Strategic plan


Contemporary paradigms of earth sciences show the complex relationship between external earth factors and processes (eg. life development, climate, weathering, erosion) as well as internal ones (eg. Magmatism, metamorphism, deformation). Despite scientific and technological efforts and advances, the comprehensive knowledge on the Earth system, as well as the understanding of how different processes and factors interact, is still very scarce. Current scientific challenges increasingly point to develop multidisciplinary study strategies that could further explain these interrelations. Moving forward in these areas will bring not only a solution to basic science questions but also an answer to the demands of society and the local or regional production environment.

In this regard, the combination of specialists from different disciplines is a positive as well as desirable aspect to address the understanding of the complex Earth system.

Consequently, CICTERRA is always working to join the skills of the different people in the institute, for a better understanding of both internal and external natural processes, which led to the current configuration of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as their most recent modifications associated with the Anthropocene. For this reason, CICTERRA encourages the synergy among the different fields developed here, with the aim of strengthening and promoting scientific and institutional capacities in order to generate good-quality end products and impact on the scientific community as well as provide good-quality technical and scientific tools for the socio-economic development of the region.

 

CICTERRA develops three main research areas that can be summarized in the following research lines:

Lithosphere-asthenosphere dynamics. Processes governing lithospheric mobility, both horizontally and vertically, including paleogeographic reconstructions, orogenic formation, continental crust formation and recycling, and topography generation (landform and basins). These lines involve understanding the simultaneous interaction of several processes from sedimentology, geomorphology, structural analysis, magmatism and metamorphism, among others.

Climate variability and geo-environmental processes. Low-temperature sedimentary and geochemical processes. Paleoenvironmental studies. Quaternary Geology. Water resources and climate change. Scientific contributions to environmental problems: Natural and anthropogenic processes. Geomicrobiology. Pollution. Geological risk. Remediation.

Biological diversity evolution. Fossil record as a tool to establish the temporal and evolutionary relations of organisms and to understand the causal links between environmental, climatic, geographic changes and biotic events.