Chiliques is a stratovolcano 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 ...

. Chiliques is capped off by a wide summit crater, which contains two crater lakes. One of these lakes is found in the northern part and the other east-southeastern part. The volcano is formed by rocks ranging from

andesite 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 predo ...

dacite 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 rhyolite ...

; the andesites of the main stratocone building phase contain pyroxene. Together with Tumisa, Leija and

Cordón de Puntas Negras Cordón de Puntas Negras is a volcanic chain located east of the Salar de Atacama in Chile's Antofagasta Region. Cordón de Puntas Negras is constructed along the major Calama–Olacapato–El Toro fault and is long. The long volcanic chai ...

it forms a northwest-trending volcano alignment. The first part of Chiliques to form was a

block lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...

field, which still crops out northeast of the main volcano to a distance of . Lava flows with lengths of up to then constructed the stratovolcano proper and were later buried by shorter (up to ) lava flows that cover a surface of around the summit crater. The Cerro Overo maar northeast of Chiliques is occasionally considered the last phase of Chiliques's activity, and the two have erupted rocks with similar chemical composition but later research suggests that they are unrelated. There is no evidence for historical activity. Over years, Chiliques has been monitored from space by ASTER imagery. In 2002, the imagery showed evidence of a temperature anomaly on Chiliques, which occasionally reached a scale of . This temperature anomaly may reflect either thermal events in crater lakes or fumarolic activity, although evidence for the occurrence of either is equivocal. Some of the anomalies were observed in the crater and others on the upper slopes of the volcano. This anomaly lasted only a few months. A subsequent expedition to the crater found no evidence of eruptions nor of any anomalous temperatures in the

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 ...

. Future eruptions are likely going to be lava flows and only impact the immediate surroundings of the volcano, although larger eruptions may impact the roads around Huaytiquina pass and Socaire.

Magnetotelluric Magnetotellurics (MT) is an electromagnetic geophysical method for inferring the earth's subsurface electrical conductivity from measurements of natural geomagnetic and geoelectric field variation at the Earth's surface. Investigation depth ra ...

investigation of the region has shown evidence of a high-conductivity structure underground between Chiliques,

and Láscar. This high conductivity zone reaches a depth of at its southern end, and it might reflect the presence of

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

underground. The lake Laguna Lejia lies north of Chiliques volcano, other parts of the volcano drain into the

Salar de Atacama Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is located south of San Pedro de Atacama, is surrounded by mountains, and has no drainage outlets. In the east it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondar ...

; the volcano forms part of the drainage divide of the salar. A pre-modern route goes up the mountain and aside from the steep slopes and height of the mountain, does not feature any major difficulties. The town 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 found west of Chiliques, and the volcano has cultural importance to the town, with the volcano being considered the origin of the water for Socaire and part of a cosmological representation together with the neighbouring mountains Tumisa, Lausa, Ipira and

Miñiques Miñiques is a massive volcanic complex containing a large number of craters, lava domes and flows, located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. Located south of Volcán Chiliques and west of Cordón Puntas Negras, it is part of a frequentl ...

. Seen from Socaire, the sun rises behind Chiliques during St. Bartholomew's Day; St. Bartholomew is an important saint for the town. Archeological findings made on Chiliques include pottery, a stone room and an elliptical structure in the summit area. Additional platforms and stone structures are found lower on its slopes, and an Incan tambo even farther down. Such archeological sites on mountains are common in Chile, with Licancabur and Cerro Quimal being examples of other mountains with such structures.

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* {{andean volcanoes Volcanoes of Antofagasta Region Mountains of Chile Stratovolcanoes of Chile