Dr. H. Richard Naslund, State University of New York, Binghamton, along with Dr. Fernando Henriquez, University of Santiago, will hold a workshop and field excursion to the volcano in El Laco, Chile in the Fall of 2004. Support comes from the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the Petrology and Geochemistry Program.
The El Laco volcano in the Andean Cordillera of northern Chile contains the youngest, least altered and best preserved magnetite-apatite ores of Kiruna-type. Dr. Naslund will assemble scientists to participate in a workshop to examine the El Laco deposit in the field and then to discuss the various models that have been proposed for its origin. There is an ongoing scientific debate about the origin of a particular class of ore deposits. If ion oxide rich magmas have erupted at even one locality on Earth, scientists need to consider the effects such magmas might have on many other geologic processes in addition to the formation of ore deposits. The formation of stratified ore deposits by Fe-oxide magmas or by hydrothermal replacement might also have implications for the formation of recently identified fragmental hematite deposits on Mars. This award will provide support for students and researchers in the early stages of their career to attend this meeting which will be held along-side of the larger IAVCEI General Assembly meeting in nearby Pucon, Chile
