Purico

News

no news in this list.

Purico volcano

pyroclastic shield 5703 m / 18,710 ft
Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, South America, -23°S / -67.75°W
Current status: dormant (1 out of 5)

[hide map] [enlarge map]

Typical eruption style: explosive
Purico volcano eruptions: None in recent times
Last earthquakes nearby:

Time	Mag. / Depth	Distance	Location
Fri, 15 Mar
Fri, 15 Mar 10:11 UTC	M 3.3 / 238 km	12 km	ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE

Purico volcano is a volcanic complex in northern Chile, 13 km south of the Bolivian border. The complex consists of 2 large 1.3 million years old ignimbrite sheets, several older stratovolcanoes and domes including Cerro Toco lava dome, and the younger, less than 10,000 years old lava domes Cerro Chascón de Purico and Cerro Aspero, and the dacitic Macon stratovolcano at the southern end.
A maar, Alitar maar, is located at the SE end and shows constant solfatara activity.
A sulfur mine on the SE flank of Cerro Toco was mined until the early 1990s.

The volcanic complex is the site of numerous astronomical instruments including the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, Atacama Cosmology Telescope, Atacama Submillimeter Telescope, and NANTEN2 Observatory.

Background:

The Purico volcanic of stratovolcanoes and lava domes define a postulated 10 x 20 km ring fracture (caldera).
Both Cerro Chascón de Purico and Cerro Aspero lava domes differ from many other flat-topped silicic Andean volcanic domes because they have 300-400 m high conical profiles.
The Chascón de Purico dacitic dome rises 1200 m above the ignimbrite shield and has a well-preserved summit crater. Lava flows from it show no evidence of glacial modification.
Source: Smithsonian / GVP Purico complex volcano information

Click here to tell a friend about this page!