Nevado Tres Cruces
| Nevado Tres Cruces | |
|---|---|
Tres Cruces from Ojos del Salado to the east. The higher south summit is on the left, the central summit on the right.
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 6,748 m (22,139 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,422 metres (4,665 ft) |
| Naming | |
| Translation | Three crosses (Spanish) |
| Geography | |
| Parent range | Andes Mountains |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | |
| Mountain type | Volcano |
| Volcanic arc/belt | Cordillera Claudio Gay,Central Volcanic Zone |
| Last eruption | 28,000 years ago. |
Nevado Tres Cruces is a massif of volcanic origin in the Andes Mountains on the border of Argentina and Chile. It has two main summits, Tres Cruces Sur at 6,748 metres (22,139 ft) and Tres Cruces Centro at 6,629 m (21,749 ft) and a third more minor summit, Tres Cruces Norte 6,206 m (20,361 ft). Tres Cruces Sur is the sixth highest mountain in the Andes. The area was first surveyed in 1883 by Francisco San Román and the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park was established in 1994.
The volcano has an extended history of activity, going back at least 1.5 million years. A number of lava domes surround the complex and a number of craters lie on its summits. The main volcano is of rhyodacitic composition and has generated two major ignimbritic eruptions, one 1.5 million years ago and a second 67,000 years ago. The last eruption was 28,000 years ago, but the volcano may become active in the future.
The area has a desert climate, with nighttime temperatures below freezing and precipitation less than 29±14 mm in the local summer that quickly sublimates away, resulting in a lack of surface runoff and a barren landscape. The mean annual temperature is -2±4 degrees Celsius. The area is persistently very windy. The snowline altitude in the area is 5,800 m (19,000 ft), higher than the altitude of 5,500 m (18,000 ft). Small relic glaciers with surfaces of less than 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi) exist above 5,500 m (18,000 ft) with moraines visible above 4,400 m (14,400 ft). In 2000 a total ice surface of 1.1 km2 (0.42 sq mi) was reported on Tres Cruces.
The whole complex has been active for 1.5 mya and has generated two large scale pyroclastic eruptions, a first one 1.5 mya occurred on the western side of the volcano. It is fairly thin and covers Pliocene lavas. Otherwise, rhyodacitic lava flows, lava domes and various ash and tephra deposits also belong to this volcano. The three main volcanoes of the massif - Tres Cruces Sur (6,748 m (22,139 ft)), Tres Cruces Centro (6,629 m (21,749 ft)) and Tres Cruces Norte (6,206 m (20,361 ft)) formed along a local fault zone. Tres Cruces Sur and Tres Cruces Centro are the sixth and eleventh highest mountains in South America.
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Wikipedia