Tocomar

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Coordinates: 24°10′S 66°34′W / 24.167°S 66.567°W / -24.167; -66.567
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Tocomar
Tocomar is located in Argentina
Tocomar
Tocomar
Highest point
Coordinates24°10′S 66°34′W / 24.167°S 66.567°W / -24.167; -66.567[1]
Geology
Age of rockPleistocene
Mountain typeVolcano

Tocomar is a

El Toro fault, which runs diagonally across the volcanic arc
.

Tocomar has generated several

gamma ray observatory and as a mine
.

Geography and geomorphology

Tocomar lies in northwestern Argentina,

Salta-Antofagasta railway[7][8] and National Route 51 [es] pass close to the volcanic field.[9]

Tocomar is located at 4,388 metres (14,396 ft) elevation within a northwestward draining[10] valley. In this valley, pyroclastic flow and pyroclastic surge deposits crop out on the valley floor and parts of its slopes. In the northwestern and southeastern segments of the field, two vents can be recognized and are associated with springs.[11] An obsidian lava dome marks one of the vents; aside from vents and dome the pyroclastic deposit forms most of this volcano.[12]

silica and sulfur accumulations can be found.[3] The temperature of the water is about 80 °C (176 °F)[13] and the waters are salty.[14] Pits interpreted as having formed during hydrothermal explosions are also found.[15] The springs are mostly found where the terrain has been incised by valleys. Electrical resistivity has been used to infer the structure of the geothermal reservoir beneath Tocomar,[16] which is mostly located within an Ordovician basement;[17] the temperatures of the reservoir have been estimated to be 131–235 °C (268–455 °F) at depth.[18] The water appears to be precipitation water that infiltrates terrain south of Tocomar, at elevations of 4,900–5,000 metres (16,100–16,400 ft).[19] After being heated by the deep geothermal system, the water seems to interact with another shallower aquifer before emerging in the springs.[20]

Tocomar has been investigated for the potential to generate geothermal power.[21][a] Exploration of the Tocomar-Cerro Tuzgle area ceased after a few wells were drilled and ended up being unproductive[22] but has been reinitiated.[23]

Geology

Background

Tocomar is part of the

Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex.[26][c] About 200 of all volcanoes in the Andes have been active during the Holocene, 66 of these in historical times.[28][d] The date of the last eruption of Tocomar is not known with certainty but was in the Pleistocene.[30]

Aside from the regular volcanic arc, volcanoes aligned along west-northwest to east-southeast lineaments are also part of the Central Volcanic Zone.[1][31][e]

Local

At Tocomar, the Calama-Olacapato-El Toro fault is subdivided into two subsidiary faults called Incachule and Chorrillos,

microseismic activity is still ongoing.[39][15]

The Tocomar volcano was constructed atop the ignimbrites from the Aguas Calientes caldera, as well as Pleistocene sediments which display traces of earthquake activity and form an alluvial cone.[40] The area is a former basin now filled with volcanic and sedimentary rocks.[18] The oldest outcropping basement in the region is the Precambrian Puncoviscana Formation east of Tocomar, in the San Antonio de los Cobres ridge. Other volcanoes in the region are Cerro Tuzgle and two maars due north, Negro de Chorrillos and San Jéronimo due east and the Aguas Calientes caldera due south;[41] the last two are located fairly close to Tocomar.[42] These volcanoes were active roughly in reverse order, with Aguas Calientes active between 11 and 10 million years ago,[43] while the other centers are of Quaternary age.[44]

Composition

The Tocomar centre has erupted

calc-alkaline magmatic series. It does not contain many crystals, which are formed by biotite, plagioclase and quartz.[12]

Climate, hydrology and vegetation

The region is sunny,

arid climate.[10] The region was warmer and even drier in the past during the early Holocene,[48] but Tocomar was paradoxically wetter.[49]

Springs give source to several permanent rivers in the region,[50] which flow in deep valleys.[18] Among these rivers is the Tocomar river [Wikidata], which after originating in a wetland receives the water from the Tocomar geothermal field and eventually ends in the Salar de Cauchari [Wikidata].[51]

Much of the area around Tocomar has no vegetation.

blue-green algae.[9]

Among the animals of the area are

amphipods such as Hyalella and leeches, among other aquatic macroinvertebrates.[54] During the mid-Holocene dry period the wetlands of Tocomar may further have offered a refuge for local humans.[55]

Eruptive history

Between 1,150,000 ± 300,000 and 550,000 ± 100,000, the "Tocomar ignimbrite" was emplaced in the area. It consists of several different units of pyroclastic material,[40] which cover a surface of about 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi).[3][15] It is likely that geothermal activity was occurring at Tocomar prior to the emplacement of these ignimbrites; geothermally altered material was ejected during the eruptions.[56]

The eruption process has been reconstructed with the aid of the volcanic deposits.

rhyolitic magma with the old geothermal system,[21] and triggered by movement along the local faults.[15]

Gravimetric anomalies, the presence of magmatic water in the springs and their high temperatures of about 80 °C (176 °F) indicate that a magma chamber still exists beneath Tocomar.[21]

Human use

Indigenous people of the region obtained obsidian at Tocomar and other sites of the region.[60] Tocomar itself was not a major obsidian source however; other sites in the region were far more important.[61]

In modern times, Tocomar has been investigated as a candidate site for a

kaolin mine in the area was reported in 1993.[63]

Notes

  1. power line between Chile and Argentina.[13]
  2. Austral Volcanic Zone.[25]
  3. ^ Among the volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone is Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in the world.[26] The largest historical eruption of the Andes took place in the Central Volcanic Zone, in 1600 when Huaynaputina erupted in Peru. This eruption reached class 6 in the volcanic explosivity index and caused 1500 direct fatalities and likely global climate effects.[27] Presently, Lascar in Chile is the most active volcano of the Central Volcanic Zone.[26]
  4. ^ Volcanic activity in the Andes is ongoing since the Jurassic. During the late Oligocene, the breakup of the Farallon Plate was accompanied by an increase of volcanic activity all along the Andes and tectonic extension in the southern Central Andes. There, this tectonic process caused the formation of tectonic basins from the forearc region into Argentina.[26] In a separate process, large scale delamination of the lower crust triggered uplift of the Puna plateau and intense ignimbrite volcanism on it.[29]
  5. pluton of Las Burras.[34]

References

  1. ^ a b c Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 37.
  2. ^ Yacobaccio et al. 2004, p. 198.
  3. ^ a b c Coira 2008, p. 573.
  4. ^ Coira 2008, p. 563.
  5. ^ Fabbroni 2015, p. 171.
  6. ^ Giordano et al. 2016, p. 203.
  7. ^ Rovero et al. 2009, p. 872.
  8. ^ Benedetti, Alejandro (2005). "El Ferrocarril Huaytiquina, entre el progreso y el fracaso: Aproximaciones desde la geografía histórica del Territorio de los Andes" [The Huaytiquina Railroad, between progress and failure: Approaches from the historical geography of the Territory of the Andes]. Revista Escuela de Historia (in Spanish). 4 (1): 7.
  9. ^
    hdl:11336/70337
    .
  10. ^ a b c Giordano et al. 2013, p. 83.
  11. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 40.
  12. ^ a b c d Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 242.
  13. ^ a b c Giordano et al. 2013, p. 79.
  14. ^ Giordano et al. 2016, p. 206.
  15. ^
    S2CID 128596206
    .
  16. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 85.
  17. ^ Filipovich et al. 2022, p. 20.
  18. ^ a b c d Giordano et al. 2016, p. 204.
  19. ^ Panarello, Sierra & Pedro 1992, p. 69,71.
  20. ^ Giordano et al. 2016, p. 207.
  21. ^ a b c d Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 46.
  22. hdl:2158/1087501
    .
  23. ^ Filipovich et al. 2022, p. 2.
  24. ^ Norini et al. 2013, p. 1281.
  25. ^ a b Tilling 2009, p. 126.
  26. ^
    doi:10.4067/S0716-02082004000200001
    .
  27. ^ Tilling 2009, p. 129.
  28. ^ Tilling 2009, p. 128.
  29. ^ Norini et al. 2013, p. 1282.
  30. ^ "Tocomar". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
  31. ^ Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 240.
  32. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 38.
  33. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 77.
  34. ^ Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 241.
  35. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 47.
  36. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 48.
  37. ^ Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 248.
  38. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 92.
  39. ^ Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 246.
  40. ^ a b c Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 39.
  41. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 78.
  42. ^ Petrinovic et al. 2006, p. 243.
  43. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 80.
  44. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 81.
  45. ^ a b c d Nieto et al. 2017, p. 555.
  46. ^ Panarello, Sierra & Pedro 1992, p. 58.
  47. ^ a b c Fabbroni 2015, p. 172.
  48. ^ Yacobaccio et al. 2013, p. 40.
  49. hdl:11336/24879
    .
  50. ^ Giordano et al. 2013, p. 84.
  51. ^ a b Fabbroni 2015, p. 173.
  52. ^ a b Yacobaccio et al. 2013, p. 39.
  53. S2CID 91067553
    .
  54. ^ Nieto et al. 2017, pp. 565–567.
  55. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2016.08.004
    .
  56. ^ a b c Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 45.
  57. ^ a b Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 44.
  58. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, p. 39,41.
  59. ^ Petrinovic & Colombo Piñol 2006, pp. 41–43.
  60. ^ Yacobaccio et al. 2004, p. 194.
  61. ^ Yacobaccio et al. 2004, p. 201.
  62. ^ Rovero et al. 2009, p. 873.
  63. USGS
    . Retrieved 10 December 2017.

Sources

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