Thermomagnetic investigations on young pyroclastic deposits from volcanoes in Mexico: emplacement dynamics

Objective:

Recently active volcanic structures in Germany and Mexico (Mytina Maar, Popocatepetl, Nuevo de Toluca) will be sampled. The sampling strategy is to collect samples over a several meter thick pyroclastic flow and over a lahar deposits at several distances to the summit. Different deposition types will be compared using ore microscopy, microprobe chemical analyses and thermomagnetic curves. The aim of the study is to investigate the depth- and distance-dependent thermomagnetic behavior of pyroclastic deposits in order to contribute to a better understanding of the thermal histories of titanomagnetite-bearing pyroclastic volcanic rocks. In a second step these results will also be applied on older pyroclastic flows of an age of >10.000 to 100.000 years and 1 Ma years in order to understand the secondary overprint of the primary cation distribution, like it has been observed in the Quarternary (0.3 – 0.7 Ma) Mytina maar (Lied, Msc thesis). This study is in cooperation with Luis Alva, UNAM, Mexico.