a local symposium. Clear educational outcomes and career goals will be measured by appropriate assessment strategies. We will recruit junior undergraduate geoscience majors both nationally and regionally near our home institutions, as this will facilitate the participation of under-represented minority, first-time college, and veteran students who often remain close to their hometown when pursuing higher education. Our collaboration with Mexican colleagues and mining professionals, and the international nature of the fieldwork will provide an unparalleled avenue for cultural enrichment for the students as well as an experience in global cooperation that will be invaluable for a student's future success in an increasingly global workforce and economy. The Baja Basins International Research Experiences for Students (Baja Basins IRES) project will provide ten undergraduate student a year with the opportunity to investigate basins located along the central Gulf of California rift in Baja California Sur Mexico, an area that has not been thoroughly mapped within the framework of tectonics and thus provides an excellent field location to study the progressive evolution of a rifted continental margin and its unique continued magmatic activity and economic mineralization. The young geologic age of the sedimentary basins, excellent exposures, and field access, as well as sedimentary fill with numerous tuffs and uplifted terraces dateable by radiometric and OSL methods, make it ideal for resolving the rates of development of structures and resulting depositional systems. This Baja Basins IRES program will provide students with an unprecedented opportunity to collaborate internationally with mentors from our partner universities in Mexico (Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur and Universidad de Guanajuato) and several mining companies. Students will develop field and laboratory skills in basin analysis and tectonics in a volcanic-sedimentary sequence that is geologically interesting, economically important, and culturally diverse. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.