Zapaleri is a

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

whose summit is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of the borders of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. A number of

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

s are in the area. It is part of

Potosí Department Potosí (; Southern Quechua, Quechua: ''P'utuqsi''; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi'') is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419 (2024 census). The capital is the ...

(Bolivia),

Jujuy Province Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south. Geography There are three main areas in Jujuy ...

(Argentina), and

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region (, ) is one of Chile's Administrative divisions of Chile, sixteen first-order administrative divisions. Being the second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta, El ...

(Chile). The volcano formed on top of the 2.89 mya Tara Ignimbrite from the Guacha caldera and the basement beneath the volcano is formed from Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks affected by tectonic deformation. Volcanic rocks are

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

and

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

. Late Cretaceous rocks are also found in the area, as are

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

shoshonite volcanic rocks. The Bolivian portion of the mountain is protected within

Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve (''Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa''; Spanish acronym: REA) is located in Sur Lípez Province. Situated in the far southwestern region of Bolivia, it is the country's most visited ...

. Moreover, it is close to the sector ''Salar de Tara-Salar de Aguas Calientes'' of

Los Flamencos National Reserve Los Flamencos National Reserve is a nature reserve located in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. The reserve covers a total area of in the Central Andean dry puna ecoregion and consists of seven separate se ...

, Chile. Zapaleri is associated with a major source of

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

, with a distribution sphere found in archeological sites over wide. The obsidian is found on the Bolivian side of the border next to Laguna Blanca. Another source is found on Solterio Mountain. Inca and earlier archeological remains are associated with the obsidian sites.

References

External links

* Volcanoes of Antofagasta Region Volcanoes of Potosí Department Mountains of Jujuy Province Mountains of Antofagasta Region Headlands of Chile Argentina–Chile border Bolivia–Chile border Argentina–Bolivia border International mountains of South America Border tripoints Five-thousanders of the Andes Mountains of Potosí Department {{chile-mountain-stub