GEOLOGISTS from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) are in the final stages of preparation for participation in a joint venture with their Brazilian counterparts to map the geo-diversity of a hitherto unexplored section of the rainforest on the Guyana side of the border with Brazil.
Dubbed the Brazil Guyana Border Geological and Geo-diversity Mapping Project is a six weeks long field expedition. Leading the Guyana team is consulting geologist attached to GGMC, Dr. Serge Nadeau, who disclosed that the undertaking was agreed on by President Bharrat Jagdeo and his then Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva during a Georgetown meeting in 2009.
In an overview, Nadeau revealed that the investigative work targets sections of remote areas between the Guyana/Suriname/Brazil tripartite junction to the East and the Guyana/Venezuela/Brazil tripartite junction to the West along the 1,000 kilometres border area.
“The goal is mapping and agreement on the geological features on both sides. Also there are several areas where the Brazilians have identified rocks on their side that are not in Guyana. We will be checking on them to see the extent of these geological units and their   chemistry and composition.
“We will be looking at the chemistry of the rocks, using various measures and tracing
elements to identify their origins. We would want to know if they were derived from the melting of a sedimentary continental crust or other igneous component,” he explained.
Nadeau pointed out that the rocks on the Brazil side of the border were found to be 1.98 billion years old.
“We expect this to be a case on the Guyana side, too,” he said.
Nadeau said the data collected will enable the participating geologists to complete a map showing the variety of geological elements, including rocks, minerals, soils, rivers and creeks, faults (cracks in the Earth’s surface) and landscapes in that pristine area and  depicting their age and tectonic evolution over time.

Another objective of the mission is compiling information on areas where people have been mining gold and diamonds with the aim of getting the information digitised and determining the mineralisation potential and whether these zones extend across the border.
This information, in addition to being useful for mineral exploration, will be important for environmental studies and health issues, he informed.
Nadeau said, although there is no concern for chemical elements on the ground there at the moment, it is always good to have a record because people are moving around in the interior and around the border and it is important to know the levels of the chemical properties of metals in the area, since some metals at elevated values could be toxic to people.
“The ultimate aim is to correlate or match the geology of the Guyana/Brazil border to unify it and integrate the updated data with the maps at one million scale which are being produced for a compilation of South America,” he said.
Nadeau revealed that the Brazilians had completed this work on their side of the border but the benefits for Guyana will include information on the age of the granitic rocks through age dating mechanisms, information not now available and a much more informed and global view of the physical material of the Earth in that deep South area.
He said a starting date last March had to be postponed because of extensive flooding on the Guyana/Brazil border due to heavy rains and they will now begin early October and field work to collect samples will be done through mid November.
Rock samples collected will be sent for chemical analysis at laboratories in Canada and age dating in China.
Nadeau said they will work towards presenting a final report and map to representatives of both the Guyana and Brazilian governments in May next year.