The Caldera Lauca is a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

in the

Arica y Parinacota Region The Arica y Parinacota Region ( es, link=no, Región de Arica y Parinacota ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Arica and Parinacota. It borders Peru's Department of Tacna to the north, Boliv ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is located in the Cordillera Occidental, in the valley of the Lauca River. The elliptic caldera has an east-west extension of and in north-south direction, buried beneath the late Miocene Vilañuñumani-Tejene volcanic complex in the north and ending at Chucal in the south. The 21 mya Oxaya Ignimbrite originates in the caldera. The eastern border of the caldera is buried beneath younger ignimbrites and deposits but is located east of the

Guallatiri Guallatiri is a high volcano in Chile. It is located southwest of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcanic group and is sometimes considered to be part of that group. It is a stratovolcano with numerous fumaroles around the summit. The summit may b ...

volcano. An Oligocene fault marks the western edge of the caldera. The caldera is filled up to thick with of

ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surro ...

. Rocks have varying SiO₂ content from 58 to 73%. One sample of Lauca ignimbrite is younger than the Lauca caldera. It forms one of the older volcanic centres in the

Payachata Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex c ...

region, together with the Ajoya- Choquelimpie volcanic complex and the Caquena domes, while

Pomerape Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the sou ...

and

Parinacota Parinacota (in hispanicized spelling), Parina Quta or Parinaquta (Aymara, ''parina'' flamingo, ''quta'' lake, "flamingo lake", other hispanicized spellings ''Parinaccota, Parinajota'') may refer to: Lakes * Parinaquta (Carabaya), in Peru, Puno Re ...

are more recent volcanic centres.

References

{{coord missing, Chile Calderas of Chile Miocene calderas Volcanoes of Arica y Parinacota Region

See also

References