The Earth is constantly subjected to an overwhelming influx of cosmic rays subatomic particles that are undetectable to the human eye and originate from sources such as the sun and supernova explosions. As these high-energy cosmic rays, which have traveled great distances, make their way into the
E-Mail
IMAGE: Nicolas Pérez-Consuegra hammering into a rock outcrop to obtain a sample for thermochronology analyses from the mountains in the Putumayo region of Colombia. view more
Credit: Syracuse University
In April 2017, a landslide in Mocoa, Colombia, ripped through a local town, killing more than 300 people. Nicolás Pérez-Consuegra grew up about 570 miles north in Santander, Colombia, and was shocked as he watched the devastation on television. At that time, he was an undergraduate intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. As a budding geologist raised hiking the tropical mountains of Colombia, he wondered, what causes greater erosion in some areas of the mountains than in others? And, is it tectonic forces - where Earth s tectonic plates slide against one another leading to the formation of steep mountains - or high precipitation rates, that play a more important role in causing erosion within that region?