3rd - 13th February, 2020
Taiwan is one of the most geologically active places on the Earth. The island sits on the boundary between two converging tectonic plates. The plate convergence is among the highest in the world, which explains the high relief and high tectonic activity. A high erosion rate, which is related in part to frequent typhoons that cross the island, exposes a wide range of rock types with a diverse history, providing one of the world’s most spectacular natural laboratories. During this excursion, several world-famous localities, where benchmark research has been established to advance our understanding of mountain building and earth surfaces processes, will be visited and studied by hands-on excercises in the field.
Day1 - Group Foto Taipei (photo by Y.-H. Chen)
Day 2: Miocene Taliao Formation in Yehliu Geopark (Photo by A.Venturi)
Day 3: Today we visited the 1999-Chi-chi-Earthquake Museum and learned about fold-and-thrust belt evolution and neotectonic activity of Taiwan
Day 4: Studying great outcrops of foreland basin Chuolan Formation interbeded sanstones and shales (photo by R. Garcia)
Day 5: Examining, experiencing and enjoying river aggradation and dynamic earth surface processes along the Lao-nong River (Photo by M. Strasser)
Day 6: Today we explored the Wushanding Mud Volcano and moved to Hengchun Peninsula at the southernmost tip of Taiwan (Photo by M.Niederstätter)
Day 7: We enjoyed underwater carbonate sedimentology of a dying reef at the southern tip of Taiwan (Photos by Tim Unterluggauer)
Day 8: Walking in between rice fields in the Longitudinale Valley to visit the plate boundary (sutur) between the Philippine Sea Plate (colliding Luzon arc) and Eurosian Plate (uplifted and metamorphosed continental lithosphere) in the Taiwan Orogen. (Photo by S. Schulte-Mattler)
Day 9: Today we crossed the Coastal Range by rafting along the Xiuguluan River that cut a phantastic geological profile across an arc volcano and its adjacant volcaniclastic turbidite sequence (Photo by N. Dörr)
Day10: The Taroko Gorge expose spectacular outcrops of meta-sediments and ductile deformation structures of the Central Range Metamorphic Belt in the exhumed core of the Taiwan Orogen (Photo by N.Dörr)
Day 11: Driving along the East Coast back to Taipei, where our Excursion ended. Thanks Steven and all Taiwanese colleagues for introducing and exposing us to the spectacular Geology of Taiwan. (Photo by A. Venturi)