About the neighborhood
Stratovolcano on the border between Chile and Argentina
Lastarria is a 5,697 metres (18,691ft) high stratovolcano that lies on the border between Chile and Argentina. It is remote, and the surroundings are uninhabited but can be reached through an unpaved road. The volcano is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the four segments of the volcanic arc of the Andes. Over a thousand volcanoes—of which about 50 are active—lie in this over 1,500 kilometres (930mi) long chain of volcanoes, which is generated by subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate.
The volcano is constituted by two volcanic edifices that form a ridge, and one subsidiary lava flow field southwest of the main volcanoes. The main edifice features several aligned craters that form a line. There is no recorded eruptive activity, but the volcano displays vigorous fumarolic activity on its northern side and within the craters. It is located on top of older volcanic rocks and features both andesite and dacite.
Lastarria produced a large landslide deposit when part of its southeastern flank collapsed. From a 1 kilometre (0.62mi) wide collapse scar, the landslide descended over a distance of 8 kilometres (5.0mi). The intense fumarolic activity makes the volcano the largest source of volcanic gases in the region, and has produced fumarolic vent deposits as well as flows of molten sulfur. A progressive uplift of the terrain around Lastarria and farther south has been recognized; it appears to reflect a deep magma intrusion in the region.
Geography and structure
Lastarria is situated in the Central Andes, in the Antofagasta Region of Chile, and straddles the border with Argentina's Salta Province. The city of Antofagasta lies 250 kilometres (160mi) northwest of Lastarria. The Central Andes are difficult to access and its volcanoes are usually poorly monitored. There are no human populations within 150 kilometres (93mi) of Lastarria. From the former Catalina railway station 120 kilometres (75mi) west, an unpaved road leads to Lastarria. Unlike most other volcanoes in the region, no Inka archeological site has been found on Lastarria. Either the volcano was too active or too unimportant in pre-Hispanic times.
Lastarria is part of the Andean Central Volcanic Zone, which extends over 1,500 kilometres (930mi) from Peru to Chile. Over 1,000 volcanic edifices have been identified in this zone, of which about 50 volcanoes are active or potentially active, with many exceeding 6,000 metres (20,000ft) in altitude. In addition, the zone features 18 monogenetic volcanoes and about 6 caldera/ignimbrite systems.
Edifice proper
Lastarria is formed by two coalesced edifices, the main cone and the older South Spur (Espolón Sur), which are joined at an altitude of about 5,500 metres (18,000ft) and form a 10-kilometre (6.2mi) long ridge. The main cone comprises lava domes, lava flows, pyroclastic flows, and scoria, and reaches a summit height of 5,697 metres (18,691ft). Most of the volcano is covered by pyroclastic material, some of which extends to the southeastern margin of the Salar de Aguas Calientes. Lava flows are exposed mainly on the northwestern slope, where they reach thicknesses of 40 metres (130ft). The South Spur has also generated lava flows. The volcano covers a surface area of about 156 square kilometres (60sqmi).
Five overlapping craters are aligned in a north–south line on Lastarria's main cone, the craters 5-4 and 3-2 are nested within each other (counted from south to north). Volcanic activity has migrated north during the history of Lastarria, and the most recent eruption products are found on the northern and western slopes. A lava dome sits on the northernmost crater rim. The South Spur has two craters.
The volcano rises from a terrain of about 4,200 metres (13,800ft) altitude and has fairly steep slopes. Much of the surface, including the Southern Spur, is covered by deposits left by volcanic ash fall. Some parts of the Southern Spur display evidence of hydrothermal alteration. The total volume of the edifice is about 10.1 cubic kilometres (2.4cumi).
The Negriales del Lastarria (also known as Big Joe) lava flow complex lies southwest of the Lastarria volcano and covers a large surface area. It is formed by several massive flows erupted from a single vent during three or eight pulses; the longest reaches a length of 10 kilometres (6.2mi). These lavas are block lavas with flow ridges and levees. The total volume of the lava field is about 5.4 cubic kilometres (1.3cumi) and it is often grouped together with Lastarria and South Spur as the Lastarria Volcanic Complex.
Neighbouring mountains include Chili volcano northeast, the 4,709-metre (15,449ft) high Cerro Bayo northwest and the 5,214-metre (17,106ft) high Cerro Piramide close to Negriales de Lastarria in the southwest. Almost due north of Lastarria lies the Laguna de la Azufrera, a salt pan with a waterbody that is almost a lake, its name is a reference to the sulfur deposits of Lastarria. There are hot springs with temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F) on its eastern shore. The fumarolic system may drain into this waterbody, depositing sulfur at Azufrera's southern shore. Water levels in the lake were higher in the past, as evidenced by two recognizable shorelines, which owing to tectonics related to recent volcanism in the Corrida de Cori crop out mainly on the eastern side, and the lake's surface area reached 18 square kilometres (7mi). There is a valley and a lake also at the southeastern foot of Lastarria.
Landslide scar
A major sector collapse occurred on Lastarria's southeastern flank, leaving a clearly defined north–south scarp in the volcano that opens to the east-southeast. The scarp reaches a maximum height of 120 metres (390ft) and forms a semicircle just under 1 kilometre (0.62mi) wide; the northern part is longer than the southern and the western part directly abuts the margin of the southernmost crater of Lastarria. The highest point of the scarp lies at an altitude of 5,575 metres (18,291ft).
The debris avalanche deposit is 8 kilometres (5.0mi) long and well preserved with landforms such as lobes, levees and hummocks. After exiting the collapse scar over its northern opening, it overrode an older scoria cone before coming to rest. The slide, bordered by levee-like structures reaching a height of 20 metres (66ft), formed 500-metre (1,600ft) wide and 40-metre (130ft) high lobes. Unlike many debris avalanche deposits, the Lastarria debris avalanche lacks large blocks and has only a few hummocks. The velocity of the avalanche has been estimated to have been over 84 metres per second (280ft/s), a fairly high velocity for a volcanic debris avalanche, while later research proposed a maximum speed of 58–75 metres per second (208–270km/h). It is possible that air was entrained in the debris, which thus assumed properties similar to an ignimbrite. The collapse occurred without any preceding instability of the edifice.
The avalanche deposit consists mostly of loose material such as ash, lapilli, pumice, with only a few lithic blocks. This loose consistency may explain the lack of megablocks. Its total volume is about 0.091 cubic kilometres (0.022cumi), less than the volume of the Mount St. Helens and Socompa deposits. It is comparable to the volume of the landslide that the Ancash earthquake triggered on Huascarán in Peru in 1970, resulting in more than 20,000 fatalities. There is evidence of previous flank collapses at Lastarria and ongoing flank instability.
Internal structure
The internal structure of a volcano has been visualized with a technique known as seismic wave tomography. An inverted funnel-shaped low velocity anomaly with a width of 4 by 9 kilometres (2.5 by 5.6mi) extends to a depth of 1 kilometre (0.62mi) beneath the volcano and appears to be associated with areas of high fumarolic activity; it may be the hydrothermal system. An even stronger anomaly at depths of 3 to 6 kilometres (1.9 to 3.7mi) may be the magma chamber of the volcano and an associated fluid-filled system. Magnetotelluric imaging showed structures similar to those revealed using seismic imaging.
Geology
Off the western coast of South America, the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South America Plate at a rate of 7–9 centimetres per year (2.8–3.5in/year). Volcanism in the Andes occurs in four distinct regions: the Northern Volcanic Zone, the Central Volcanic Zone, the Southern Volcanic Zone, and the Austral Volcanic Zone. All but the last are geographically associated with the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate; the Austral Volcanic Zone involves the subduction of the Antarctic Plate beneath the South American Plate. Magmatic processes important in the Central Andes include the partial melting of the subducting plate and its sediments and of mantle peridotite, and fractional crystallization of ascending magma in the crust.
The earliest volcanic activity on the west coast of South America goes back to the Jurassic, when the South Atlantic started to open. During the late Cenozoic, a volcanic chain was formed on top of Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks and reached a width of 100 to 150 kilometres (62 to 93mi) in the area of Lastarria. This volcanism began 25million years ago, and the rocks are mostly acidic rocks.
Local
Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre form a group of volcanoes on the Altiplano, on the border between Chile and Argentina. They were active during the Quaternary. The Bayo volcano is sometimes considered part of this complex as well. Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre, together with some more local volcanic centres, may be part of a larger silicic volcanic complex that has not yet formed a caldera. This complex is characterized by a 500-metre (1,600ft) high doming with a central depression. The large Los Colorados caldera lies south-southeast of Lastarria. Farther south lie volcanoes such as Wheelwright Caldera and Cerro Blanco, the last of which shows evidence of recent unrest.
Lastarria is located on a basement formed by andesite–dacite volcanic rocks in the form of ignimbrites, lava flows, and lava domes. They are of Miocene to Pleistocene age and are in turn underlaid by Paleozoic metamorphized volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The basement underneath Lastarria appears to have a different composition to that beneath Lascar. A major crustal lineament known as the Archibarca lineament intersects the main volcanic arc at Lastarria. Other volcanic centres such as Galán and ore deposits are also found on this lineament. The intersection between this lineament and the arc may act as a weakness zone that focuses the ascent of magma. Other lineaments in the region include the Imilac-Salina del Fraile and Pedernales-Arizaro faults of Miocene age.
Geologic record
The Altiplano started to form during the Eocene, when subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate caused compression along the plate margin. Strong volcanism and tectonic uplift occurred between 15and 20million years ago.
Composition
Lastarria is composed of rocks ranging from basalt over andesite to dacite, and the rocks define a potassium-rich suite characteristic of calc-alkaline magmas of the Central Volcanic Zone. The appearance of Lastarria lavas is porphyritic. Phenocrysts include plagioclase in andesite with smaller amounts of amphibole, biotite, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene. Apatite and zircon form accessory minerals. Dacites have similar composition but also contain hornblende. Olivine is found in the andesites and quartz in the dacites.
A number of alteration products are also present, some of which have been visualized by aerial imagery. Fumarole deposits contain encrustations and sublimates. They broadly consist of several components, mainly native sulfur, sulfates like anhydrite, baryte, gypsum and rhomboclase, borates like sassolite, oxides like quartz and less commonly sulfides like galena, orpiment and pyrite. Cristobalite and magnetite are found in high-temperature vents. These form multicoloured deposits, ranging from yellow-white over grey to yellow-orange and red.
The petrogenesis of Lastarria rocks, like those of other volcanoes in the Central Volcanic Zone, involves the prolonged interaction with crustal rocks in magma chambers as well as the fractionation of certain minerals. Enriched lower crust and upper mantle might also contribute. Finally, the mixing of magma chamber contents with new and more mafic magma shortly before each eruption played an important role in rock genesis. In the case of Lastarria, this mixing occurs in a stratified magma chamber, with active convection occurring between lighter and colder upper contents and hotter and denser lower contents. Some rocks display "banding" features, implicating the mixing of different magmas during their formation. Some chemical differences exist among the Negriales rocks, the Lastarria lavas, and the Lastarria pyroclastics. The Negriales rocks are the richest in silicon dioxide, and their trace element composition sharply diverges as well. The Negriales rocks may originate from parental magmas that are different from the main Lastarria magmas.
Climate and vegetation
Lastarria has a montane climate characterized by extreme aridity as it is located at the intersection between the summer rain region of the Altiplano and the Atacama Desert. Temperatures of −24°C (−11°F) and precipitation of 20–50 millimetres per year (0.79–1.97in/year) have been recorded on Lastarria, although the precipitation may be underestimated. Low bush vegetation exists in the area.
Eruptive history
The South Spur edifice is the oldest structure found at Lastarria. The Negriales lava field formed later. The five craters of Lastarria proper formed in five different stages. An alternative view holds that Negriales formed before the South Spur, and that the main edifice formed in ten different stages. Block-and-ash flows, hot avalanches, lava domes, lava flows, and pyroclastic flows have all been involved in the activity of Lastarria. Most deposits on the northern slopes were erupted during the last two stages, with the exception of several exposures of the older stages on the northwestern flank and the western "pink pyroclastic flow" deposit. Overall, later and Holocene activity at Lastarria was highly explosive, unlike the more effusive earlier eruptions including the Negriales eruptions.
Encyclopedic content adapted from the Wikipedia article on Lastarria, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
