The geology of Chile is a characterized by processes linked to

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

such as

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called ...

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s and

orogeny Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...

. The buildings blocks of Chile's geology assembled during the

Paleozoic Era The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

. Chile was by then the southwestern margin of the supercontinent

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

. In the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

Gondwana began to split and the ongoing period of

crustal deformation Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...

and

mountain building Mountain formation refers to the geological processes that underlie the formation of mountains. These processes are associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (tectonic plates). Folding, faulting, volcanic activity, igneous int ...

known as the

Andean orogeny The Andean orogeny ( es, Orogenia andina) is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along ...

began. In the Late Cenozoic Chile definitely separated from Antarctica, the Andes experienced a great rise accomplained by a cooling climate and the onset of

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

s. The subduction interactions shaped four main morphostructures of Chile: the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

; the

Intermediate Depression The Central Valley ( es, Valle Central), Intermediate Depression, or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Coastal Range and the Andes Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley extends from the border with Peru to Puerto Montt in ...

, the Coast Range, and the

Peru–Chile Trench The Peru–Chile Trench, also known as the Atacama Trench, is an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about off the coast of Peru and Chile. It reaches a maximum depth of below sea level in Richards Deep () and is approximately long; ...

off the coast. Since Chile is on an active

continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...

, it has many

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

es. Almost the entire country is subject to earthquakes arising from strains in the

Nazca Nazca (; sometimes spelled Nasca; qu, Naska) is a city and system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru. It is also the name of the largest existing town in the Nazca Province. The name is derived from the Nazca culture, which flourished in ...

and

Antarctic Plate The Antarctic Plate is a tectonic plate containing the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau, and some remote islands in the Southern Ocean and other surrounding oceans. After breakup from Gondwana (the southern part of the superconti ...

s or shallow

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

s. Northern Chilean mineral resources are a major economic resources, and the country is the leading producer of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

and

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

. Most of these mineral deposits were created from magmatic

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

activity. The water required to form those deposits derived from the subducted slab of the oceanic crust beneath the Andes. The Chilean

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

and

Juan Fernández Archipelago ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

are volcanic hotspot islands in the eastward-moving Nazca plate. The geology of the

Chilean Antarctic Territory The Chilean Antarctic Territory or Chilean Antarctica (Spanish: ''Territorio Chileno Antártico'', ''Antártica Chilena'') is the territory in Antarctica claimed by Chile. The Chilean Antarctic Territory ranges from 53° West to 90° West and f ...

has various commonalities with that of mainland Chile.

General characteristics

The three primary morphological features derived from the Andes are the Andes Mountains proper, the Chilean Coast Range and the Chilean Central Valley, also known as the Intermediate Depression and the Longitudinal Valley. The mountains run parallel in a north-south direction from

Morro de Arica Morro de Arica is a steep hill located in the Chilean city of Arica. Its height is 139 metres above sea level. It was the last bulwark of defense for the Peruvian troops who garrisoned the city during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883). Morro d ...

Taitao Peninsula The Taitao Peninsula (Spanish: ''Península de Taitao'') is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boa ...

, making up most of Chile's land surface. South of Taitao, only the Andes Mountains are present. North of the Taitao Peninsula, the Peru–Chile Trench subduction zone is the boundary between the South American and Nazca Plates. At Taitao, the Chile Triple Junction and the Nazca Plate subduct the South American Plate.

The Andes

Miscanti Lagoon near San Pedro de Atacama Chile Luca Galuzzi 2006

Norte Grande The Norte Grande (''Big North'', ''Far North'', ''Great North'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It borders Peru to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Altiplano, Bolivia and Ar ...

the mountains form a series of

plateaus In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

, such as

Puna de Atacama The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau''Atacama Plateau''
article at the ''

Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

. At a south latitude of 27 degrees, Chile's highest mountain (

Ojos del Salado Nevado Ojos del Salado is a 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 overlapping lava domes, ...

) reaches a height of . Below 42 degrees south, the Andes split into a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

landscape and the highest mountain is Monte San Valentin at at north of

Northern Patagonian Ice Field The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries ...

. As the mountains ebb, the

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

lowers; in the Llanquihue it is at , and in the Magallanes.

Intermediate Depression

The Intermediate Depression, a series of faults running north to south, separates the Andes from the Coast Range with a steady decrease in altitude as the latitude increases. In

the Intermediate Depression is partially covered by a series of salt flats, and has the world's largest

potassium nitrate Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...

deposits. In Norte Chico, the depression disappears briefly before reappearing in a narrow valley at

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. From the narrows southward the valley widens until it is interrupted near

Loncoche Loncoche (Mapudungun for "head of an important person") is a city and commune in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region, southern Chile. It is located near the border to Los Ríos Region and the city of Lanco. Loncoche is a major centre for ...

by the

Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex The Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex or BMMC ( es, link=no, Complejo metamórfico Bahía Mansa, CMBM), also known as the Western Series, is a group of metamorphic geologic formations of the Chilean Coast Range in southern Chile. It consists main ...

(part of the Coast Range), then widening at Los Llanos (near

Paillaco Paillaco is a city and commune in southern Chile. It is located in Valdivia Province of Los Ríos Region, and is about 48 km southeast of Valdivia, Chile , Valdivia. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute ...

). In central and southern Chile (33°–42° south), the landscape is partially covered with glacial

sediments Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand a ...

from the Andes. In

Zona Austral The Zona Austral (''Southernmost Zone'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950 corresponding to the Chilean portion of Patagonia. It is surrounded by the Zona Sur and the Chacao Channel to the ...

(south of 42° south) the depression dips below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, appearing occasionally in islands such as Chiloé. Its southern end is the

Isthmus of Ofqui The Isthmus of Ofqui is a narrow isthmus that connects the Taitao Peninsula with the Chilean mainland. The isthmus is bounded in the south by the Gulf of Penas, in the north by the San Rafael Lagoon, in the west by the Taitao Peninsula and in the e ...

Chilean Coast Range

The

Chilean Coast Range The Chilean Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, ...

runs southward along the coast (parallel to the Andes) from

, ending at the Chile Triple Junction. The range, a combined horst, forearc high and

accretionary wedge An accretionary wedge or accretionary prism forms from sediments accreted onto the non-subducting tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary. Most of the material in the accretionary wedge consists of marine sediments scraped off from the do ...

, was separated from the Andes during the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

rise due to the

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

of the Intermediate Depression.

Geologic history

Paleozoic Era

The oldest rocks in Chile are

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

ceous

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

phyllite Phyllite ( ) is a type of foliated metamorphic rock created from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation.Stephen Marshak ''Essentials of Geology'', 3rd ed. It is primarily compo ...

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

es and

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

s, many examples of which are found in the Coast Range of south-central Chile. The schists of

southern Chile Southern Chile is an informal geographic term for any place south of the capital city, Santiago, or south of Biobío River, the mouth of which is Concepción, about {{convert, 200, mi, km, sigfig=1, order=flip south of Santiago. Generally cities ...

were initially formed by sediment in the proto-Pacific Ocean, and later metamorphosed in the

forearc Forearc is a plate tectonic term referring to a region between an oceanic trench, also known as a subduction zone, and the associated volcanic arc. Forearc regions are present along a convergent margins and eponymously form 'in front of' the vol ...

wedge of the Peru–Chile Trench.

Mesozoic Era

During the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Period about 250 million years ago Chile was part of the

supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continent, continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", ...

Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million y ...

, which concentrated the world's major land masses.

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

were near Chile. When Pangaea began to split apart during the

period, South America and the adjacent land masses formed

. Floral affinities among these now-distant landmasses date from the Gondwanaland period. South America separated from Antarctica and Australia 27 million years ago with the development of the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

. Across the -wide Drake Passage lie the mountains of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

, south of the Scotia Plate, which appear to be a continuation of the Andes. In the extreme south, the

Magallanes–Fagnano Fault The Magallanes–Fagnano Fault () is a continental transform fault. The fault marks a transform boundary between the Scotia Plate and the South American Plate, cutting across continental crust. It runs under the Strait of Magellan's western arm, A ...

separates

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

from the small

Scotia Plate The Scotia Plate () is a tectonic plate on the edge of the South Atlantic and Southern oceans. Thought to have formed during the early Eocene with the opening of the Drake Passage that separates South America from Antarctica, it is a minor pla ...

. The formation of the Andes began during the Jurassic. During the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

, the Andes began to assume their present form by the uplifting,

faulting In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

and

folding Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure * Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Abov ...

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...

and

metamorphic rocks Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

of ancient

craton A craton (, , or ; from grc-gre, κράτος "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and ...

s. Tectonic forces along the subduction zone along the west coast of South America continue to their

orogenesis Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumpl ...

, resulting in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to this day.

Cenozoic Era

The

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

was formed during the

, with several mechanisms proposed; all attempt to explain why the topography of the Andes incorporates a large area of low relief at high altitude (high plateau): # Existence of weaknesses in the Earth's crust prior to tectonic shortening. Such weaknesses would cause the partition of tectonic deformation and uplift into eastern and western cordillera, leaving the necessary space for the formation of the Altiplano basin. # Magmatic processes rooted in the asthenosphere might have contributed to uplift the plateau. # Climate controlled the spatial distribution of erosion and sediment deposition, creating the lubrication along the Nazca Plate subduction and hence influencing the transmission of tectonic forces into South America. # Climate also determined the formation of internal drainage (endorheism) and sediment trapping within the Andes, potentially blocking tectonic deformation in the area between the two cordilleras.

Quaternary

The

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). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

s left visible marks in most parts of Chile, particularly

Zona Sur Zona Sur (''Southern Zone'') is one of the five natural regions on which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the Bío-Bío River, which separates it from the Central Chile Zone. The Southern Zone borders t ...

and

. These include

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s and u-shaped valleys. During the

Santa María glaciation The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the period c.191,000 to c.130,000 years ago, during the middle Pleistocene, when sediments comprising the Illinoian Glacial Lobe were deposited. It preced ...

glaciers extended into the Pacific Ocean at 42° south, dividing the

and creating what is now

Chacao Channel The Chacao Channel ( es, Canal de Chacao) is located in Los Lagos Region, Chile and separates Chiloé Island from mainland Chile. The channel was created during the Quaternary glaciations by successive glaciers that flowed down from the Andes to ...

. Chiloé, part of the Chilean Coast Range, became an island. South of Chacao Channel, Chile's coast is split by fjords, islands and channels; these glaciers created

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

s at the edges of the Patagonian lakes, changing their outlets to the Pacific and shifting the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. The remnants of the

Patagonian Ice Sheet upright=1.4, Map showing the extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Strait of Magellan area during the last glacial period. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots. Sea level was much lower than shown here. The Patagonian Ice S ...

which covered large parts of Chile and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

are the Northern and the

Southern Patagonian Ice Field The Southern Patagonian Ice Field ( es, Hielo Continental or '), located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Pat ...

s. It has been suggested that from 1675 to 1850 the

San Rafael Glacier The San Rafael Glacier is one of the major outlet glaciers of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile and is the tidewater glacier nearest the equator. It calves into the Laguna San Rafael and is contained within Laguna San Rafael Na ...

advanced during the

Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...

. The first documented visit to the area was made in 1675 by the Spanish explorer Antonio de Vea, who entered

San Rafael Lagoon San Rafael Lake is an arc-shaped coastal lake located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within the national park that bears its name. To the north the lagoon is connected to the Moraleda Channel, to the south l ...

through Río Témpanos ("Ice Floe River") without mentioning the many

ice floes An ice floe () is a large pack ice, pack of Drift ice, floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice fl ...

for which the river is named. De Vea also wrote that the

did not reach far into the lagoon. In 1766 another expedition noticed that the glacier did reach the lagoon and had calved into

icebergs An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

Hans Steffen 250px, Picture of Dr. Hans Steffen in 1916 Hans Steffen Hoffman (20 July 1865, in Fürstenwerder, Prussia – 7 April 1936, in Davos, Switzerland) was a German geographer and explorer of the Aysén Region in western Patagonia. Steffen also w ...

visited the area in 1898, noting that the glacier now penetrated far into the lagoon. As of 2001, the glacier has retreated behind its 1675 border due to climate change.

Pacific islands

is a volcanic

high island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

consisting of three extinct volcanoes:

Terevaka Ma′unga Terevaka is the largest, tallest () and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Easter Island. Several smaller volcanic cones and craters dot its slopes, including a crater hosting one of the island's three lakes, Rano Aroi. ...

, at an altitude of , forms the bulk of the island. Two other volcanoes (

Poike Poike is one of the three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. At 370 metres above sea level, Poike's peak is the island's second-highest point after the peak of the extinct volcano T ...

and

Rano Kau Rano Kau is a tall dormant volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. It was formed of basaltic lava flows in the Pleistocene with its youngest rocks dated at between 150,000 and 210,0 ...

) form the eastern and southern headlands, giving the island its triangular shape. There are numerous lesser cones and other volcanic features: the crater

Rano Raraku Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on the lower slopes of Terevaka in the Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island in Chile. It was a quarry for about 500 years until the early eighteenth cent ...

, the

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

Puna Pau Maunga Puna Pau is a small crater or cinder cone and prehistoric quarry on the outskirts of Hanga Roa in the south west of Easter Island (a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean). Puna Pau gives its name to one of the seven regions of the Rapa Nui ...

and many volcanic caves (including

lava tubes A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ca ...

). Easter Island and its surrounding islets, including

Motu Nui Motu Nui (''large island'' in the Rapa Nui language) is the largest of three islets just south of Easter Island and is the most westerly place in Chile and all of South America. All three islets have seabirds, but Motu Nui was also an essenti ...

and Motu Iti, form the comminuted apex of a large volcanic mountain rising over from the seabed. It is part of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, a mostly-submarine mountain range with dozens of

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

Pukao Pukao are the hat-like structures or topknots formerly placed on top of some moai statues on Easter Island. They were all carved from a very light-red volcanic scoria, which was quarried from a single source at Puna Pau. Symbolism Pukao were not ...

and

Moai Moai or moʻai ( ; es, moái; rap, moʻai, , statue) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main mo ...

are two seamounts west of Easter Island, extending east to the Nazca Seamount. Pukao, Moai and Easter Island were formed during the last 750,000 years, with the last eruption a little over 100,000 years ago. These are the youngest mountains of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, which was formed by the Nazca Plate floating over the

Easter hotspot The Easter hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. The hotspot created the Sala y Gómez Ridge which includes Easter Island, Salas y Gómez Island and the Pukao Seamount which is at the ridge's young western ed ...

. Only on Easter Island is the Sala y Gómez Ridge dry land. The

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

Juan Fernández Islands The Juan Fernández Islands ( es, Archipiélago Juan Fernández) are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic i ...

were created by a hotspot in the Earth's mantle penetrating the Nazca Plate. The islands were carried eastward as the plate subducted the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n continent.

Radiometric dating Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares t ...

indicates that Santa Clara is the oldest of the islands (at 5.8 million years), followed by Robinson Crusoe (3.8–4.2 million years) and Alexander Selkirk (1.0–2.4 million years). Robinson Crusoe is the largest of the islands at , and its highest peak (El Yunque) is high. Alexander Selkirk covers , and its highest peak is Los Innocentes at . Santa Clara covers , reaching an elevation of .

Economic geology

Mining

Chile has the world's largest

reserves, and is the largest producer and exporter of the metal.U.S. Geological Survey (2005)
Minerals Yearbook 2005.
/ref> Notable copper mines include

Chuquicamata Chuquicamata ( ; referred to as Chuqui for short) is the largest open pit copper mine in terms of excavated volume in the world. It is located in the north of Chile, just outside Calama, at above sea level. It is northeast of Antofagasta and ...

and

Escondida Escondida is a copper mine at elevation in the Atacama Desert in Antofagasta Region, Chile. Geology The Escondida deposit is one of a cluster of porphyry coppers in an elongated area about 18 km north–south and 3 km east–west a ...

. Chile accounts for five percent of the Western Hemisphere's

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

production, of which 41 percent is a by-product of

copper extraction Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

. The country holds the largest world reserves of

rhenium Rhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-gray, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an estimated average concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb), rhenium is one ...

and

, and its reserves of

are estimated to be the third-largest in the world. Most of Chile's mineral resources are in the north;

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

reserves, in the southern

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

, are sufficient for local needs.

Guarello Island Guarello Island (Spanish: ''Isla Guarello'') is an island in Madre de Dios Island, Madre de Dios Archipelago in Magallanes Region. Guarello Island is in a limestone area that also includes Madre de Dios Island. The island has the world's southernm ...

, in the Magallanes Region, has the world's southernmost

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

mine.

Geothermal energy

Since 2000, geothermal exploration and concessions have been regulated by the Law of Geothermal Concessions ( es, Ley de Concesiones de Energía Geotérmica). The Chilean company Geotermia del Pacífico, with support from

CORFO The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from es, Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile. ...

, is exploring a location in

Curacautín Curacautín, which means "Gathering Stone" in Mapudungun, is a commune and city in the Chilean province of Malleco. Curacautín is located 90 kilometres northeast of Temuco, in a valley near the volcanoes Tolhuaca, Lonquimay and Llaima, all of ...

as a site for a

geothermal power plant Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...

. Geotermia del Paícifco's studies indicated that two geothermal fields near Curacautín could be used for energy production, with a combined capacity to supply 36,000 homes in 2010. One area to be developed is located near the Tolhuaca hot springs, and the other is in Río Blanco Springs. Another area under consideration for geothermal production is

Cordón Caulle Cordón is a central ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay, located East of the Centro. Its main avenue is 18 de Julio Avenue. History Cordón was the first neighborhood to be created outside the walls of the old Citade ...

Tourism

Although geology-focused tourism is rare, there are some sites in which the local geology is a major attraction (for example, the copper mine at

Geological hazards

Earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

volcanic eruption Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...

s and mass ground movements are frequent occurrences. The subduction zone along Chile's coast has produced the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, the

1960 Valdivia earthquake The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami ( es, link=no, Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (''Gran terremoto de Chile'') on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4– ...

. Earthquakes are notorious for triggering volcanic eruptions, such as the 1960 Cordón Caulle eruption. Chilean earthquakes have produced tsunamis. Landslides occur frequently in the Andes, most following earthquakes. The 2007 Aysén Fjord earthquakes produced several landslides along the Fjords Mountains, spawning a tsunami.

Lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...

s are among the most lethal volcanic hazards in Chile; a lahar destroyed the original site of Coñaripe.

Earthquakes

Major earthquakes in Chile occur in a small number of source areas. Those affecting coastal regions are generally aligned offshore from Concepción southward, with the major epicenters producing a predictable pattern of seismic and tsunami effects. The first systematic seismological recordings in Chile began after an earthquake and fire devastated Valparaiso in 1906. Earthquakes in northern Chile are known to have caused both

uplift Uplift may refer to: Science * Geologic uplift, a geological process ** Tectonic uplift, a geological process * Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass * Uplift mountains * Llano Uplift * Nemaha Uplift Business * Uplif ...

and

of the continent. Large earthquakes of

Magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

8 or more are associated with subsidence and drowning of the Chilean coast, except peninsulas and offshore islands. Magnitude 7 to 8 earthquakes with a source area near an internal boundary of the Earth known as the Moho are known to result in uplift of the coast. Earthquakes near the Moho may account for permanent

deformation Deformation can refer to: * Deformation (engineering), changes in an object's shape or form due to the application of a force or forces. ** Deformation (physics), such changes considered and analyzed as displacements of continuum bodies. * Defor ...

of the western edge of

South American plate The South American Plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African Plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid-A ...

that accumulates into a long-term net uplift of the continent.

Quake clusters

Although the most powerful six quakes recorded were clustered in two time periods (a 12-year span from 1952 to 1964 and a seven-year span from 2004 to 2011), this is considered a statistical anomaly.Pappas, Stephanie
"Sumatra, Japan, Chile: Are Earthquakes Getting Worse?"
''

LiveScience Live Science is a science news website run by Future via Purch, which it purchased from Imaginova in 2009. Stories and editorial commentary are typically syndicated to major news outlets, such as Yahoo!, MSNBC, AOL, and Fox News.{{fact, date=Mar ...

''; 11 March 2011. The phenomenon of comparably-large quakes on the same (or neighboring) faults within months of each other may be explained by geological mechanisms, but this does not fully demonstrate a relationship between events separated by longer periods and greater distancesBrahic, Catherine
"The mega-quake connection: Are huge earthquakes linked?"
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

''; UK; 16 March 2011.

External links

Geologic map of Chile
{{South America topic, Geology of Earthquakes in Chile Coasts of the Pacific Ocean Seismic zones