THE ZIRCON PICKERS: AN UNDERGRADUATE GEOLOGY CLUB PROJECT TO COLLECT, ANALYZE AND INTERPRET DETRITAL ZIRCONS FROM THE LOWER RIO GRANDE RIVER FLOODPLAIN

The Lower Rio Grande Floodplain region has a complex and poorly known depositional history, with material from the states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas and the country of Mexico contributing to the Tertiary development of the advancing floodplain. This region of south Texas also has one of the largest ashfall deposits on the continent, dated to ~27 Ma. Zircons are abundant in the ash deposits, and less abundant in other formations related to the Rio Grande floodplain. Volunteers from the Geology Club, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, are separating detrital zircons from various sediments in the region to begin untangling the sediment sources of the Lower Rio Grande deposits.

This project was chosen by the Geology Club as a way for members to gain experience participating in research projects as a group. Students will learn from other students how to process sediments and identify zircons and other common minerals. After enough zircons have been collected, a group of students will travel to the University of Houston where they have been invited to learn how to use the LA-ICP-MS to analyze the zircons found. A group of students will also be traveling to the 2019 Joint Section Meeting of the GSA in Manhattan, Kansas to present the group project and initial findings. Graduate student Eli Gonzalez, and senior Brandi Reger have successfully separated zircons previously and will get the first group of Zircon Pickers started. The advisors are James Hinthorne and professor Juan Gonzalez.