Correct execution of Final routine in Fortran

I have following Fortran code

  type t_octree
     integer                        :: max_num_point
     class(t_octree_node), pointer  :: root => null()
     contains
     final                         :: DESTROY_OCTREE
  end type t_octree

  type t_octree_node
     real                          :: box(2,3)
     integer                       :: depth
     type(t_octree_node), pointer  :: parent      => null()
     type(t_octree_node), pointer  :: children(:) => null()
     class(t_octree_leaf), pointer :: leaf        => null()
  contains
     final                         :: CLEAN_NODE
  end type t_octree_node
  type, extends(t_octree_node) :: t_octree_leaf
     integer, allocatable          :: id(:)
     integer                       :: num_point
  contains
     final                          :: DESTROY_LEAF
  end type

After I have done my processing and now need to make sure that my stuff is deallocated properly.

In my `final routines I have

  subroutine DESTROY_OCTREE( this )

  implicit none

  type(t_octree)               :: this
  type(t_octree_node), pointer :: node => null()
  integer                      :: i


  node => this% root
  if( associated(node% leaf) )deallocate( node% leaf )

  if(.not. associated(node% children) )RETURN
  deallocate(  node )
  node => this% root
  i = 0
  nullify(node)
  print*, associated(this% root) ! this is true!! 
  print*, associated(this% root% children) ! this is true!! 



  end subroutine DESTROY_OCTREE

  recursive subroutine CLEAN_NODE ( this )

  implicit none

  type(t_octree_node)           :: this
  type(t_octree_node), pointer  :: node => null(), next => null()
  integer                       :: i

  if( associated(this% leaf) )then
     deallocate( this% leaf )
     nullify( this% leaf )
  endif
  if(.not. associated(this% children) )RETURN
  do i = 1, 8
     node => this% children(i)
     deallocate( node )
     nullify(node)
    ! debug
    ! print*, i, "rec"
  enddo
   nullify(this% children)
   nullify(this% parent)

  end subroutine CLEAN_NODE

  subroutine DESTROY_LEAF ( leaf )

  implicit none

  type(t_octree_leaf)        :: leaf

  deallocate( leaf% id )

  end subroutine DESTROY_LEAF

In my main program I do following

  program TEST_OCTREE
  use MD_OCTREE

  implicit none

  type(t_octree), pointer               :: octree

  octree      => t_octree( max_num_point,  box )
  (...) ! all processing to build the data structure

Now I deallocate by simply

  deallocate( octree )  
  print*, associated(octree% root) ! this give a segmentation fault

The question Can somebody explain why it seems that my print*, associated(this% root) commands still show TRUE while when printing in my main program it looks like it has been deallocated as it gives me a segmentation fault

Deallocating a pointer causes the pointer association status of any other pointer that was associated with the same target to become undefined (F2018 9.7.3.3p2). This situation happens with node and this%root in the DESTROY_OCTREE procedure - both pointers reference the same object (via the pointer assignment node => this% root, the object is deallocated through the node pointer - which makes this%root have undefined association status.

The argument to the ASSOCIATED intrinsic must not be a pointer with undefined association status (F2018 16.9.16p3). The code is non-conforming, anything may happen - where "anything" quite reasonably includes the results you see.

When you deallocate the object through the node pointer, there is no simple way that the processor can also reliably update the status of the this%root pointer - it ends up pointing at something that no longer exists.

There are other suspicious constructs in the fragments of source shown, including use of a superfluous NULLIFY after a DEALLOCATE statement on the same pointer object (successful deallocation disassociates (nullifies) the pointer), use of nullify when perhaps DEALLOCATE is appropriate (hard to say without complete code), and use of what appears to be a structure constructor as a pointer target.