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My Research
My research interests include thermochronology and plate tectonics, and projects within the thermochronology group have focussed on the thermal histories of active margins over time periods of 500 - 5 Ma. Many geological processes alter the temperatures of minerals, and quantification of that temperature change can assist in understanding the nature of the governing mechanics behind the processes. The problems we have been addressing in Geneva include i) how do continental plates respond to collisions with intra-oceanic arcs and plateaus, and passive volcanic ridges?, ii) how frequently do active margins switch from compressive to extensional settings, and how is continental crust manufactured?, and iii) can we use thermochronological techniques to accurately reconstruct the exhumation histories of active margins over long time scales (e.g. 500 million years, and more)? Since 2012, we have focussed our research on U-Pb thermochronology, which has the potential to recover continuous thermal histories of accessory mineral phases such as apatite, titanite and rutile at temperatures between approximately 650 - 350 degrees celcius, and therefore perhaps probe further back in time. A new PhD student, Andre Paul, will start in August 2013, and his studies will focus on reconstructing the thermal histories of accessory phases from leucosomes dispersed throughout the northern Andes, and testing the accuracy of those histories by comparing single crystal (TIMS) and in-situ (MC-LA-ICP-MS) dates. The northern Andes have been used as a natural laboratory because they are a superb example of a long-lived active margin, which has experienced arc volcanism, terrane collision and dispersed periods of compression and extension.
currently active projects
Advancing U-Pb high temperature thermochronology by combining single grain and intra-grain dating
PhD and msc students
Present
Andre Navin Paul, August 2013 - ongoing. Advancing U-Pb high temperature thermochronology by combining single grain and intra-grain dating. PhD thesis, University of Geneva.
Past
Ryan Cochrane, August 2009 - June 2013. Thermochronology and tectonics of the Northern Andes (Colombia and Ecuador). PhD Thesis, University of Geneva.
Roelant Van der Lelij, August 2008 – July 2013. Thermochronology and Tectonics of the circum-Maracaibo region,and experimental analysis of multi-domain diffusion thermochronology. PhD Thesis, University of Geneva.
Mariel Reitsma, November 2007 – 2011. The life and death of a continental rift: the Mitu Rift of southeastern Peru. PhD Thesis, University of Geneva.
Flora Boekhout, September 2007 – 2011. Geochronological and geochemical characterisation of Triassic-Volcanic volcanic rocks in the Arequipa Block, Peru. PhD Thesis, University of Geneva.
Roelant Van der Lelij, August 2006 – April 2008. Thermochronology of the South Caribbean Plate Boundary Zone: Dutch Antilles and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Supervisor: Dr. Richard Spikings. MSc Thesis, University of Geneva.
Jenny Skoog, August 2005 – August 2007. Thermochronology of the East Arfican Rift system in northern Tanzania. MSc Thesis, University of Geneva and Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland).
Diego Villagomez, April 2005 – 2010. Accretionary and post-accretionary cooling, exhumation and tectonic history of the central and western Andes of Colombia. PhD Thesis, University of Geneva.
Cristian Vallejo, March 2003 – January 2007. Accretionary and post-accretionary history of the Cordillera Occidental, Ecuador. PhD Thesis, ETH- Zürich.
Leonard Luzieux, March 2003 – December 2006. A geodynamic reconstruction of oceanic, allochthonous, western Ecuador. PhD Thesis, ETH- Zürich.
MY PUBLICATIONS
Submitted
Cochrane, R.S., Spikings, R.A., Gerdes, A., Winkler, W., Ulianov, A, Mora, A., Chiaradia, M., submitted. Distinguishing between in-situ and accretionary growth of continents along active margins. Lithos
Cochrane, R.S., Spikings, R.A., Gerdes, A., Ulianov, A, Mora, A., Villagomez, D., Putlitz, B., Chiaradia, M., submitted. 60 million years of continental fragmentation: Permo-Triassic anatexis, continental addition and ophiolite formation in NW Gondwana. Geological Society of America Bulletin
Cochrane, R.S., Spikings, R.A., Chew, D., Wotzlaw, J., Chiaradia, M., Tyrrell, S., Schaltegger, U., Van Der Lelij, R., submitted. High temperature (> 350°C) thermochronology and mechanisms of Pb loss in apatite. Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta
Spikings, R., submitted. Exhumation of continental crust due to the collision, accretion and subduction of buoyant and anomalously thick oceanic indentors. Tectonophysics
In Press
Chiaradia, M., Schaltegger, U., Spikings, R., Wotzlaw, J.-F., Ovtcharova, M., in press. How accurately can we date the duration of magmatic-hydrothermal events in porphyry systems? Economic Geology.
Published
Villagomez, D., Spikings, R., 2013. Thermochronology and Tectonics of the Western and Central Cordilleras of Colombia. Lithos 160-161, 228-249.
Boekhout, F., Spikings, R., Sempere, T., Chiaradia, M., Ulianov, A., Schaltegger, U., 2012. Mesozoic arc magmatism along the southern Peruvian margin during Gondwana breakup and dispersal. Lithos 146-147, 48-64.
Dissertori, G., Luckey, D., Nessi-Tedaldi, F., Pauss, F., Wallny, R., Spikings, R., van der Lelij, R., and Izquierdo, G. A., 2012. A visulaization of the damage in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals after exposure to high-energy hadrons. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A, 685, 57–62.
Weisenberger T., Rahn M., van der Lelij, R., Spikings, R., Bucher, K., 2012 (in press). Timing of low-temperature mineral formation during exhumation and cooling in the Central Alps, Switzerland (Central Alps, Switzerland). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 327-328, 1-8.
Villagomez, D., Spikings, R., Mora, A., Cardona, A., Guzman, G., Van der Lelij, R., Parra, M., 2011. Low temperature thermochronology of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia: vertical tectonics at a continental crust-oceanic plateau, plate boundary zone. Tectonics.
Villagomez, D., Spikings, R., Magna, T., Kammer, A., Winkler, W., Beltran, A., 2011. Geochronology, geochemistry and tectonic evolution of the Western and Central cordilleras of Colombia. Lithos 125, 875 – 896.
Marton, I., Moritz, R., Spikings, R., 2010. Application of low-temperature thermochronology to hydrothermal ore deposits: formation, preservation and exhumation of epithermal gold systems from the Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria. Tectonophysics 483, 240 - 254.
Bonev, N., Spikings, R., Moritz, R., Marchev, R., 2010. Evidence from the Kulidjik nappe for an early Alpine thrust tectonics in the Rhodope Massif, Bulgaria. Tectonophysics 488, 256 - 281.
Van der Lelij, R., Spikings, R.A., Kerr, A., Kounov, A., Cosca, M., Chew, D., Villagomez, D., 2010. Thermochronology and Tectonics of the Leeward Antilles: evolution of the Southern Caribbean Plate Boundary Zone. Tectonics doi:10.1029/2009TC002654.
Spikings, R., Crowhurst, P.V., Winkler, W., Villagomez, D., 2010. Syn- and post accretionary cooling history of the Ecuadorian Andes constrained by their in-situ and detrital thermochronometric record. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 30, 121 - 133.
Vallejo, C., Winkler, W., Spikings, R.A., Luzieux, L., Heller, F., Bussy, F., 2009. Mode and timing of terrane accretion in the forearc of the Andes in Ecuador Backbone of the Americas: Shallow Subduction, Plateau Uplift, and Ridge and Terrane Collision , Eds. Suzanne M. Kay, Víctor A. Ramos, William R. Dickinson, Geological Society of America Special Memoir 204, 197 – 216.
Miskovic, A, Spikings, R. A., Chew, D.M., Kosler, J., Schaltegger, U., 2009. Tectono-magmatic evolution of Western Amazonia: geochemical characterisation and zircon U-Pb geochronologic constraints from the Peruvian Eastern Cordilleran granitoids. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, 1298 - 1324.
Baumgartner, R., Fontbote, L., Spikings, R., Ovtcharova, M., Schaltegger, U., Schneider, J., Gutjahr, M., Page, L., 2009. Submitted. Bracketing the age of magmatic-hydrothermal activity at the Cerro de Pasco polymetallic deposit, Central Peru: A U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar study. Economic Geology 104, 479 - 504.
Chiaradia, M., Merino, D., Spikings, R., 2009. Rapid transition to adakite-like magmatism, long-lived deep crustal magmatic maturation and the formation of giant porphyry-type mineralization (Yanacocha, Peru). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 288, 505 - 515.
Spikings, R., Dungan, M., Foeken, J., Carter, A., Page, L., Stuart, F., 2008. Tectonic response of the central Chilean margin (35°-38°S) to the collision and subduction of heterogeneous oceanic crust: a thermochronological study. Journal of the Geological Society 165, 941 - 953.
Bendezú, R., Page, L., Spikings, R., Pecksay, Z., Fontboté, L., 2008. Infra-red (CO2) laser 40Ar/39Ar analysis of alunites from the Miocene Colquijirca District, central Peru. Mineralium Deposita DOI 10.1007/s00126-008-0195-1.
Chew, M.D., Magna, T., Kirkland, C.L., Mišković, A., Cardona, A., Spikings, R.A., Schaltegger, U., 2008. Detrital zircon fingerprint of the Proto-Andes: evidence for a Neoproterozoic active margin? Precambrian Research 167, 186 - 200.
Chew D.M., Schaltegger U., Kosler J., Whitehouse M.J., Gutjahr M., Spikings R.A., Miskovic A., 2007. U-Pb evidence for the evolution of the Gondwanan margin of the north-central Andes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 119, 697 - 711.
Marshik, R., Spikings, R., Kusku, I., 2007. Geochronology and stable isotope signature of alteration related to hydrothermal iron oxide ores in Central Anatolia. Mineralium Deposita, DOI: 10.1007/s00126-007-0160-4.
Spikings, R.A., Kohn, B.P. and Foster, D.A., 2006. A regional scale low temperature (<110˚C) thermal history study of the Mt. Isa and Murphy Inliers, NE Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 53, 151 - 166.
Vallejo, C., Spikings, R., Luzieux, L., Winkler, W., Chew, D., Page, L., 2006. The Early Interaction between the Caribbean Plateau and the NW South American Plate. Terra Nova 18, 264 - 269.
Luzieux, L.D.A., Heller, F., Spikings, R., Vallejo, C.F., Winkler, W., 2006. Origin and cretaceous tectonic history of the coastal Ecuadorian forearc between 1°N and 3°S: Paleomagnetic, Radiometric and Fossil evidence. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 249, 400 - 414.
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Hughes, R.A., Handler, R., 2005. Thermochronology of the Cordillera Occidental and the Amotape Complex, Ecuador: unravelling the accretionary and post-accretionary history of the Northern Andes. Tectonophysics 399, 195 – 220.
Winkler, W., Villagomez, D., Spikings, R., Eguez, A., Tobler. S. and Abegglen, P., 2005. The Chota Basin and its significance for the formation of the Inter-Andean Depression in Ecuador. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 19, 5 – 19.
Spikings, R. and Crowhurst, P., 2004. (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 17, 239 – 251.
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. Tectonophysics3 49, 327 – 365.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Beate, B., Monzier, M., Spikings, R., Cotton, J., Silva, J., Erwan, B. and Eissen, J-P., 2001. Mio-Pliocene adakite generation related to flat subduction in Southern Ecuador: The Quimsacocha volcanic center. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 192, 499 – 508.
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.
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.