Cerro Chao (original) (raw)

Cerro Chao is a lava flow complex associated with the Cerro del León volcano in the Andes. It is the largest known Quaternary silicic volcano body and part of the most recent phase of activity in the Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex. Cerro Chao formed over the course of three eruptions preceded by a pyroclastic stage. Three large lobate lava flows erupted in the col between two volcanoes and advanced for a maximum length of 14 kilometres (8.7 mi). The eruption that originated the lava flows probably lasted more than one hundred years and occurred before the Holocene.