HR: 09:30h
AN: ED41B-03    [Abstracts]
TI: International Field Research with Undergraduate Students: Investigating Active Tectonics of the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
AU: * Marshall, J S
EM: marshall@csupomona.edu
AF: Geological Sciences Department, Cal Poly Pomona University, 3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona, CA 91768 United States
AU: Gardner, T W
EM: tgardner@trinity.edu
AF: Department of Geosciences, Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212 United States
AU: Protti, M
EM: jprotti@una.ac.cr
AF: OVSICORI, Universidad Nacional, APDO 86, Heredia, 3000 Costa Rica
AB: Over the past eight years, 18 undergraduate students from 12 U.S. and Costa Rican universities and colleges have participated in field research projects investigating coastal tectonics on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. These projects have been organized around two different models: 1) a month-long "field camp" with 10 students and 5 project faculty (Keck Geology Consortium Project, 1998), and 2) several two-week field projects with 1-3 students and one faculty advisor (Cal Poly Pomona University and Trinity University). Under the direction of the authors, each of these projects has been carefully designed to provide a new piece to a larger research puzzle. The Nicoya Peninsula lies along Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast inboard of the Middle America Trench where the Cocos and Caribbean plates converge at 10 cm/yr. In 1950, the peninsula was shaken by a ~M 7.7 subduction earthquake that produced widespread damage and 0.5-1.0 m of coseismic coastal uplift. With a large slip deficit since 1950, the Nicoya Peninsula is viewed as a high-potential seismic gap. Field study of uplifted Quaternary marine terraces along the Nicoya coastline provides undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to examine rapid forearc deformation related to large subduction earthquakes. The field research conducted by each of these students provides the basis for a senior thesis at their home institution. In most cases, the students have focused their individual work on separate, but adjacent field areas. Collectively, each of these projects has generated significant data that contribute toward of an ongoing investigation of fore arc tectonics and subduction cycle earthquakes along the Costa Rican Pacific margin.
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 7200 SEISMOLOGY
DE: 8100 TECTONOPHYSICS
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005