Yanteles is an isolated stratovolcano composed of five glacier-capped peaks along an 8 km-long NE-trending ridge. It is located approximately south of the

Corcovado volcano Corcovado Volcano () is a stratovolcano located about south of the mouth of the Yelcho River, in the Palena Province, Los Lagos Region, Chile. The glacially eroded volcano is flanked by Holocene cinder cones. The volcano's base has likely pre ...

in the

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 ...

an X Region ( de Los Lagos) within the Corcovado National Park. The name Yanteles can refer only to the main summit, which is also known as Volcán Nevado (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Snow-covered Volcano").

Geography and geology

The volcano lies in the Chaitén municipality, Palena region,

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( es, Región de Los Lagos , ''Region of the Lakes'') is one of Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and Palena. The region contains ...

of Chile. Villa Santa Lucía and Bahía Tic-Toc are the closest settlements to the volcano, while

Chaitén Chaitén (, ) is a Chilean town, commune and former capital of the Palena Province in Los Lagos Region. The town is north of the mouth of Yelcho River, on the east coast of the Gulf of Corcovado. The town is strategically close to the northern ...

is away. The elongated edifice is , or high and covers an area of , making it a large volcano. Three stratovolcanoes developed on a north-south trending fault and five peaks form a ridge trending northeastward. Volcanoes like Yanteles form the highest summits of 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 ...

at these latitudes. It also features 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 ...

with a

pyroclastic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

. Eroded peaks occur in the vicinity and Nevado and Yeli are

volcanic neck 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 ...

s associated with the system. Another major fault in the region is the

Melimoyu Melimoyu is a stratovolcano (Mapudungun ''meli''="four"; the name means "four breasts".) in Chile. It is an elongated volcanic complex that contains two nested calderas of and width. An ice cap has developed on the volcano with a couple of out ...

-Yanteles Fault. It is covered by sizeable

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, which with an area of () form one of the largest areas of ice in the region. It has been declining at a rate of . Yanteles has erupted

basaltic andesite Basaltic andesite is a volcanic rock that is intermediate in composition between basalt and andesite. It is composed predominantly of augite and plagioclase. Basaltic andesite can be found in volcanoes around the world, including in Central Amer ...

. The volcano is geologically part of the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes.

History and hazards

The volcano was active in the

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 ...

Holocene 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 ...

and the last major eruption was 6,650

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. The volcano is considered to be a source of

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they re ...

layers such as the 7,240±150

eruption that produced the YAN1 tephra. One tephra in the Siple Dome of Antarctica and tephras found in

Patagonian Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

lakes may come from Yanteles. Yanteles is little known, but attested in a 1899 publication and was known to be a volcano as far back as 1916. The occurrence of historical eruptions is uncertain; Yanteles reportedly erupted a day after the 1835 Concepcion earthquake and activity continued for months, but little is known about this activity and its description as patches of bare rock or the disappearance of snow makes the record doubtful; such a change could constitute landsliding instead. Later activity is limited to

fumarolic A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volc ...

activity in 1982, 1992 and 1993-1995. Two

areas were reported in 1993 on the ridge, from each other, and were emitting yellow-to-white steam. Future eruptions could cause

mudflow A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

s in the valleys around the volcano. It was classified as a type III volcano by

SERNAGEOMIN 250px, Sernageomin building in Providencia, Santiago. The National Geology and Mining Service ( es, Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; SERNAGEOMIN) is a Chilean government agency. Its function is to provide geological information and adv ...

, implying an intermediate volcanic hazard.

References

* (in Spanish; also includes volcanoes of Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru) *

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

SI Google Earth Placemarks
- Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program: Download placemarks with SI Holocene volcano-data.

External links

Glaciers of Yanteles
{{andean volcanoes Volcanoes of Los Lagos Region Mountains of Chile Stratovolcanoes of Chile Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Holocene stratovolcanoes

Geography and geology

History and hazards

See also

References

Sources

External links

External links