Laguna Miñiques, Chile, 2016-02-08, DD 44

Miñiques is a massive

volcanic complex A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or in ...

containing a large number of craters, lava domes and flows, located in the

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered t ...

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 ...

. Located south of Volcán Chiliques and west of Cordón Puntas Negras, it is part of a frequently visited attraction conformed by the high plain lagoons

Laguna Miscanti Miscanti Lake (Spanish: ''Laguna Miscanti'') is a brackish water lake located in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Cerro Miñiques volcano and Cerro Miscanti tower over this lake. This large heart-shaped lake has a deep ...

, Laguna Miñiques and the

Cerro Miscanti Cerro Miscanti (also known as Ipira) is a mountain located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile, immediately south of Chiliques and north of Miñiques. It towers over Laguna Miscanti. Rock samples from Cerro Miscanti are of andesitic composition ...

volcano.

Mountain

Miñiques consists of four overlapping volcanoes formed by lava domes and stratovolcanoes. It has two summits, a lower northern summit which reaches elevation and a higher southern one which is high. The mountain features two

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

s, one at and the other at elevation on the southeastern and western side of the northern summit, respectively. A set of well developed moraines exists on the southern flank and may reflect

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s advancing either from the summit area or a plateau at elevation; overall however glaciation on Miñiques was of limited extent and the terrain of Miñiques today is dominated by

periglacial Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and o ...

processes. Laguna Miñiques lies on its northwestern foot; it was separated from

by a lava flow from Miñiques. The mountain rises from a high

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 ...

plateau. It is of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

age and formed by

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 predomin ...

and

dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyol ...

rocks; it formed during two stages in the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Plio-Pleistocene The Plio-Pleistocene is an informally described geological pseudo-period, which begins about 5 million years ago (Mya) and, drawing forward, combines the time ranges of the formally defined Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs—marking from about 5&nb ...

. There is no indication of historical eruptions and the volcano is classified as extinct and its lava flows have been offset by faulting, but activity of the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

. Renewed eruptions may impact as well as the surroundings of Laguna Miñiques and would mostly consist of lava flows, but are unlikely to impact populated areas. There are a number of craters, some of which contain lava domes and lava flows. Stone structures and archeological sites are found on the summit and the flanks of Miñiques mountain, and the church of

Socaire Socaire is a village located southeast of the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in the San Pedro de Atacama province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. It offers views overlooking the Salar de Atacama. The local economy is dominated by agricu ...

is oriented towards the mountain. The Inca associated the mountain with the god Tunupa and with

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

References

Sources

Further sources

External links

SI Google Earth Placemarks
- Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program: download placemarks with SI Holocene volcano-data. Volcanoes of Antofagasta Region Mountains of Chile Stratovolcanoes of Chile Pliocene stratovolcanoes Pleistocene stratovolcanoes {{Antofagasta-geo-stub

Mountain

See also

References

Sources

Further sources

External links