Cerro Bayo Complex

Cerro Bayo
The Cerro Bayo volcanic complex lies along the Chile-Argentina border east of the Salar de Gorbea, the light-colored area at the left-center portion of this NASA Landsat image. A young well-preserved crater can be seen NE of an older snow-covered center (bottom-center). A younger northern center along the national border has a well-preserved 400-m-wide crater.
Highest point
Elevation5,401 m (17,720 ft)
Coordinates25°25′S 68°35′W / 25.417°S 68.583°W / -25.417; -68.583
Geography
Map
LocationArgentina-Chile
Parent rangeAndes
Geology
Mountain typeComplex volcano
Last eruptionUnknown

Cerro Bayo is a complex volcano on the northern part border between Argentina and Chile. It consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes along a north–south line. The main volcano face is located on the Argentine side, thought the summit of the complex is just west of the border, in Chile. The volcano is about 800,000 years old, but it is associated with ongoing ground uplift encompassing also the more northerly Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre volcanoes. The 5,401-metre (17,720 ft) high summit is the source of two viscous dacitic lava flows with prominent levees that traveled to the north.

Elemental sulfur can be found at Bayo,[1] both in the form of high-grade massive deposits and as extinct fumarole chimneys.[2] The volcano formed in three separate phases that produced lava flows. One is dated to 1.6±0.4 million years ago.[3] The volcano can bear snow in winter.[4] The youngest dated rocks are about 23,000 years old;[5] in 2007 a steam eruption were observed by researchers investigating nearby salt pans such as Salar Ignorado.[6]

  1. ^ Karmanocky, F. J.; Benison, K. C. (August 2016). "A fluid inclusion record of magmatic/hydrothermal pulses in acid Salar Ignorado gypsum, northern Chile". Geofluids. 16 (3): 490–506. doi:10.1111/gfl.12171.
  2. ^ Stratabound ore deposits in the Andes. L. Fontboté, Multiciencias, Unesco. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. 1990. p. 698. ISBN 978-3-642-88282-1. OCLC 610340030.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Trumbull, R.B; Wittenbrink, R; Hahne, K; Emmermann, R; Büsch, W; Gerstenberger, H; Siebel, W (March 1999). "Evidence for Late Miocene to Recent contamination of arc andesites by crustal melts in the Chilean Andes (25–26°S) and its geodynamic implications". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 12 (2): 140. doi:10.1016/S0895-9811(99)00011-5.
  4. ^ Escudero, Lorena; Oetiker, Nia; Gallardo, Karem; Tebes-Cayo, Cinthya; Guajardo, Mariela; Nuñez, Claudia; Davis-Belmar, Carol; Pueyo, J. J.; Chong Díaz, Guillermo; Demergasso, Cecilia (1 August 2018). "A thiotrophic microbial community in an acidic brine lake in Northern Chile". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 111 (8): 1403–1419. doi:10.1007/s10482-018-1087-8. ISSN 1572-9699.
  5. ^ Grosse, Pablo; Guzmán, Silvina; Petrinovic, I. (2017). Volcanes compuestos cenozoicos del noroeste argentino. Ciencias de la Tierra y Recursos Naturales del NOA (Muruaga, C.; Grosse, P (2017). p. 506 – via ResearchGate.
  6. ^ Benison, Kathleen C. (1 February 2019). "The Physical and Chemical Sedimentology of Two High-Altitude Acid Salars in Chile: Sedimentary Processes In An Extreme Environment". Journal of Sedimentary Research. 89 (2): 149–150. doi:10.2110/jsr.2019.9. ISSN 1527-1404.