The research group SUPRATERRA is formed by researchers of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Geology Department, and by collaborators of external Spanish and foreign institutions. Several members of this group share a common research career funded by competitive grant projects and contacts with companies for over 30 years. The group established itself as Consolidated Group of Research SGR of the Catalonian Government since 2009.
This group is characterised by a multidisciplinary approach, that lies in the integration of tectonic, geochemical and geophysical studies with studies related to the external processes (erosion, sinorogenic sedimentation), in order to comprehend the formation of mountain belts, the evolution of relief and the sediment dispersal patterns in sedimentary basins. The group’s scientific activity integrates the high and low temperature geochronology, which provides an essential quantitative frame so as to quantify the deep earth and surface processes.
The connection between surface and deep earth processes, in the frontier between different disciplines, constitutes one of the most up-to-date research lines in the Earth sciences. The group’s studies are applied to real natural examples as the Pyrenees, the Atlas mountains in the Maghreb, the Andes or the ancient Variscan Belt. The research includes from essential scientific aspects analysed by a wide range of methods to the practical application of knowledge in hydrocarbon reservoir characterisation or the study of induced seismicity.
Key words that identify the group’s activity: Geodynamics, Tectonics, Structural Geology, Petrology, Relief evolution, Geomorphology, Sedimentary Geology, Source to sink, Geochronology, Thermochronology.
Interrelationships of the original research team