Research areas

• Evolution of the Central Andes, particularly Cenozoic sedimentology, tectonics and climate
• Tectonic geomorphology and drainage development in compressional and extensional terranes
• Sedimentological characterisation and correlation within hydrocarbon reservoirs
• Clastic sedimentology, processes and products

Fluvial Systems Research Group

FSRG Website

Central Andes

Research in the Central Andes is focussed on understanding the interplay between tectonics, climate and sedimentation. Detailed case studies of specific areas are undertaken in order to establish the dominant controls on the geological development of a particular area. This information is then extrapolated and compared with other areas to establish what controls the geological evolution of the Central Andes at an orogenic scale.

View to NW across the Llano de Paciencia towards the Western Cordillera - the volcanic arc at the northern end of the Salar de Atacama. The peak of Licanquabor dominates the horizon. In the middle ground a gentle fold related to an actively propagating thrust can be seen. Incision into and behind the thrust front can be seen in the modern quebrada.

Publications (from 2000)

2000

Hartley, A.J., Chong, G., Turner, P., May, G., Kape, S.J. & Jolley, E.J. 2000. Development of a continental forearc: a Neogene example from the Central Andes, northern Chile. Geology, 28, 331-334.

Cronin, B.T., Hartley, A.J., Celik, H., Hurst, A. & Turkmen, I. 2000. Equilibrium profile development in graded deep-water slopes: Eocene, Eastern Turkey. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 157, 943-955.

Hurst, A, Cronin, B. & Hartley A.J. 2000. Reservoir modelling sand-rich deep water clastics: the necessity of down-scaling. Petroleum Geoscience, 6, 67-76.

Lomas, S., Cronin, B.T., Hartley, A.J. , Duranti, D., Hurst, A., Mackay, E., Clark, S.J., Palumbo, B. & Kelly, S. 2000. Characterization of lateral heterogeneities in an exceptionally exposed turbidite sand-body, Grès d’Annot (Eocene-Oligocene), SE France. In: Weimer, P. et al. (eds.) Deep-Water Reservoirs of the World. SEPM (Gulf Coast Section) Special Publication, 502-514.

2001

Hartley, A.J. & Otava, J. 2001. Sediment provenance and dispersal in a deep marine foreland basin: the Lower Carboniferous Culm Basin, Czech Republic. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 158, 137-150.

Hartley, A.J. , Howell, J., Mather, A. & Chong, G. 2001. A Plio-Pleistocene Tsunami Deposit, Hornitos, northern Chile. Revista Geológica de Chile, 28, 3-10.

Hutchison, A., Hartley, A.J ., Hole, M.J., Whear, E. & Preston, J. 2001 High resolution geochemical and petrographical correlation of deep marine Paleocene sandstones from the Foinaven Field, West of Shetland. Petroleum Geoscience, 7, 123-129.

2002

Hartley, A.J. & Chong, G. 2002. A late Pliocene age for the Atacama Desert: Implications for the desertification of western South America. Geology, 30, 43-46.

Preston, J., Hartley, A.J., Mange-Rajetzky, M., Hole, M.J., May, G., Buck, S. & Vaughan, L. 2002. The provenance of Triassic continental sandstones from the Beryl Field, northern North Sea: mineralogical, geochemical and sedimentological constraints. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 72, 18-29.

2003

Hartley, A.J . 2003. Andean uplift and climate change. Journal of the Geological Society, London, Special Paper, 160, 7-10.

Marshall, P., Trewin, N.H. & Hartley A.J. 2003.Ichnofossils of the Psilonichnus Ichnofacies and their paleoecological and paleoenvironmental significance in the Scottish Middle Jurassic. Ichnos, 9, 95-108.

Houston, J. & Hartley, A.J. 2003. The central Andean west-slope rainshadow and its potential contribution to the origin of hyper-aridity in the Atacama Desert. International Journal of Climatology, 23, 1453-1464.

2005

Hartley, A.J., Chong, G., Houston, J. & Mather A.E. 2005. 150 Million Years of Climatic Stability: Evidence from the Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Journal of the Geological Society, London, Special Paper, 162, 421-424.

Hartley, A.J. & Rice C.M.. 2005. Controls on Supergene Enrichment of Porphyry Copper Deposits in the Central Andes: A Review and Reinterpretation. Mineralium Deposita, 40, 515-525. DOI: 10.1007/s00126-005-0017-7

Hartley, A.J., Mather, A.E, Jolley, E. & Turner, P. 2005. Climatic Controls on Alluvial Fan Activity, Coastal Cordillera, northern Chile. In: Harvey, A., Mather, AE. & Stokes, M. (eds.). Alluvial Fans: Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Dynamics. Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 251, 95-115.

Mather, A. & Hartley, A.J. 2005. Flow events on a hyper-arid alluvial fan: Quebrada Tambores, Salar de Atacama, northern Chile. In: Harvey, A., Mather, AE. & Stokes, M. (eds.). Alluvial Fans: Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Dynamics. Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 251, 9-29.

May, G., Hartley, A.J., Chong, G., Stuart, F., Turner, P. & Kape, S. 2005. Eocene to Pleistocene Lithostratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Tectono-Sedimentary evolution of the Calama Basin, northern Chile. Revista Geológica de Chile, 32, 33-60.

2006

Mather, A. & Hartley, A.J. 2006. The application of drainage system analysis in constraining spatial patterns of uplift in the Coastal Cordillera of Northern Chile. In: Willett, S.D., Hovius, N., Brandon, M. & Fisher, D. (eds). Tectonics, Climate and Landscape Evolution. Geological Society of America Special Paper 398, 87-99.

Leverdige, B. & Hartley, A.J. 2006. Chapter 10: The Variscan Orogeny: the development and deformation of Devonian/Carboniferous basins in SW England and Wales. In: Brenchley, P. (ed.) The Geology of England and Wales. Published by The Geological Society, London, 227-257.

Sempere, T., Hartley, A., Roperch, P. 2006. Comment on “Rapid Uplift of the Altiplano Revealed Through 13C-18O Bonds in Paleosol Carbonates” Science 314, 760c. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5800/760b

2007

Clift, P.D. & Hartley A.J. 2007. Slow Rates of Subduction Erosion and coastal underplating along the Andean Margin of Chile and Peru. Geology, 35, 503–506; doi: 10.1130/G23584A.1

Hartley, A.J. 2007. A comment on "Neogene climate change and uplift in the Atacama Desert, Chile". Geology (in press)

Hartley, A.J., Sempere, T. & Wörner G. 2007. A comment on "Rapid late Miocene rise of the Bolivian Altiplano: Evidence for removal of mantle lithosphere" by Garzione C.N. et al. [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 241 (2006) 543-556]". Earth & Planetary Science Letters, 207, 625-629.

Evenstar, L.A, Hartley, A.J, Stuart, F.M, Mather, A.E., Rice, C.M & Chong, G. 2008. Multiphase development of the Atacama Planation Surface recorded by cosmogenic 3He exposure ages: implications for Uplift and Cenozoic climate change in western South America. Geology (in press).

Contact Details

Office: Meston 110
Tel: (0)1224 273712
Email: