LMI COPEDIM

COPEDIM is an international research group focusing on the development of geological erosion surfaces (pediments) in the Andes and on associated supergene concentration of some metals like copper by weathering processes. Its objectives are improving knowledge of fundamental processes and training students and professionals about the geomorphological control of supergene copper enrichment.

How and when did erosion and weathering surfaces develop in mountain ranges is a crucial issue  to reconstruct  climatic and tectonic changes through geological times. Understanding the paleo-environmental conditions required to concentrate copper is fundamental to improve prospection models, in particular below gravel. Our goal is to understand and quantify  the optimum paleo- uplift, erosion and climate conditions leading to supergene copper enrichment.

We carry out researches based on field works, mostly in northern Chile and southern Perú, innovative datings of copper bearing minerals, thermochronology to reconstruct the exhumation history of ore deposits,  new applications of cosmogenic nuclides to date exotic deposits and to characterize their paleoenvironment, magnetic and geochemical signatures of exotic copper bearing sediment, and we develop numerical and experimental models to study  landscape evolution and weathering.

This center has been initiated by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN). It has the structure of a « virtual laboratory », with directors, executive committee, researchers and technicians belonging to different Chilean, Peruvian,  and French institutions and dedicating part of their time to COPEDIM. It is supported by these institutions and industry. Its center of gravity is located at UCN, Antofagasta.