Field Workshop on the Chemistry and Flux of Volcanic Volatiles: Nicaragua and Costa Rica

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support a Field Workshop to measure and sample volatile emissions from volcanic centers in the Nicaragua and Costa Rica segments of the Central American Volcanic Arc. This workshop is the 8 th Field Workshop organized by the IAVCEI Commission on the Chemistry of Volcanic Gases (CCVG) and will take place in March 2003. The overall theme of the workshop is sampling of volcanic volatile emissions using direct sampling methods and newly developed land-based and space-based remote sensing techniques. Organizers and attendents will compare techniques and identify methods to improve current measurement strategies. The focus of this workshop is Poas volcano in Costa Rica, and Masaya, Momotombo and Cerro Negro volcanoes in Nicaragua. Because subduction zone parameters show significant changes between Costa Rica and Nicaragua (amount of sediment contributing to arc magmas, slab angle) comparison of the volatile emissions from these volcanic centers is expected to be interesting. By involving a large number of specialists we hope to most accurately resolve variations in volatile compositions and fluxes between the different volcanoes and eliminate problems related to sampling and measuring techniques.