Cerro El Cóndor is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Cerro El Cóndor is a remote peak in the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Puna de Atacama. As such it was probably the last major 6000m+ peak in the Andes to be climbed, with the summit reaching a height of . The volcano has the form of a massif (which covers a surface of ) constructed by two separate volcanoes; the older edifice forms parts of the northern and eastern flanks which are cut by scarps interpreted as caldera remnants.Grosse ''et al.'' 2018, p.14 The summit region is formed by the newer edifice, and features a series of craters with diameters of and a cover of pyroclastic material and

scoria Scoria or cinder is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock formed by ejection from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains called clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackso ...

. Also part of the newer phase are extensive lava flows which form the western and parts of the eastern and southern slopes and reach distances of from the summit.Grosse ''et al.'' 2018, p.15 Surrounding volcanoes include Condorito (which is considered to be part of the old El Cóndor volcano), Falso Azufre and Laguna Escondida which have constrained the extent of El Cóndor's lava flows. The volcano rises within the Laguna Amarga

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, and an older

mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include ...

monogenetic volcano lies north of El Cóndor. Radiometric dating has yielded ages of 2.89 - 2.67 million years ago to 0.13 - 0.02 million years ago, with the volcano developing in two phases. The older group of ages has been obtained on the Condorito and the older edifice, while the ages of 130,000 years ago and younger come from the younger edifice and lava flows; some of these dates have high uncertainties (one young age is 20,000 ± 30,000 years ago from the western flank) and

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

eruptions in the summit region are possible. Presently, Cóndor is considered to be a dormant volcano with the potential of future activity, and while the remoteness of the volcano reduces any hazard potential future pyroclastic eruptions could impact

air traffic Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled ai ...

over the region and east of it. Cerro El Cóndor is part of the

Central Volcanic Zone The Andean Volcanic Belt is a major volcanic belt along the Andean cordillera in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca plate and Antarctic plate underneath the South Americ ...

of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

together with about 110 other

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

volcanoes, and lies in the southern sector of the volcanic zone;Grosse ''et al.'' 2018, p.2 other volcanic zones in the Andes are the

Northern Volcanic Zone The Andean Volcanic Belt is a major volcanic belt along the Andean cordillera in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca plate and Antarctic plate underneath the South America ...

, the

Southern Volcanic Zone The Andean Volcanic Belt is a major volcanic belt along the Andean cordillera in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca plate and Antarctic plate underneath the South America ...

and the Austral Volcanic Zone. The history of volcanic activity is poorly known for most of these volcanoes owing to the lack of dating; only a few historical eruptions have been recorded, such as an eruption at

Ojos del Salado Nevado Ojos del Salado is a Dormant volcano, dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile. The upper reaches of Ojos del Salado consist of several overlapp ...

in 1993. The volcano has erupted trachyandesite and trachydacite in the later stages of activity, after a stage with

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

to dacitic eruptions.Grosse ''et al.'' 2018, p.7 The rocks define a

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

-rich

calc-alkaline The calc-alkaline magma series is one of two main subdivisions of the subalkaline magma series, the other subalkaline magma series being the tholeiitic series. A magma series is a series of compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic ...

suite.

References

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External links

"El Cóndor, Argentina" on Peakbagger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Condor, Cerro El Stratovolcanoes of Argentina Subduction volcanoes Mountains of Argentina Polygenetic volcanoes Six-thousanders of the Andes Pliocene stratovolcanoes Pleistocene stratovolcanoes

See also

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External links