Cerro Bayo Complex

{{Short description|Mountain in Argentina}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Cerro Bayo

| photo = Cerro Bayo volcanic complex.jpg

| photo_caption = The Cerro Bayo volcanic complex lies along the Chile-Argentina border east of the Salar de Gorbea, the light-colored area at the left-center portion of this NASA Landsat image. A young well-preserved crater can be seen NE of an older snow-covered center (bottom-center). A younger northern center along the national border has a well-preserved 400-m-wide crater.

| elevation_m = 5401

| elevation_ref =

| prominence =

| location = Argentina-Chile

| range = Andes

| coordinates = {{coord|25|25|S|68|35|W|type:mountain_region:CL}}

| topo =

| type = Complex volcano

| age =

| last_eruption = Unknown

| first_ascent =

| easiest_route =

}}

Cerro Bayo is a complex volcano on the northern part border between Argentina and Chile. It consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes along a north–south line. The main volcano face is located on the Argentine side, thought the summit of the complex is just west of the border, in Chile. The volcano is about 800,000 years old, but it is associated with ongoing ground uplift encompassing also the more northerly Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre volcanoes. The {{convert|5401|m|adj=on}} high summit is the source of two viscous dacitic lava flows with prominent levees that traveled to the north.

Elemental sulfur can be found at Bayo,{{cite journal |last1=Karmanocky |first1=F. J. |last2=Benison |first2=K. C. |title=A fluid inclusion record of magmatic/hydrothermal pulses in acid Salar Ignorado gypsum, northern Chile |journal=Geofluids |date=August 2016 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=490–506 |doi=10.1111/gfl.12171 |bibcode=2016Gflui..16..490K |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gfl.12171 |language=en}} both in the form of high-grade massive deposits and as extinct fumarole chimneys.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/610340030 |title=Stratabound ore deposits in the Andes |date=1990 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |others=L. Fontboté, Multiciencias, Unesco |isbn=978-3-642-88282-1 |location=Berlin |oclc=610340030|page=698}} The volcano formed in three separate phases that produced lava flows. One is dated to 1.6±0.4 million years ago.{{cite journal |last1=Trumbull |first1=R.B |last2=Wittenbrink |first2=R |last3=Hahne |first3=K |last4=Emmermann |first4=R |last5=Büsch |first5=W |last6=Gerstenberger |first6=H |last7=Siebel |first7=W |title=Evidence for Late Miocene to Recent contamination of arc andesites by crustal melts in the Chilean Andes (25–26°S) and its geodynamic implications |journal=Journal of South American Earth Sciences |date=March 1999 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=140 |doi=10.1016/S0895-9811(99)00011-5|bibcode=1999JSAES..12..135T }} The volcano can bear snow in winter.{{cite journal |last1=Escudero |first1=Lorena |last2=Oetiker |first2=Nia |last3=Gallardo |first3=Karem |last4=Tebes-Cayo |first4=Cinthya |last5=Guajardo |first5=Mariela |last6=Nuñez |first6=Claudia |last7=Davis-Belmar |first7=Carol |last8=Pueyo |first8=J. J. |last9=Chong Díaz |first9=Guillermo |last10=Demergasso |first10=Cecilia |title=A thiotrophic microbial community in an acidic brine lake in Northern Chile |journal=Antonie van Leeuwenhoek |date=1 August 2018 |volume=111 |issue=8 |pages=1403–1419 |doi=10.1007/s10482-018-1087-8 |pmid=29748902 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10482-018-1087-8 |language=en |issn=1572-9699}} The youngest dated rocks are about 23,000 years old;{{cite conference|last1=Grosse|first1=Pablo|first2=Silvina|last2=Guzmán|first3=I.|last3=Petrinovic|title=Volcanes compuestos cenozoicos del noroeste argentino|conference=Ciencias de la Tierra y Recursos Naturales del NOA (Muruaga, C.; Grosse, P (2017)|year=2017|page=506|via=ResearchGate}} in 2007 a steam eruption were observed by researchers investigating nearby salt pans such as Salar Ignorado.{{cite journal |last1=Benison |first1=Kathleen C. |title=The Physical and Chemical Sedimentology of Two High-Altitude Acid Salars in Chile: Sedimentary Processes In An Extreme Environment |journal=Journal of Sedimentary Research |date=1 February 2019 |volume=89 |issue=2 |pages=149–150 |doi=10.2110/jsr.2019.9 |bibcode=2019JSedR..89..147B |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article/89/2/147/568967 |language=en |issn=1527-1404}}