Source-to-Sink Sedimentary Processes Along the Active Margin of the Colombian Caribbean Coast: A Geochronology and Sedimentary Provenance Study
Acronym: S2Sink-Colombia
Funding Period: 2024–2028
Funding Organization: DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service
Project Overview
This doctoral project investigates sedimentary connectivity along the active continental margin of the northern Colombian Caribbean, focusing on the transfer, modification, and preservation of provenance signals from source regions to deep-marine depocenters.
The study examines two contrasting sediment-routing systems: the Magdalena River–Magdalena Submarine Delta system, which delivers one of the largest sediment loads to the Caribbean Sea, and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta–La Aguja Canyon system, characterized by short, steep catchments draining crystalline source rocks directly into the marine environment.
The project aims to understand how tectonic setting, coastal processes, sediment supply, and submarine canyon morphology influence sediment transport pathways and source-to-sink connectivity across an active continental margin.
Materials and Methods
The samples analyzed in this research were collected during the MSM112 expedition aboard the German research vessel Maria S. Merian as part of the German-Colombian collaborative project:
"The ROFI System of the Magdalena Delta: Land–Sea Interaction of the Main Tributary of the Caribbean Sea", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
During the expedition (October–November 2022), 39 surface sediment samples were collected using a Giant Box Corer from water depths ranging between 48 and 3838 meters. A subset of these samples forms the basis of the present doctoral research.
The research integrates sedimentological, mineralogical, and geochronological approaches—including detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology and trace-element analysis—to investigate sediment provenance, transport pathways, and source-to-sink connectivity from rivers and coastal environments to deep-marine depositional systems.
Research Progress
Since the beginning of the project, new datasets comprising detrital zircon U–Pb ages, mineralogical compositions, and sedimentological characteristics have been generated from coastal and offshore environments along the Colombian Caribbean margin.
Research results from this project have been presented at international scientific conferences, including the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna, Austria.
Villanueva-García, E., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Rincón-Martínez, D., Álvarez-Silva, Ó., Rösel, D., Mora, A., and Winter, C.: Detrital zircon mixing and sediment-routing partitioning from rivers to coastal and canyon–fan systems along the Colombian Caribbean margin, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1674, , 2026.
Villanueva-Garcia, E., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Rincón-Martínez, D., Winter, C., and Rösel, D.: Sediment provenance from coastal and offshore northern Colombia: Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of the Magdalena River Delta and La Aguja Canyon, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-17109, , 2025.
Research Team
PhD Student
Estefany Villanueva-García
Main Advisor
Yamirka Rojas-Agramonte
Co-Supervisor
Christian Winter (Kiel University)
Collaborating Institutions
- Heidelberg University, Germany
- Kiel University, Germany
- University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- ICPET–Ecopetrol, Colombia
- Universidad del Norte, Colombia
