鶹Ƶ

Skip to main content
  • Home
  • 鶹Ƶ
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • 鶹ƵUniversity Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • 鶹ƵUniversity Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Home
  • 鶹Ƶ
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Geologists Receive Federal Grant to Study Tectonic Uplift

Thursday, January 22, 2015, By Rob Enslin
Share
College of Arts and SciencesNational Science FoundationResearch and Creative
Devin McPhillips on location in South America

Devin McPhillips doing research in South America

Earth scientists in the have received a major grant to test a new technique for measuring tectonic uplift.

, assistant professor of Earth sciences, and , a postdoctoral research associate, are the recipients of an Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award from the . They will use the $147,000 award to determine whether or not cosmogenic nuclides— isotopes produced in minerals during exposure to cosmic rays—determine shifts in elevation of slowly eroding South American mountain landscapes.

Hoke calls the one-year grant, awarded by the NSF’s Tectonics and Geomorphology & Land-Use programs, a “proof-of-concept study.” He says that all current paleoelevation studies rely, in one way or another, on past atmospheric circulation patterns. “That’s their ultimate limitation,” he adds. The goal of this study is to create a novel paleoaltimetry tool that accurately measures paleoelevation and surface uplift rates all over the world, independent of atmospheric circulation.

“Cosmic rays are constantly bombarding the Earth,” says Hoke, who studies the interplay between the Earth’s tectonic and surface processes. “When this happens, rare isotopes [atoms with different numbers of neutrons than protons and electrons] are formed. The higher the surface elevation, the thinner the atmosphere, and the greater the flux of cosmic rays that produce rare isotopes of beryllium, aluminum and neon. We want to exploit this increase in rare isotopes, with elevation as an altimeter.”

Already, Hoke and McPhillips have used the EAGER grant to travel to South America to collect an array of rock samples from the western flank of the Andes Mountains and from the western edge of the Andean Plateau in Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The samples are from elevations between 2,625-14,764 feet (600-4,500 meters).

Their next step is to analyze the samples with and , researchers at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. If their efforts are successful, Hoke and McPhillips may resolve a long-standing debate over the timing of the Andean uplift.

Gregory Hoke

Gregory Hoke

“Our goal is simple: to determine if the mountains rose quickly over a short period of time or if they underwent a slow, progressive topographic growth,” Hoke says.

He and McPhillips also hope to understand how their method performs over a range of uplift rates; how increasing the number of samples reduces uncertainty; and how their method is consistent over various timescales, with different isotope pairs.

“Various methods have been used to measure uplift rates and paleoelevation to varying success and with varying degrees of uncertainty,” Hoke adds. “Our approach aims to reduce these uncertainties, while shedding light on the fundamental forces that generate these tectonic features.”

 

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • 鶹ƵStage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival
    Wednesday, May 28, 2025, By News Staff
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Expert Available to Discuss DOD Acceptance of Qatari Jet
    Thursday, May 22, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • 鶹ƵUniversity 2025-26 Budget to Include Significant Expansion of Student Financial Aid
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Light Work Opens New Exhibitions
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff

More In STEM

University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy

This month at the All Island Bioeconomy Summit held in Co. Meath, Ireland, it was announced that BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, comprising 12 leading Irish research universities in Ireland, signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dynamic Sustainability…

Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science has named Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife, Frances….

Physics Professor Honored for Efforts to Improve Learning, Retention

The Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has made some big changes lately. The department just added an astronomy major approved by New York State and recently overhauled the undergraduate curriculum to replace traditional labs with innovative…

ECS Team Takes First Place in American Society of Civil Engineers Competition

Civil and environmental engineering student teams participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions and Steel Bridge competitions during the 2025 Upstate New York-Canada Student Symposium, winning first place in the Sustainable Solutions competition. The symposium was…

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

For the Media

Find an Expert
© 2025 鶹ƵUniversity News. All Rights Reserved.