This proposal requests funding for a collaborative research project between Dr. Johan Varekamp, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and Drs. Daniel H. Delpino, Director of Science and Technology of Neuquen Province, COPADE. Neuquen Argentina, and Dr. Adriana Bermudez, CONICET. . They will conduct a study of the hydrogeochemistry of the Copahue Volcano, located in the eastern Andes. The volcano has an extensive acid hydrothermal system with a crater lake, acid springs that draw fluids from deep sources, and a geothermal system on its NE flank. The hydrothermal fluids acidify a large river, the Rio Agrio, and the glacial lake, Caviahue. The main goals of the research include the description of the chemical composition of the fluids from the volcano, water/rock interaction processes in the crater lake and in the acidified watershed, a quantification of the element fluxes through the Rio Agrio, and an evaluation of volcanic hazards around Copahue. The researchers also plan to create a theoretical model for lake explosions to investigate the nature of eruption triggers.
The nature of volcano-magmatic hydrothermal systems and the interactions of these deep fluids with meteoric waters is an important field of study for ore deposition, and the acid effluent of these systems may have a severe impact on local watershed. Comprehensive major and trace element and isotopic analyses of the crater lake and acid springs will provide the rates of magmatic degassing and rock dissolution in the hydrothermal system, as well as the isotopic character of the deep hydrothermal fluids.
The results of the study, which is expected to yield very practical data of environmental, as well as volcanological significance, will be displayed at the Neuquen Museum of Geology.
