Panoramic view to the southeast showing the La Laguna area in the Frontal Cordillera of Elqui, northern Chile. This area of challenging accessibility hosts packages several hundreds of meters thick of Permian to Triassic volcanic strata, together with contemporaneous plutonic and hypabissal rocks, which turn it into a privileged zone for the study of these ancient magmatic systems. These rocks are overlain by Cenozoic volcanic packages, mainly exposed in the highest mountain range in the picture, which includes the Cerro Olivares (6,183 m a.s.l.). All the described rocks extend further east into Argentinian territory. Photography by Diego Castillo, Nov. 2019.

Aerial photograph of the Andes Mountain range, taken from Chile into Argentina (i.e., west to east). The prominent, ice-capped and cone-shaped mountain in the middle ground is the ~6,550 m-high Tupungato volcano. This edifice was the subject of geological reconnaissance studies in the mid-1980s, led by Wes Hildreth (USGS), who besides some stratigraphic sections and petrographical data, were also able to obtain six K-Ar ages, one of these from the volcano’s summit itself. The new age data indicate that the volcano was built during the Early Pleistocene, thus confirming no recent (Late Pleistocene-Holocene) activity for Tupungato. Photo by Jorge E. Romero, taken on December 25th, 2021.

Column-like geoforms and caves (<2 m high) in Grutas del Palacio (SW Uruguay). Columnar structures are a distinctive feature of the uppermost part of the Upper Cretaceous continental deposits (Asencio Formation) in SW Uruguay. They represent the casts of rotting tree trunks that were then filled with reworked iron-rich materials, and covered by iron-rich siliceous sandstones. These structures are evidence of the existence in this sector of an old flooded forest Upper Cretaceous in age, with large trees and developed in a warm, seasonally humid climate. Photography by Ferran Colombo.

Canvas painting by Diógenes A. Gómez showing Galeras volcano (Nariño, Colombia) in activity (background) and a fragment of the dihedral rock where the El Higuerón pictograph was made (foreground, white rectangle). On the left side of the rock, the motif representing the volcano is the arched black feature with zigzag or wavy yellow and red lines on top. Both the volcanic motif, as well as the anthropomorphic figure beneath it, have been enclosed in a white circle for clarity. A similar anthropomorphic figure appears in the forehead of the indigenous character that is painting the pictograph. Photograph taken by John J. Sánchez, the artwork is from his private collection in Medellín (Colombia).

Pyroclastic density currents decoupled from a vertical eruptive column during the first pulse (22 April 2015) of the Calbuco eruption as seen from the northwest. Tephrostratigraphy revealed these flows mostly affected the Tepu river, and travelled at a velocity of 35 m/s. Photo by Alfredo Becerra Parraguez - Puerto Varas Photography.

Photograph showing a mature specimen with broken proximal end of Stimulograptus sedgwickii, collected in the middle Salto Macho Member of the La Chilca Formation, which crops out in the Poblete Norte Creek, Talacasto Range, Central Precordillera of San Juan. This graptolite is the index taxon of its homonymous Biozone from the upper Aeronian (Silurian). The scale bar equals 1 mm (Photography by Fernando E. Lopez).

Photograph taken by Dr. Joseph Martinod of a glacially polished rock outcrop on the southern shore of Lago Bayo, on the road between Puerto Tranquilo and Ventisquero Exploradores in the Aysen Region. The 10Be exposure age is 14.05±0.94 ka, interpreted as the minimum age of glacial retreat in the Bayo River
Valley (Aguilar et al., 2023).

Early-middle Miocene fossil bearing fluvial sandstone of the Cerro Boleadoras Formation in the Cerro Boleadoras area, western slope of the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires, northwestern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (Photography M. Susana Bargo).

Oblique aerial view of modern delta at Río Dunas and perched delta terrace that formed as a result of punctuated regression at Patagonian Lake General Carrera. (Photography by Brian Hynek, Nov. 2018).

Summit of Maipo volcano (5,300 m), Caldera del Diamante, Central Andes (34°09’50’’ S; 69°49’53’’ W). Glaciers and snowfields on the crater of Maipo volcano, in the background the Laguna del Diamante lake (Argentina) (Nov. 2021). Rising temperatures and reduced snowfall are degrading the glacial environment. Ancient glaciers could be today remnants of glaciers and snowfields (Photography by Andrés Lo Vecchio).

After months of the beginning of the elusive Mondaca Volcano eruption, a prominent succession of at least 20 m thick tephra fall deposit accumulated to the south and southeast of its emission center. In this aerial view taken towards the NNE the detail of the tephra fall sequence is exhibited, whose collapse contributed recharging solid materials of the December 3, 1762 lahar along the Lontué and Mataquito rivers (Photography by José Antonio Naranjo).

Aeolian, fine-grained red sandstone of the Cisuralian Patquia Formation displaying cross-bedding (San Juan, Argentina). The scale geo/paleo pick is about 60 cm long (Photography by Bárbara Cariglino).

Quartz, barite, massive silica and kaolinite breccia with vuggy silica clasts and native gold. Ledge Dumbo, El Guanaco mine, Antofagasta region, Chile. The scale bar represents 0.5 cm (Photography by Sebastián Jovic).

Pisolites or caverns pearls nest formed on the ground of one of the underground filtration galleries, locally called socavones, of the Pica Oasis (Region of Tarapacá, Chile). The pisolites are composed of calcium carbonate which covers the walls of some socavones excavated in the Pleistocene-Holocene alluvial deposits. The pisolites nest is approximately 8 cm in diameter (Photography by Carlos Abellanosa).

Block diagram illustrating the two-stage paleogeographic evolution of the Andean Margin at 29°S, northern Chile, during the Triassic. Both stages, Early to Middle Triassic and Late Triassic, involve the development of intra-arc and fore-arc basins. Note the westward shift of the intra-arc basin and the progradation of the fore-arc basin between the two stages. Thick black arrows represent sediment input from identified source areas to the fore-arc basins (Figure drawn by Esteban Salazar).

Lajas Formation lower to middle section (Middle Jurassic) at Bajada de Los Molles area, Neuquén basin, Argentina. Redrawn stratigraphic column showing transition between offshore, prodelta and delta front deposits. Offshore deposits show massive arrangements due to intense bioturbation, whereas heterolithic prodelta deposits preserve primary sedimentary structures. (Photography by Nerina Canale. Redraw by Juan José Ponce).

Ovule/seed compression referred to the genus Cordaicarpus Geinitz, 1862 emend. Archangelsky, 2000. 0.6 cm in width. The specimen comes from the Agua de la Zorra Formation (Upper Triassic) Mendoza Province, Argentina. The photograph was taken with a LEICA M60 binocular stereoscopic microscope with a LEICA DMC2900 integrated camera. (Photography by Tomás E. Pedernera).

Exposure of the lower to middle part of the Santa Cruz Formation showing thick floodplain fluvial deposits, composed of intercalated mudstone and thin sandstone beds. Sandstone beds show sharp bases, sometimes erosive, and commonly wedge shape. Few thick, lenticular fluvial channel deposits also intercalate. In the background, the Río Tarde (whitish), the Posadas Basalt (dark grey) and the El Chacay (greenish) formations are observed (Photography by José I. Cuitiño).

Stromatolitic formations in a lagoon situated in the south-east of the Agua Amarga Salar (Atacama Region, Chile). The part outside the water is covered by halite (white crust), while the part inside the water it is formed by gypsum and dust dragged by the wind and precipitated in the lagoon (Photography by Oscar Ercilla).

Glacial cirques located to the west of Sierra Baguales mountain range, southern Patagonia. These represent alpine glaciations isolated from the Pleistocene Ice Sheet located to the west. The evolution of these alpine glaciers was controlled mainly by cirques elevation and aspect, under cold and dry local conditions (Image Google Earth © modified by Michael Kaplan).