Читать книгу Torres del Paine. Chile's Premier National Park and Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park онлайн

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Further south, the Andes are generally lower in elevation, with the highest peak in Chilean Patagonia (Monte San Valentin) reaching 4058m; while the highest peak in Torres del Paine national park (Cerro Paine Grande) clocks in at a mere 3050m, or somewhat less according to some measurements. Formed by the movement of the Nazca and Antarctic plates beneath the South American plate, the Andes also contain many volcanoes (Nevado Ojos del Salado for example, and the 6570m Tupungato which towers above Santiago) – several of them active (Chile’s Llaima volcano erupted in both 2008 and 2009; Chaitén in 2008–9).

Chile’s position on the edge of the Pacific plate means that it also experiences its share of earthquakes, including the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960 which devastated the city of Valdivia and measured a staggering 9.5 on the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS, a development of the Richter Scale which measures large earthquakes more accurately) – the world’s strongest ever recorded. In February 2010 another huge earthquake struck the area south of Santiago, measuring 8.8 on the MMS and causing widespread destruction.