Chiles-Cerro Negro (Colombia-Ecuador)

Status Unknown Eruption 1936 4698m
Stratovolcano (Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km))

The Chiles-Cerro Negro volcanic complex includes both the Pleistocene Chiles and the Cerro Negro de Mayasquer stratovolcanoes astride the Colombia-Ecuador border. Cerro Negro has a caldera open to the west, with andesitic and dacitic lava flows of possible Holocene age (Hall 1992, pers. comm.) and solfataras on the shore of a small crater lake. An eruption reported in 1936 may have been from Reventador (Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World). The higher, glacier-covered summit of Chiles, about 4 km ESE of Cerro Negro, last erupted about 160,000 years ago, but it has a caldera open to the north with hot springs and an active hydrothermal system on its eastern flank.

Cerro Negro de Mayasquer (Ieft) and snow-capped Volcán Chiles (right), seen here from the south, are twin volcanoes that straddle the Colombia-Ecuador border. Chiles volcano is of Pleistocene age, but has hot springs and an active hydrothermal system on its eastern flank. Cerro Negro de Mayasquer is a stratovolcano with a caldera open to the west. Andesitic and dacitic lava flows are of possible Holocene age. Solfataras are found on the shore of a small crater lake.

Photo by Minard Hall, 1985 (Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito)

Last updated 2019-08-04 00:28:03