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PLUTONS is a Project located at the Altiplano (Bolivia and Chile) in the Andean Range region. Show below is a map with locations of the two targets, Uturuncu and Lazufre (yellow stars), as well as past supereruptions locations (red circles)  Para For For a zoomed view click  Here.


Uturuncu  Volcano- First target









  Uturuncu and Quetena Chico view. Photo by Tom Fournier.

 Uturuncu is located southwest of Bolivia. The nearest town is Quetena Chico. (Image shown left). Scientist have been recording its uplifting a decade ago   


Zoom of Uturuncu. Photo by Matt Pritchard.



 Vista  East view at Uturuncu summit







Llamas stand near Uturuncu. Photo by Tom Fournier.

Uturuncu is near of the Reserva Eduardo Avaroa (REA) national park for the Andean Fauna. Rea is a protected area for high altitude endangered animals and is one of the most known turistics destinations in Bolivia. Some of the protected animals include flamingos, andean ostrish and vicunas. Near the Reserva entrance, stands the Arbol de Piedra (see below) fomed by erosion of a supervolcanic eruption. For more information about the REA visit the REA website.
 


Arbol de piedra (stone tree). Photo by Panoramio.

 Flamencos and Vicunas at the REA. Photo by Tom Fournier


Lear more about the Uturuncu at Global Volcanism Program website, part of the Smithsonian Institue.



Lazufre - Second target Lazufre is the uplifted area located between the Lastarria and the Cordon del Azufre volcanoes.






  ASTER Image of the Lastarria/Lazufre/Cordon del Azufre area.


 A photo taken at Lazufre center showing no surface evidence related to deep activity. 

Lazufre is the given name for the area, a combination of Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre. There are easy to observe lava flows at each volcano, but no at the center. Lazufre. Although Lazufre is not a volcano, this is also an uplifting area as the Uturuncu area is 


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   Actives fumaroles of Lastarria covered by sulfur. Photo by Mark Simons
Sulfur lava flows at Lastarria have a Pahoehoe texture and are famous because can be similar to  lava flows at the Jupiter's moon Io (Naranjo, 1987). Photo by Mark Simons.


Learn more about Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre at the Global Volcanism Program website.


Learn more about the Altiplano volcanic activity at  http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/fieldtrips



What is special about Uturuncu and Lazufre?



  • Not obvious deformation related to Holocene volcanoes

  • One of the longest and bored deformation patterns observed (little time or space complexity)

  • One of the biggest deformation patterns known (almost as big as Yellowstone) = implying deep source or big magma chamber

  • Located at the world's biggest magma body region (Zandt et al., 2003) and the youngest ignimbrite flare up over the past 10 million years,  (Kay et al., 1999; de Silva et al., 2006)