| Caldera Basin | |
|---|---|
| Cuenca de Caldera | |
  | |
| Coordinates | 27°11′50″S 70°45′30″W / 27.19722°S 70.75833°W |
| Etymology | Caldera |
| Region | Atacama Region |
| Country |  Chile |
| State(s) | Copiapó |
| Cities | Caldera |
| Characteristics | |
| On/Offshore | Onshore |
| Boundaries | Pacific Ocean, Chilean Coast Range |
| Hydrology | |
| River(s) | Copiapó |
| Geology | |
| Plate | South American |
| Orogeny | Andean |
| Age | Early Miocene-recent |
| Stratigraphy | Stratigraphy |
Caldera Basin (Spanish: Cuenca de Caldera) is a sedimentary basin located in the coast of northern Chile west of Copiapó. The basin has a fill of marine sediments of Late Cenozoic age. With a north–south extension of 43 kilometres (27 mi) and an east–west width of 20 kilometres (12 mi) the basin occupies an area between the coast and the Chilean Coast Range and between the port of Caldera and the mouth of Copiapó River. The sedimentary fill rests on metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic age and on plutonic rocks of Mesozoic age.[1]
- ^ Le Roux, Jacobus; Achurra, Luciano; Henríquez, Álvaro; Carreño, Catalina; Rivera, Huber; Suárez, Mario E.; Ishman, Scott E.; Pyenson, Nicholas D.; Gutstein, Carolina S. (2016). "Oroclinal bending of the Juan Fernández Ridge suggested by geohistory analysis of the Bahía Inglesa Formation, north-central Chile" (PDF). Sedimentary Geology. 333: 32–49. Bibcode:2016SedG..333...32L. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.003.