| Copahue | |
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Copahue's southwest face with Laguna Las Totoras in the foreground. |
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| Elevation | 2,997 m (9,833 ft) [1] |
| Location | |
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Copahue
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| Location | Argentina and Chile |
| Range | Andes |
| Coordinates | [1] |
| Geology | |
| Type | Stratovolcano |
| Last eruption | 2000[1] |
Copahue is a stratovolcano on the border between Argentina and Chile. There are nine volcanic craters along a 2 km (1.2 mi) line, and the eastern summit crater contains a briny, acidic 300 m (1000 ft) wide crater lake. Twentieth-century eruptions from the crater lake have ejected pyroclastic rocks and chilled liquid sulfur fragments. [1]
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Copahue sits on a basement of sedimentary and volcanic rocks ranging from the Eocene to the Pliocene[2]. The modern volcano sits in a volcanically active area, with a caldera from the Pliocene, measuring 20 km by 15 km, lying to the east of Copahue. The modern volcano became active roughly 1.2 Ma[2]. The modern caldera formed .6 to .4 Ma, and produced large pyroclastic flows, extending up to 37 kilometers from the volcano[2].
The modern structure is an elongated shield volcano, with a maximum thickness of 22 kilometers and a minimum of 8 kilometers[2]. There have been at least 6 eruptions within the Holocene, with the most recent in 2000. The easternmost (and most active) crater contains a crater lake with a pH ranging between .18 and .30[2]. While it emptied during the 2000 eruption, it has returned to its previous levels.
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