Atacama 2025 (DFG-Project AG 432/1-1)

As part of the DFG-funded project „Key Driving Mechanisms and Chronology of Geomorphic Processes in Hyperarid Landscapes“ – Combining Field-Based Geomorphological Investigations and Rock Surface Luminescence Dating Techniques (AG 432/1-1), we conducted fieldwork in the southern Atacama Desert in October 2025.

The team from the Institute of Geography – Lucas Ageby and Donatella Rubino – met in Antofagasta, Chile with Prof. Juan-Luis Garcia and Jorge Herrera from the Instituto de Geografía at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago. The objective was to collect weather, seismic, and photogrammetric data acquired through monitoring during the austral winter months, and to sample selected sites for rock surface luminescence and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) dating. We also installed a third weather station at the Zebra Stripes.

The monitoring data will be used to assess whether any changes occurred on the selected hillslopes during the last winter, and to identify any external conditions that may have facilitated such changes. The luminescence and TCN samples will contribute to ongoing efforts to reconstruct past clast movements and to constrain the timing of zebra stripe formation.