21°35′S 68°29′W / 21.583°S 68.483°W / -21.583; -68.483[1] Cerro de las Cuevas is a 5,294 metres (17,369 ft) high volcano in the Andes.[1]

The volcano is formed by thick lava flows that surround a lava dome. A spatter cone is also found on the northeastern flank of the volcano.[1]

The volcano is made of andesite. Lava flows contain clinopyroxene, olivine and quartz, the latter in the form of xenocrysts; rocks on the spatter cone are aphyric.[1]

A line of volcanoes extends from Cerro Cebollar to Cerro Palpana in south–north direction, of which Cerro de las Cuevas is the youngest volcano. Potassium-argon dating of the spatter cone on the northeastern flank of the volcano has yielded ages of 3.15±0.15 and 3.36±0.13 million before present.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wigger, Peter J. (1994). "Large- and Fine-Scale Geochemical Variations Along the Andean Arc of Northern Chile (17.5°– 22°S)". In Reuter, Klaus-Joachim; Scheuber, Ekkehard (eds.). Tectonics of the Southern Central Andes Structure and Evolution of an Active Continental Margin. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 84. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-77353-2_5. ISBN 978-3-642-77353-2.
  2. ↑ Wörner, Gerhard; Hammerschmidt, Konrad; Henjes-Kunst, Friedhelm; Lezaun, Judith; Wilke, Hans (December 2000). "Geochronology (40Ar/39Ar, K-Ar and He-exposure ages) of Cenozoic magmatic rocks from Northern Chile (18-22°S): implications for magmatism and tectonic evolution of the central Andes". Revista Geológica de Chile. 27 (2). ISSN 0716-0208. Retrieved 1 October 2015.


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