TY - JOUR TI - Reconstruction of the Paleo and Neo stages of Poás and Turrialba volcanoes, Costa Rica DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3PG1QHX PY - 2012 AB - This study is about two problems a) growth and b) erosion of the Poás and Turrialba volcanoes during the last ~ 600 ka. For the growth problem, we studied both volcanoes, meanwhile for the erosion problem we focused only in the erosion generated by the recurrent phenomenon of coseismic landslides on Poás. The detailed study done here for Poás, showed how its actual edifice has grown in the last ~600 Ky and how it is comprised by at least 14 volcanic units (4 from the Paleo-temporal phase and 10 from the Neo-phase). The geochemistry data showed the variation of these volcanic units between two main magmatic components (Sabana Redonda and the Von Frantzius Geochemical Components). We presented a landslide inventory for the 2009 (Mw 6.2) Cinchona earthquake based on LiDAR images. Mass wasting calculations then were extrapolated and used to calculate erosion rates based on this phenomenon for Poás (~ 300 ± 150 km3/km/Myr, a rate comparable to estimates of magma flux at arc volcanic systems). Furthermore, the catalog was used to create a landslide susceptibily model, that maps landslide risk for any shallow earthquake on the volcano and determine which areas could be affected by landslides. For Turrialba, this study includes mostly the geochronology and stratigraphy of eight lava flow units that yield ages that range from 251 to 3 ka (one unit from the Paleo-temporal phase and 7 from the Neo). Three of these units, gave remarkably young 40Ar/39Ar ages (25 ka or less), among the youngest lavas dated in Central America (CA) by this method. The Neo-Turrialba flows consist of a low silica and a high silica group. The data and methodology followed here for the reconstruction of the Poás and Turrialba volcanoes can be used to obtain a new net extrusive volcanic flux, which may be used as a parameter for the rest of volcanoes of CA. The effective use of the information generated for the coseismic landslide susceptibility model for Poás by planners could reduce the impact of future landslides on the population and on the important civil infrastructure located in the study area. KW - Geological Sciences KW - Volcanoes--Costa Rica KW - Landforms--Costa Rica--Turrialba LA - eng ER -