Fueguino

Fueguino is a volcanic field in Chile. The southernmost volcano in the Andes, it lies on Tierra del Fuego's Cook Island and also extends over nearby Londonderry Island. The field is formed by lava domes, pyroclastic cones, and a crater lake.

Fueguino
Fueguino
Location of Fueguino in Chile
Highest point
Elevation150 m (490 ft) 
Prominence150 m (490 ft) 
Listing
Coordinates54.95°S 70.25°W / -54.95; -70.25 [1]
Geography
LocationCook, Londonderry Island
Tierra del Fuego, Magallanes
 Chile
Parent rangeTierra del Fuego
Geology
Age of rockMiocene-Holocene
Mountain typeVolcanic field
Volcanic beltAustral Volcanic Zone
Last eruption1926

Volcanic activity at Fueguino is part of the Austral Volcanic Zone, which is formed by the subduction of the Antarctic Plate beneath the South America Plate. The subducting plate has not reached a depth sufficient for proper volcanic arc volcanism, however.

The field bears no trace of glacial erosion on its volcanoes, and reports exist of volcanic activity in 1712, 1820 and 1926.

Geography and geology

Fueguino volcano lies in the commune of Cabo de Hornos, Chile.[2] Cities in the region are Rio Gallegos, Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, Rio Grande and Ushuaia.[3]

Regional

Fueguino is the southernmost volcano in the Andes. The volcano to the north is Monte Burney, which lies 400 kilometres (250 mi) northwest of Fueguino.[1] Both volcanoes belong to the Austral Volcanic Zone.[4] Since the Paleocene, a transform fault, which bisects the island,[5] has been moving the southern part of Tierra del Fuego[6] eastward along the South America Plate, accompanied by tectonic uplift that persisted into the Holocene except when it was offset by glacial loading effects.[6]

The subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate beneath the South America Plate is responsible for the formation of the Andean Volcanic Belt. This volcanic belt is subdivided into the Northern Volcanic Zone, the Central Volcanic Zone, the Southern Volcanic Zone and the Austral Volcanic Zone. The Austral Volcanic Zone features six Quaternary volcanoes and is 800 kilometres (500 mi) long. It is separated from the Southern Volcanic Zone by the Patagonian volcanic gap, where arc volcanism ceased 12 million years ago.[4]

South of where the Chile Rise intersects the Peru-Chile Trench, the trench disappears as it is increasingly buried by sediments. However, subduction is still active as evidenced by the converging motion of the Antarctic Plate and the South America Plate and the volcanic activity. Only around 52° does the convergence change into strike-slip faulting at the Shackleton Fracture Zone.[7] Subduction in that area commenced 17 million years ago, and the Antarctic slab has not sunk deep into the mantle. At shallow depth, magma generation is dominated by anatexis of the slab. The mantle ahead of the edge of the subducting slab may be dominated by a large slab window.[8]

Other volcanic activity occurred in the region farther east, on Hardy Peninsula and some surrounding capes and islands during the Miocene;[9] potassium-argon dating has yielded ages of 18 and 21 million years ago. These volcanic systems may indicate that the Antarctic Plate is subducting beneath the Scotia Plate.[10]

Three stages of tectonic activity have been noted; Late Cretaceous, Paleocene-Early Eocene and Middle Eocene to Oligocene.[11]

Local

Fueguino lies on a peninsula on the southeastern side of Cook Island, Tierra del Fuego,[1] but it also extends to Londonderry Island. The main Tierra del Fuego island lies northeast of Fueguino.[9] This area of southern Tierra del Fuego is part of the Fuegian Andes,[12] which are formed by various intrusive, effusive and metamorphic forms on the Scotia Plate.[13]

The field contains lava domes and pyroclastic cones,[1] reaching heights of 150 metres (490 ft).[14] One of these cones has a crater lake within a 150 metres (490 ft) wide crater. Volcanic activity may be influenced by north-south trending faults.[1]

Composition

The field has erupted andesite.[1] Such a limited range of composition is typical for Austral Volcanic Zone volcanoes, which only feature andesite and dacite.[15] Lava domes feature columnar joints.[1] The surface texture of the rocks is trachytic to porphyritic.[14]

The rocks contain phenocrysts of clinopyroxene, hornblende and plagioclase. In terms of composition, the Fueguino rocks belong to the calc-alkaline series and resemble tholeiites and andesites from primitive volcanic arcs.[14] Xenoliths from the Patagonian batholith are also found.[15]

Basement

The field is formed on top of plutonic rocks, which were scoured by glaciation.[1] At the south coast of Tierra del Fuego, volcanic activity provided the late Jurassic formation known as the Lemaire Formation. Later, during the Cretaceous, the Yaghan Formation consisting of marine sediments was deposed on top of the Lemaire Formation.[12] The basement of Fueguino consists of an ophiolite of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age. The ophiolitic sequence contains pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, titanomagnetite, cubanite and pyrite.[16]

Eruptive history

The volcanoes were unaffected by glacial activity, and potassium-argon dating has indicated a near absence of radiogenic argon.[14] Myths of the Yaghan people of a "world fire" may be a reference to volcanism at Fueguino, but they could also refer to an impact event.[17]

Ships passing in the area reported volcanic activity in 1712 and 1820.[1] The former eruption, dated around 26 November is uncertain.[18] It was reported by French captain Josselin Guardin; the volcano was marked on maps as Volcan San Clemente,[19] after Gardin's ship.[20]

The latter eruption was observed on the 25-26 November by HMS Conway captained by Basil Hall,[18][21] and involved the eruption of incandescent material.[1] According to reports it lasted intermittently for the whole morning that day.[21] A volcanic explosivity index of 2 has been estimated.[18] These volcanic activities were at first assumed to have occurred in the local Andes mountains, but a geological expedition by Giacomo Bove in 1882 found no evidence of a volcano there;[20] the field itself was accidentally discovered by geologists of SERNAGEOMIN in 1978.[21]

Further activity may have occurred on 3 February 1926, when a ship travelling through the northeastern arm of the Beagle Channel encountered a cloud of ash.[21] Such a cloud may have been transported to the ship's location by southwesterly winds from Fueguino.[22] Most recently, seismic swarms far south of Puerto Williams in 2018 were associated with Fueguino in the media.[23]

Climate and vegetation

The vegetation of the area belongs to the Magellanic Province,[12] formed by deciduous trees at low altitudes. Peatlands and bogs are widespread.[3] The climate is temperate and cold, with temperatures of about 5 °C (41 °F) and precipitation decreasing northeastward.[3] Sea surface temperatures in the Beagle Channel range 3–10 °C (37–50 °F).[12] The Fuegian Andes are covered by an ice sheet with outlet glaciers, although only on the Chilean side.[3]

During the ice ages, a substantial ice cap covered the Patagonian and Fuegian Andes.[3] Two stages of glaciation have been identified in southern Tierra del Fuego; four more have been found north of the Magellan Strait.[24] After about 10,000 years ago, Nothofagus woods developed in the region.[25]

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References
  1. "Fueguino". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
  2. "Sernageomin comienza marcha blanca para monitoreo del volcán Burney". Intendencia Región de Magallanes y de la Antárctica Chilena (in Spanish). 6 November 2015.
  3. Rabassa et al. 2000, p. 219.
  4. Fontijn, Karen; Lachowycz, Stefan M.; Rawson, Harriet; Pyle, David M.; Mather, Tamsin A.; Naranjo, José A.; Moreno-Roa, Hugo (2014). "Late Quaternary tephrostratigraphy of southern Chile and Argentina". Quaternary Science Reviews. 89: 73. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.02.007.
  5. Rabassa et al. 2000, p. 218.
  6. Rutter, Nat; Schnack, Enrique J.; Rio, Julio del; Fasano, Jorge L.; Isla, Federico I.; Radtke, Ulrich (1989). "Correlation and dating of Quaternary littoral zones along the Patagonian coast, Argentina". Quaternary Science Reviews. 8 (3): 215. doi:10.1016/0277-3791(89)90038-3.
  7. Puig et al. 1984, p. 149.
  8. Breitsprecher, Katrin; Thorkelson, Derek J. (2009). "Neogene kinematic history of Nazca–Antarctic–Phoenix slab windows beneath Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula". Tectonophysics. Interpreting the tectonic evolution of Pacific Rim margins using plate kinematics and slab window volcanism. 464 (1–4): 17. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2008.02.013.
  9. Puig et al. 1984, p. 151.
  10. Puig et al. 1984, p. 152.
  11. Torres Carbonell et al., 2010, p.277
  12. Zangrando, A. Francisco; Pinto Vargas, Germán; Tivoli, Angélica M. (2017). "Decreased foraging return in shellfishing? Species composition and shell size of blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) from a Late Holocene site of the South Coast of Tierra del Fuego". Quaternary International. 427A: 160–169. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.077.
  13. Rabassa et al. 2000, p. 218,219.
  14. Puig et al. 1984, p. 157.
  15. Fontijn, Karen; Lachowycz, Stefan M.; Rawson, Harriet; Pyle, David M.; Mather, Tamsin A.; Naranjo, José A.; Moreno-Roa, Hugo (2014). "Late Quaternary tephrostratigraphy of southern Chile and Argentina". Quaternary Science Reviews. 89: 74. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.02.007.
  16. Coloma et al., 2009, p.3
  17. Masse, W. Bruce; Masse, Michael J. (2007). "Myth and catastrophic reality: using myth to identify cosmic impacts and massive Plinian eruptions in Holocene South America". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 273 (1): 198. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2007.273.01.15. ISSN 0305-8719.
  18. "Fueguino". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution., Eruptive History
  19. Martinic 1988, p. 184.
  20. Martinic 1988, p. 185.
  21. Martinic, Mateo B (2008). "Registro Histórico de Antecedentes Volcánicos y Sísmicos en la Patagonia Austral y la Tierra del Fuego". Magallania (Punta Arenas) (in Spanish). 36 (2). doi:10.4067/S0718-22442008000200001. ISSN 0718-2244.
  22. Martinic 1988, p. 186.
  23. "Nuevos sismos se registraron al sur de Puerto Williams". El Pinguino (in Spanish). Patagonica Publicaciones S.A. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  24. Rabassa et al. 2000, p. 220.
  25. Rabassa et al. 2000, p. 228.

Bibliography
  • Coloma, F; Calderón, M.; Astudillo, A. (2009). Súlfuros y óxidos en el Complejo Ofiolítico Tortuga, Andes Fueguinos, Chile. XII Congreso Geológico Chileno. pp. 1–4.
  • Martinic, Mateo (1988). "Actividad volcánica histórica en la Region de Magallanes". Andean Geology (in Spanish). 15 (2): 181–186. ISSN 0718-7106.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Puig, A.; Herve, M.; Suárez, M.; Saunders, A. D. (1984). "Calc-alkaline and alkaline miocene and calc-alkaline recent volcanism in the Southernmost Patagonian Cordillera, Chile". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 21 (1–2): 149–163. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(84)90020-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rabassa, Jorge; Coronato, Andrea; Bujalesky, Gustavo; Salemme, Mónica; Roig, Claudio; Meglioli, Andrés; Heusser, Calvin; Gordillo, Sandra; Roig, Fidel (2000). "Quaternary of Tierra del Fuego, Southernmost South America: an updated review". Quaternary International. Nat Rutter Honorarium. 68–71: 217–240. doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00046-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Torres Carbonell, P.J; Dimieri, L.V.; Olivero, E.B. (2010). "Thrust-fold belt kinematics and orogenic growth in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina: implications of backthrusting for critical Coulomb wedge development". Trabajos de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo. 30: 273–277.
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