Aucanquilcha is a massive stratovolcano located in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile, just south of the border with Bolivia. It is composed of a number of overlapping cones along a 10 km (6 mi) long ridge that forms the summit. There is fumarolic activity and voluminous sulfur deposits in the summit region. During the Pleistocene ice ages, an extensive ice cap with an area over 45 km² (17 mi²) mantled the upper slopes, extending down as low as 4,600 m (15,000 ft) and leaving large moraines.
A sulfur mine was located near the summit of Aucanquilcha, which was the world's highest mine until it closed in the 1990s, and it was serviced by perhaps the highest driveable road in the world, but this road is no longer usable by vehicles. The highest permanent human habitation was a miners' barracks at about 5,500 m (18,000 ft). Mining originally began on the volcano in 1913, initially using llamas as pack animals to carry down the sulfur. An aerial cable system extending for 22 km (14 mi) was completed in 1935, to lower the sulfur in buckets. Eventually this was replaced by the road which switchbacked up to the summit and was capable of supporting 20-ton mining trucks.
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Other pages about Mountains of Chile
-Acamarachi -Acotango -Aguas Calientes (volcano) -Aguilera (volcano) -Antillanca Group -Antuco (volcano) -Arintica -Aucanquilcha -Caichinque -Calbuco (volcano) -Callaqui -Cerro Arenales -Cerro Azul (Chile volcano) -Cerro Bayo -Cerro Castillo -Cerro Castillo Dynevor -Cerro Chalten -Cerro El Muerto -Cerro El Plomo -Cerro Escorial -Cerro Maca -Cerro Minchincha -Cerro Miscanti -Cerro Paranal -Cerro Pared Norte -Cerro Solo -Cerro Torre -Cerros de Incahuasi -Chiliques -Copahue -Copiapo (volcano) -Corcovado (volcano) -Cordon Caulle -Cordon del Azufre -Descabezado Grande -Falso Azufre -Guallatiri -Hornopiren (volcano) -Incahuasi -Irruputuncu -Isluga -Juriques -Lanin -Lascar Volcano -Lastarria -Lautaro (volcano) -Licancabur -List of mountains in Chile -Llaima -Llullaillaco -Lonquimay (volcano) -Maipo (volcano) -Marmolejo -Melimoyu -Mentolat -Michinmahuida -Miniques -Mino Volcano -Mocho-Choshuenco -Monte Balmaceda -Monte Burney -Monte San Lorenzo -Monte San Valentin -Mount Darwin (Andes) -Mount Hudson -Mount Tarn -Nevado San Francisco -Nevado Tres Cruces -Nevado de Longavi -Nevados de Chillan -Ojos del Salado -Olca -Ollague -Osorno (volcano) -Palomo -Paniri -Parinacota Volcano -Paruma -Planchon-Peteroa -Pomerape -Pular (volcano) -Puntiagudo-Cordon Cenizos -Putana Volcano -Puyehue (volcano) -Puyuhuapi (volcanic group) -Quetrupillan -Sairecabur -San Jose (volcano) -San Pedro (Chile volcano) -Sierra Nevada de Lagunas Bravas -Sierra Nevada (stratovolcano) -Sierra Velluda -Socompa -Taapaca -Tacora -Tinguiririca (volcano) -Tocorpuri -Tolhuaca (volcano) -Tralcan -Tronador -Tupungatito -Tupungato -Villarrica (volcano) -Yanteles -Yate (volcano) -Zapaleri
Other pages about Volcanoes of Chile
-Acamarachi -Acotango -Aguas Calientes (volcano) -Aguilera (volcano) -Antillanca Group -Antuco (volcano) -Arintica -Aucanquilcha -Caichinque -Calbuco (volcano) -Callaqui -Carran-Los Venados -Cerro Arenales -Cerro Azul (Chile volcano) -Cerro Bayo -Cerro Escorial -Cerro Maca -Cerro Minchincha -Cerro Solo -Chiliques -Copahue -Copiapo (volcano) -Corcovado (volcano) -Cordon Caulle -Cordon del Azufre -Descabezado Grande -Falso Azufre -Guallatiri -Hornopiren (volcano) -Incahuasi -Irruputuncu -Isluga -Juriques -Lanin -Lascar Volcano -Lastarria -Lautaro (volcano) -Licancabur -List of volcanoes in Chile -Llaima -Llullaillaco -Lonquimay (volcano) -Maipo (volcano) -Marmolejo -Melimoyu -Mentolat -Michinmahuida -Miniques -Mino Volcano -Mocho-Choshuenco -Monte Burney -Mount Hudson -Nevado San Francisco -Nevado de Longavi -Nevados de Chillan -Nevados de Payachata -Nevados de Quimsachata -Ojos del Salado -Olca -Ollague -Osorno (volcano) -Pali-Aike Volcanic Field -Palomo -Paniri -Parinacota Volcano -Paruma -Planchon-Peteroa -Pomerape -Pular (volcano) -Puntiagudo-Cordon Cenizos -Purico Complex -Putana Volcano -Puyehue (volcano) -Puyuhuapi (volcanic group) -Quetrupillan -Rano Kau -Sairecabur -San Jose (volcano) -San Pedro (Chile volcano) -Sierra Nevada de Lagunas Bravas -Sierra Nevada (stratovolcano) -Socompa -Taapaca -Tacora -Tinguiririca (volcano) -Tocorpuri -Tolhuaca (volcano) -Tronador -Tupungatito -Tupungato -Villarrica (volcano) -Yanteles -Yate (volcano)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Aucanquilcha
