Geology of Bolivia
The geology of Bolivia comprises a variety of different
Andes
The Andes of Bolivia began to rise about 200 million years ago (mya) during the
Western Cordillera
The Western Cordillera is made up by a series of active and extinct volcanoes rising from the western edge of the Altiplano plateau. This range divides the Chilean watersheds of Salar de Atacama and the Pacific from the endorheic Altiplano basin. The western volcanoes of Bolivia are part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a major upper Cenozoic volcanic province.[8] Volcanic eruptions in Bolivia are scarce, the latest one occurred in Irruputuncu in 1995. Volcanic hazards do not represent any threat to the major populated centres which are all in the eastern Altiplano or further east, far away from the volcanic centers. Although the Western Cordillera concentrates most active volcanoes (volcanoes active in the last 10000 years) many old large stratovolcanoes rises up to 100 km away from the main line of the Western Cordillera.
Altiplano plateau
The Altiplano plateau or Meseta del Collasuyu to differentiate it from other Andean high
The Bolivian Altiplano hosts the world's largest reserves of
.Eastern Cordillera
Cordillera Oriental is made up of a bended arc of plutons. The bend occurs at the latitude of
Lowlands and Sub-Andean zone
The Sub-Andean Zone and the Northern and Eastern Lowlands share a common ancient history but have since the Andean orogeny developed into two distinct zones. While both zones share essentially the same old
Fold and thrust belt
The relatively low
Eastern Lowlands
The geology of the eastern lowlands is dominated by the ancient
Northern Lowlands
The Northern Lowlands are and have long been a depositional milieu and are mostly covered by Tertiary and Quaternary deposits. The bulk of these deposits are now laterites. River erosion and sediment transport have created a large number of oxbow lakes and added copious meanders to the rivers.
Guaporé Shield
In the north and east of
Proyecto Precámbrico,[20] an Anglo-Bolivian technical cooperation project, explored the area between 1976 and 1986. There are a series of published 1:250,000 scale maps of the area with accompanying bilingual reports, along with more detailed 1:100,000 maps of regions of economic interest. There is a published geochemical atlas. Most of this data is summarised in an "Overseas Memoir" of the British Geological Survey.[21]
See also
- List of volcanoes in Bolivia
- Natural gas in Bolivia
- Potosí
- San Cristóbal mine (Bolivia)
- Siglo XX mine
References
- ^ "The Use of Solar Energy for Improving the Living Conditions in Altiplano/Argentina" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Geology of the Altiplano, Oregon State University
- ^ Neogene climate change and uplift in the Atacama Desert, Chile
- ^ a b Garcia-Castellanos, D., 2007. The role of climate in high plateau formation. Insights from numerical experiments. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 257, 372–390, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.039
- ^ Tectonics and Climate of the Southern Central Andes, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 2007.
Cite: "precipitation and erosion may influence the kinematics and locus of tectonic activity in orogens." - ^ David R. Montgomery, Greg Balco and Sean D. Willett. 2001 Climate, tectonics, and the morphology of the Andes
Cite: "...like tectonics, nonuniform erosion due to large-scale climate patterns is a first-order control on the topographic evolution of the Andes." - ^ Lamb and Davis. 2003. Cenozoic climate change as a possible cause for the rise of the Andes, Nature
- ^ Lamb, Hoke, Kennan, Dewey. 1996. Cenozoic evolution of the Central Andes in Bolivia and northern Chile.
- ^ Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems. Pages 376–381.
- ^ Sandra L. McBride, Ronald C. R. Robertson, Alan H. Clark and Edward Farrar. 1983.Magmatie and Metallogenetie Episodes in the Northern Tin Belt, Cordillera Real, Bolivia. Geologische Rundschau. Vol. 72.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-89181-341-5.
- ISBN 978-0-89181-341-5.
- ISBN 978-0-89181-341-5.
- ^ METALLIFEROUS ORE DEPOSITS OF BOLIVIA
- ^ "Serrania Mutun, Chiquitos Province, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia". mindat.org. Retrieved 2006-10-20.
- ^ The geologic and geomorphic evolution of Serrania Huanchaca, eastern Bolivia: the legendary 'Lost World'. M Litherland and G Power: Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Vol 2, No 1, 1–17, 1989.
- ^ Mathers, S J, ed. (1991). "BGS Technical Cooperation in Latin America (1965–90)" (PDF). British Geological Survey Technical Report (WC191125): 19–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 4, 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
- ^ The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Bolivian Precambrian Shield. M Litherland and others: Overseas Memoir 9, British Geological Survey, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1986.
External links
- Media related to Geology of Bolivia at Wikimedia Commons