Chillahuita

Chile
Synonyms: None
Location: 22º10'S; 68º02'W
Type: Dome
Summit Elevation: 4700 m
Edifice Height: 200 m

Volcano Image

Cerro Chillahuita (22° 10'S 68° 02W) and Cerro Tocopuri (50 km to the northwest) are much smaller bodies (~5 km3) than Chao (20 km to the west) and are more typical of silicic lava domes the world over. They have almost vertical, scree-covered flanks about 150 m high, a broadly circular basal plan and a flat top and are locally referred to astortas (cakes). Flow folds rib their upper surfaces. These tortas appear to have been the result of single eruptive events which started off explosively - both have small silicic airfall deposits associated with them - and then quickly settled down to passive effusion of the main mass of lava. The vent for Chillahuita is located on the southern side of the lava, which flowed northeast, spreading down the shallow slope (de Silva et al., 1994).

References

de Silva, S.L., Self, S., Francis, P.W., Drake, R.E., and Carlos Ramirez, R., 1994. Effusive silicic volcanism in the Central Andes: The Chao dacite and other young lavas of the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99:17,805-17,825.