Ana María Alonso Zarza (Geology)
Ana María Alonso Zarza doing fieldwork |
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Since 1993, Ana Marķa Alonso Zarza has been a lecturer in geology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She teaches geologists and engineering geologists in subjects that are ranging from sedimentary rocks to the conservation of stones from historical buildings. Although Ana María likes teaching all the subjects, she thinks that the latter is most probably more familiar and of more interest to the general public.
Her research is focused on different types of sedimentary rocks - from relatively old to recent ones. This study aims at understanding the continental paleoenvironments of the earth, mostly during the Tertiary.
Ana María Alonso Zarza |
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Ana María has worked in Spain but now she also works in the Tertiary basins of Central China in collaboration with Chinese research groups, as well as in some Cretaceous and Tertiary basins in Uruguay and Argentina. Field work, petrography and detailed microscopic and geochemical techniques are used for this research. In addition, Ana María supervises the work of two PhD students who are studying a special cave in Spain. This cave exhibits an assembly of minerals and morphologies that is not very common. It can only be visited under very strict conditions in order to preserve it. The work of Ana María's team deals with the study of the occurring minerals, their way of formation and their possible transformations. This will for example contribute to the understanding of how the opening of the cave to regular visits will impact on the existing minerals.