New lab equipment will provide information on volcanic risk and geothermal energy

Friday, 29 de September

(CEGA, September 29th) A Fondequip project was awarded to CEGA researcher and University of Chile Geology Department academic, PhD. Claudia Cannatelli. A micro-Raman laboratory will be implemented to study fluids, glasses and materials at a microscale.

The new instrument is one of the winning proposals of the VI Fund FONDEQUIP Medium and Scientific Equipment Program – Year 2017 financed by CONICYT, and it complements a series of equipment that positions the Department of Geology and CEGA labs as one of the most important analytical units of the southern hemisphere for the study of volcanic materials.

Professor Cannatelli explained that “RAMAN is a spectrometer that can be used for different studies, for example to estimate the magma storage depth through fluid and vitreous inclusions, which represent the only first-hand information about fluids from the interior of the Earth. Its chemical composition is representative of the melt in the pre-eruptive phase and can shed light on important processes, such as the style of volcanic eruptions and the location of magmatic chambers”