The NW rim of Diamante caldera in the center of the image rises above the caldera floor in the foreground. The caldera was formed during voluminous rhyolitic explosive eruptions about 450,000 years ago that produced ashflows that extended radially more than 100 km from the caldera, covering much of the Central Valley of Chile and extending into Argentina. The conical snow-capped peak on the center horizon beyond rugged intervening peaks of the Andes is San José volcano.

Photo by Oscar González-Ferrán (University of Chile).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Maipo