April 08, 2021 #ChileDiverse

New active volcano discovered in Chilean Patagonia

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The volcano, which is considered active because it is less than 5,000 years old, is located on the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault.

Geologists from the University of Chile discovered a new active volcano in the Chilean Patagonia, which they baptized as "Gran Mate", because of the shape of the caldera of five kilometers in diameter, similar to the container where yerba mate is drunk, authorities reported on Tuesday (06.04.2021).

The volcano, which is considered active because it is less than 5,000 years old, is located on the Liquiñe-Ofqui fault, 80 kilometers southwest of the city of Coyhaique in the Aysen region, some 1,600 kilometers south of Santiago.

"The Aysén region has significant volcanic activity, because it is the meeting point of the Antarctic and Nazca plates with the South American plate. The Liquiñe-Ofqui fault controls where the volcanoes in southern Chile are located on the surface. Mate Grande is in the middle of the fault," said Gregory De Pascale, author of the publication in the journal Nature and an academic at the University of Chile.

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