Characterization of individual aerosol particles from the eruption of Lonquimay volcano in Chile

A set of aerosol samples collected during major volcanic activities around the Chilean site Lonquimay in the years 1988-1990 has been subjected to mea surements in conventional and microPIXE modes in the Debrecen institute. Th e aim of the study was the completion of the earlier results with comparati ve PIXE data and microPIXE measurements for the characterization of individ ual particles. Results have been obtained on separate particles in terms of their elemental composition, on separate particle groups of different comp osition by statistical dissimilarity analysis. Si/Al and K/Si elemental rat ios have been used for a comparison with published data from other volcanic locations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.