The Villarica volcano, Chile.
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MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
Geologists from the University of Chile announced on Tuesday that they had discovered a new active volcano in Patagonia.
The volcano, considered active because it is less than 5,000 years old, is located on the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault, in the Aysen region (south).
It culminates at an altitude of 1,280 m, the size of Vesuvius (Italy), the geologists specify in a press release.
A calabash-shaped crater for mate
"The Aysen region is experiencing significant volcanic activity because it is the meeting point of the Antarctic and Nazca plates with the South American plate", explains Gregory De Pascale, author of a study on the subject published in the journal
Nature
.
“The Liquiñe-Ofqui fault controls the location of southern Chile's volcanoes on the surface.
(The volcano) is in the middle of the fault.
"
Geologists have named this volcano "Gran Mate" because its caldera 5 km in diameter resembles the calabash in which mate is drunk.
According to scientists, part of the crater broke off due to "high intensity earthquakes generated in the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault".
The volcano has been placed under surveillance.
A difficult area to study
This new volcano has been spotted thanks to several explorations on the site since 2015 and reconnaissance flights.
The area, located in the extreme south of Chile, is snow-covered ten months a year and difficult to access.
“During a helicopter flight in summer, you could clearly see the color difference between basalt rock […] and lighter intrusive rocks like granite,” explains Gregory De Pascale.
Gran Mate is added to the 90 active volcanoes in the country.
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