Teaching project in Colombia:
Geological evolution of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Old Providence and Sta. Catalina

Institution
The Sede Caribe on the island of San Andres is an outpost of the Universidad Nacional in Colombia's remote insular territory of the western Caribbean. Its research and teaching activities are interdisciplinary and focus on the Caribbean heritage of the islands with emphasis on ecology, environmental protection and development, but also on sociology and culture. The students of the institute are partly local islanders, but most come from mainland Colombia with occasional participants from foreign countries. Until now the teaching program of the institute did not include courses in geology of the archipelago or others dealing with the geology of its reefs. This is why we set up the following interdisciplinary teaching project to fill this gap.

Objectives
The course aimed to stimulate awareness among the participants of the long geologic history of the marine ecosystem in the archipelago documented by excellent fossiliferous outcrops on San Andrés. This fragile reef ecosystem persisted through millions of years and jointly with the geological forces was responsible for the formation, alteration and persistence of the islands. Today the terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the main island are seriously threatened by overpopulation and overexplotation of their resources. As a consequence, in this joint teaching effort, classes on the modern marine ecosystems were given by professors of the Universidad Nacional (G.M. and A.S.M.), while the geologic history of the islands and their ecosystems through the ages were treated by J.G. For introduction some basic concepts and processes of geology were discussed for those completely unfamiliar with earth sciences .Then the geological past of the islands and their reefs was analysed in more detail. For better comprehension, an important part of the course was taught in the field and during a half-day snorkeling trip to the shallow insular shelf of San Andrés.

Participants
The course was attended by a total of about 40 students, mostly of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, but reinforced by a strong group of participants from the local Universidad Cristiana de San Andrés. Two research students, one from Germany and another from Croatia were equally present.

Contacts
Universität Bern Institut für Geologie
PD Dr. Jörn Geister (geister@geo.unibe.ch)
Baltzerstr. 1-3 CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)
http://www.earthsci.unibe.ch/

Universidad Nacional de Colombia Instituto de Estudios Caribeños Sede San Andrés-Isla
Prof. Germán E. Márquez Calle, director (germarquezc@unal.edu.co)
Prof. Adriana Santos Martínez, coordinadora de investigación (asantosma@unal.edu.co)
San Luis Free Town San Andrés Isla (Colombia)
http://www.caribe.unal.edu.co/es/