US-Argentina Planning Visit to the Diamante Caldera Maipo Volcanic Complex; Mendoza, Argentina

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This U.S- Argentina award will support one junior scientist and one graduate student, under the direction of Dr. Maureen Feineman of Penn State University, on two planning visits to Argentina. The first visit will take place in February 2008 and the second in February 2009. The primary goal of these visits is to initiate a long-term collaboration between researchers at Penn State University and Servicio Geológico y Minero Argentino (SEGEMAR) in Argentina. In this collaboration, Penn State will provide detailed geochemical analysis to locally-based ongoing field work at Maipo Volcanic Complex which is situated in an active part of the Southern Volcanic Zone in the Andes. The team will meet with Dr. Patricia Sruoga, a geologist with SEGEMAR who has extensive field experience in this region and is the first author of the of the most complete geochemical assessment of Maipo to date. During these two visits, the researchers will familiarize themselves with the geography and geology of the area, collect samples for preliminary geochemical work, and develop a strategy for future collaborations between the two institutions. The investigators plan to develop a collaborative proposal in Petrology and Geochemistry. The visit will involve a very-talented early-career PI and one graduate student. It has the potential to generate a series of future studies regarding the processes of magma recharge, storage, and evolution beneath Maipo Volcanic Complex and will further our understanding of what triggers the occasional violent eruption in a volcano that has a relatively quiescent volcanic history.