Cerro Cañapa is an elongated mountain in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, with a height of 5882 m, close to the border with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Note that the international border in this area is a straight line that runs from Cerro Araral to

Ollagüe Ollagüe () or Ullawi () is a massive andesite stratovolcano in the Andes on the Bolivia–Chile border, within the Antofagasta Region of Chile and the Potosí Department, Potosi Department of Bolivia. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the A ...

, leaving Cerro Cañapa completely in Bolivian territory. The mountain forms an enormous backdrop to the colorful lakes Cañapa and Hedionda. The mountain is constructed 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 predomina ...

and

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. ...

. Volcanism of Canapa was influenced by local northwest-striking normal fault zones which also affected the Luxsar and Toconce volcanoes. The range is partially underpinned by modern

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 surrou ...

s. Canapa has deposits left by

solfatara A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or another 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 volcani ...

s. The volcanic range is long and may have originated from deep-seated basement lineaments. Volcanism is

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

in age.

References

Mountains of Potosí Department Five-thousanders of the Andes {{Potosí-geo-stub

See also

References