Cartografía 3D de depósitos de lahares primarios en el flanco N del volcán: trabajo de integración curricular presentado como requisito para la obtención del título de ingeniera geológa.

Abstract

The Cotopaxi stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Real of Ecuador, 60 km southeast of Quito and 45 km north of Latacunga. This volcano is characterized by presenting a large glacier cap and with its explosive eruptive style, the indicated make it one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. The Cotopaxi last big eruption took place on June 26, 1877, which generated several volcanic products, being the primary lahars the most notable and the object of study of this work. 3D cartography was generated for three ravines located on the north flank of the volcano, a methodology was developed based on the acquisition of sub-surface information with the help of ground penetrating radar (GPR). Radargrams helped to deduce the thickness of the deposits. Once the thicknesses were obtained, data interpolations were performed considering a non-geostatistical method such as the triangular irregular network (TIN) and a geostatistical method such as simple kriging (SK). The results obtained with this investigation are an advance in the 3D cartography of the Cotopaxi primary lahar deposits, being the first that have been generated in the most proximal drainages of the volcano. In addition, considering that the 1877 deposits are a reference when evaluating the dangers related to lahars, the results obtained could be a basis for the calibration of new numerical models that simulate the flow.