Nevado Tres Cruces | |
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![]() Tres Cruces from Ojos del Salado to the east. The higher south summit is on the left, the central summit on the right. | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 6,748 m (22,139 ft) |
Coordinates | 27°05′S 68°48′W / 27.08°S 68.8°W[1] |
Geography | |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Pleistocene |
Nevado Tres Cruces is a massif of volcanic origin in the Andes Mountains on the border of Argentina and Chile. It has two main summits, Tres Cruces Sur at 6,748 metres (22,139 ft) and Tres Cruces Centro at 6,629 m (21,749 ft) and a third minor summit, Tres Cruces Norte 6,030 m (19,780 ft). Tres Cruces Sur is the sixth highest mountain in the Andes.
The volcano has an extended history of activity, going back at least 1.5 million years. A number of lava domes surround the complex and a number of craters lie on its summits. The main volcano is of rhyodacitic composition and has generated two major ignimbritic eruptions, one 1.5 million years ago and a second 67,000 years ago. The last eruption was 28,000 years ago, but the volcano is a candidate source for a Holocene eruption and could erupt again in the future.