Puyehue-Cordón Caulle

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle
Puyehue Volcano as seen from the south side of Puyehue Lake
Highest point
Elevation	2,236 m (7,336 ft) (Puyehue)
Coordinates	40°35′25″S 72°07′02″W / 40.59028°S 72.11722°W / -40.59028; -72.11722Coordinates: 40°35′25″S 72°07′02″W / 40.59028°S 72.11722°W / -40.59028; -72.11722 (Puyehue)
Geography
Location	Lago Ranco, Río Bueno and Puyehue communes, Chile
Parent range	Andes
Geology
Mountain type	Complex volcano
Volcanic arc/belt	Southern Volcanic Zone
Last eruption	2011 to 2012
Climbing
Easiest route	Entre Lagos – Fundo El Caulle – Puyehue's peak

Puyehue (/pᵿˈjeɪweɪ/; Spanish pronunciation: [puˈʝewe]) and Cordón Caulle /kɔːrˈdoʊn ˈkaʊjeɪ/ are two coalesced volcanic edifices that form a major mountain massif in Puyehue National Park in the Andes of Ranco Province, Chile. In volcanology this group is known as the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex (PCCVC). Four different volcanoes constitute the volcanic group or complex, the Cordillera Nevada caldera, the Pliocene Mencheca volcano, Cordón Caulle fissure vents and the Puyehue stratovolcano.

Like most stratovolcanoes in the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt, Puyehue and Cordón Caulle are located along the intersection of a traverse fracture with the larger north-south Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault. The volcanic complex has shaped the local landscape and produced a huge variety of volcanic landforms and products over the last 300,000 years. Cinder cones, lava domes, calderas and craters can be found in the area apart from the widest variety of volcanic rocks in all the Southern Zone, for example both primitive basalts and rhyolites. Cordón Caulle is notable for having erupted following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest recorded earthquake in history.