Sara Morón
Sara Morón Polanco
Address
CTPA
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Apartado Postal 0843-03092
Balboa, Ancon Panama
Phone: 507- 212 8019
moronsara84@gmail.com
Education
B.S., Geologist, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá-Colombia, 2002-2007.
Research Interests
- I wish to gain in-depth knowledge about the relationship between tectonics, climate and sedimentation. To achive this goal I have started by analyzing the Paleocene Cerrejón Formation using mathematical tools derived from the Fourier Transform on geophysical logs (gamma, density and resisitivity), as well as forward-modelling tools such as Strata (from PennState).
Further research on this topic will be focused on the following questions:
Is the monotony and cyclicity of the Cerrejon Formation result of astronomical cycles (Milankovitch Cycles) or is just an autocyclic process? - How is the relationship between these cycles with wet and dry seasonality and with the peat coal deposition?
- Why is Cerrejon Formation a multiseam ore? How is the relationship between multiple seams, high organic matter productivity, lithological monotony, very high subsidence and sedimentation rates, large thickness (1,000 m), and tectonic setting (Foreland basin flexure)?
- Why Cerrejon Formation only contains fine grained (mudstones, sandstones and coal) sequences and immature sandstones? Is the result of very high subsidence, weathering, or an eroded record?
Better geological knowledge of the Cerrejon Formation could help to assess reserves, improve seams correlation and do better predictions about the behavior of structural and stratigraphic problems.
Current Activities
I am currently working in an interdisciplinary team working on the geology of the Panama Canal. This project involves measuring of stratigraphic sections, helping in the interpretation of paleo-environments, helping understand the tectonic setting, and assessing the relationship between source rock and sediments. This information will be useful to understand the behavior of the sequences after and before the closure of the Panama Istmus, and documenting the differences between passive and active margin sequences.
Future Research Plans
Basin analysis always uses stratigraphic, structural and tectonic information, but paleoclimatic information is underestimated, despite being one of the most important controls in deposition.
- I would like to work on continental or transitional sequences, extracting paleoclimatic information from paleosols. I had the opportunity of working on some paleosols sequences from Paleocene ages in different Colombian places and in Northern Venezuela (Miocene).
- I want to apply chemostratigraphy to extract chemical data that would be used as a time series proxies to assess cycles of different orders and parasequences that could be great for stratigraphic correlation.
- I want to determine seasonality cycles -very difficult to see in tropical environments- assessing the ratio mobile elements/no mobile elements. I would like to use carbon stable isotopes tools to constrain paleotemperatures and relate that to weathering and preservation of grain size.
- I would like to know what are the possible causes of monotony and cyclicity in the geological record, develop methods based on Time series Analysis to extract these cycles and use them to do lithological predictions.
Grants and Fellowships
Promoción de Jóvenes Investigadores, Corporación Geológica ARES, Bogotá, April 2007
Published Abstracts of Papers Presented at Professional Meetings
Morón, S., Montes, C., Jaramillo, C., Bayona, G., Sánchez, C. 2007: Ciclicidad en la Formación Cerrejón. XI Congreso Colombiano de Geología.
Tapias, F., Morón, S. 2006: Planeación, seguimiento y control de la perforación exploratoria en Cerrejón LLC. Primer Seminario Internacional Geológico Minero.