Descabezado Grande

Descabezado Grande
Highest point
Elevation	3,953 m (12,969 ft)
Coordinates	35°35′26″S 70°44′48″W
Geography
Descabezado Grande Location of Descabezado Grande in Chile
Location	Central Chile
Parent range	Andes
Geology
Rock age	Pleistocene
Mountain type	Stratovolcano
Volcanic arc/belt	South Volcanic Zone
Last eruption	June 1933

Descabezado Grande (also Cerro Azul or Quizapu) is a stratovolcano located in the Maule Region of central Chile. It is capped by a 1.4-kilometre-wide (0.9 mi) ice-filled caldera and named for its flat-topped form, as descabezado means "headless" in Spanish. A smaller crater about 500 metres (1,600 ft) wide is found in the northeast part of the caldera, and it has active fumaroles.

The volcano is composed of andesite and rhyodacite lava flows along with pyroclastic flow deposits. It has a basal diameter of about 10 by 12 kilometres (6.2 by 7.5 mi) and a total volume of about 30 cubic kilometres (7.2 cu mi). Along with Cerro Azul, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to the south, it lies at the center of a 20-by-30-kilometre (12-by-19-mile) volcanic field.

Gallery

• 
  Descabezado Grande volcano from the air. View to the east.
• 
  Descabezado Grande is in the top center of this NASA World Wind screenshot.

See also

• List of volcanoes in Chile

References

• "Descabezado Grande". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
• González-Ferrán, Oscar (1995). Volcanes de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Instituto Geográfico Militar. p. 640 pp. ISBN 956-202-054-1. (in Spanish; also includes volcanoes of Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru)
• Biggar, John (2005). The Andes: A Guide for Climbers (3rd ed.). Andes Publishing (Scotland). p. 304 pp. ISBN 0-9536087-2-7.