MAP NEWS |
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Activity Reports Highlights from Executive Council Meeting Minutes The 9th meeting of the MAP Executive Council took place in Puerto Varas, Chile from August 2nd to the 4th in parallel with Chilean Geological Congress. Some of the highlights include: Argentina Argentina presented a review of their project activities to date. Bolivia During the first quarter of the 2000-2001 fiscal year SERGEOMIN completed their commitments to the metallogenic map, as well as the metallogenic map for South America. Contributions were also made to the Bulletin "Bolivia Mining Opportunities". They completed the geochemical maps for the Serrania Intersalar region. Field work has been done in the regions of Sajama, Cueva Colorada-Canquella (20%), and Rio Mulato (65%). Contributions to the final edition of memoirs for map sheets: Corocoro, Uyuni, San Pablo de Lipez (1:250,000). Working on final revisions of the bulletin, "Mineral Resources of the Regions: Salinas de Garci Mendoza". Continued development of the databases of metallic and non metallic mineral resources, radiometric dating and geochemistry has progressed. Technical guidance is being provided to B.Sc. thesis candidates, Gabriela Vargas, Iris Galarza and Reynaldo Quiroz. For the remainder of the fiscal year, SERGEOMIN plans to have a course on the interpretation of lithogeochemical samples to be given by Luis Ferpozzi of SEGEMAR. It is also planned that Dr. Moyra Gardeweg (SERNAGEOMIN) will join with geologists from INGEMMET and SERGEOMIN to study volcanic rocks in the mutual border area of the three countries. Courses similar to the one given to INGEMMET on volcanic processes (by Hickson and Russell) and to that proposed for INGEMMET on the interpretation of geochemical data were also requested. Chile Chile reported that the geological map of the Arica sheet (Area CH-02) is being edited and the Pisagua-Pisiga Chile 1:250 000 sheet will be finished to first draft stage in six months. The Visviri sheet will also be completed to first draft stage. A doctoral thesis, by Marcelo Garcia, is also near completion. A second doctoral thesis (Jorge Clavero) focusing on the volcanoes Parinacota and Putre is underway. A preliminary version of the Volcan Payachata map has been completed and a poster presentation on the massive volcanic avalanche from Parinacota Volcano has been presented at the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth Interior (IAVCEI) meeting in Bali, Indonesia. In the Copiapo area (CH-01) final revision of the 1:100 000 Ojos del Salado, Wheelwright and Piedra Parada sheets is planned for October. Publication of the Hoja Nevado - Ojos de Salado maps is planned for early 2001. The hydrogeology map for Ciénaga Redonda is complete in a preliminary version and will be published in late 2000. An initial version of the hydrogeological map of the intervolcanic basins in the Ojos del Salado region is being prepared. Work on the deposit information for the metallogenic map was completed and the geology was completed to 90%. Dr. Paula Cornejo visted Ottawa to work with Mike Villeneuve and then came to Vancouver to present a paper at the GSA Cordilleran Section meeting. Project Geologist Sergio Gelcich will start graduate work at the University of Toronto in September and was in Vancouver in July and August. SERNAGEOMIN hosted the meeting of the technical committee for the Metallogenic Map in Iquique in March. They also hosted the MAP Symposium as part of the IX Chilean Congress in Puerto Varas as well as the MAP Executive Council meetings held in conjunction with the congress. They made six presentations to the Congress. Perú During the first quarter of the 2000/01 fiscal year INGEMMET hosted the short course "Mapping Volcanic Terrain: Products and Processes" followed by a field course. Dr. Andre Panteleyev gave a talk on fluid inclusion studies followed by field work. Ing. Mario Carpio completed and sent to Canada the report "Inventario y Recursos Minerales en areas de los departamentos de Moquegua, Arequipa y Tacna". One hundred and forty four samples were sent to Canada for dating and geochemistry. INGEMMET also completed the database of mineral occurrences as well as the geological base for the MAP metallogenic map. For the remainder of the year INGEMMET has planned a two part course on Geosoft software as well as a visit of an INGEMMET scientist to Mexico to work with Mr. Tawn Albinson on fluid inclusion techniques. There is also a proposed short course in geochemical stratigraphy and problem solving by Drs. Hickson and Russell. Ing. Agapito Sanchez intends to do joint field work with SERNAGEOMIN and will work out the details with Dr. Gardeweg. Discussion of MAP II Executive Secretary Lic. Roberto Page reported that Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and Argentina have all sent him a formal letter of support for "MAP II" and that Ecuador has given verbal support and intends to prepare a letter soon. There was a general agreement on the principles of the document prepared by Dr. Eduardo Zappettini and Dr. Catherine Hickson. The new title for the project is "Integration of Geoscience Databases for Land Use Planning in the Poorest Andean Region Communities". The project will focus on ways of reducing the impact of natural hazards. Mpodozis reported on discussions that have already started between Argentina and Chile on joint work in the Aconcagua and Mendoza valleys as well as other areas. MAP Symposium New CIDA Officer As of September 5 the new CIDA Project Officer for MAP will be Ms. Nathalie Zend. The former Project Officer Ms. Barbara Karpinski has relocated to the CIDA desk at the Canadian Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. MAP management wishes Ms. Karpinski the best of luck in her new post and also wishes to welcome Ms. Zend to the Project. Number of hits per month: April 5,113 The top ten countries are: 1 USA 6 Colombia The top six visited pages are: 1 Home
The test version of MAPdb was demonstrated at the Executive Council Meeting in Puerto Varas in August 2000 and copies were distributed to the participating countries for testing. At the time of distribution, the database contained data on more than 2300 samples. Over the next month a new version will be finalized which incorporates many suggestions from geologists involved in the project, and we encourage all countries to send comments and suggestions to Mark Stasiuk () or Otto Krauth (). Thanks are due already to Argentina and Chile for providing abundant useful suggestions, which we are incorporating. We stress that the current test version should not be used for data entry, as we have made no provision for consolidating new data from the beta version. It is expected that there will be one further period of development after the second test version (due in November or December), leading to a version of the database which can be used for data entry. This final version will be presented and distributed in early 2001. Until that time, data entry will be undertaken only by the GSC in Vancouver in order to ensure that no data are lost, and that all data accumulated in the project are entered consistently. In addition to a final, fully operational and populated version of the database, in early 2001, simplified versions will be made available for public distribution on CD-ROM, and for browsing data on the internet. The final package will be presented in a GSC report of activities and published as a GSC Open File for broader distribution. Current refinements to the database include improvements in the navigation and searching, the addition of a set of preferences to allow user control on the way the database works and looks, better interfacing with the IGPET software, and design of software modules for plotting data on maps. Finally, we encourage all countries to continue sending electronic data of all kinds, especially sample locations (latitude and longitude preferred), that they wish to appear in the database. Thanks go to all countries who have already supplied us with many sample locations. |