Negro de Chorrillos covers a surface of about 5.88 square kilometres (2.27 sq mi)[9] and features a scoria cone.[1] It has erupted lava flows of the aa lava and block lava type, which flowed 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) down a valley. Ash fall, lava bombs and scoria are also found.[10] Both Negro de Chorrillos and neighbouring San Jerónimo centres have heights of 300–450 metres (980–1,480 ft) and widths of 750–950 metres (2,460–3,120 ft).[8] The volume of both centres is less than 0.1 cubic kilometres (0.024 cu mi).[11] Negro de Chorrillos may be the source of local pyroclastic flows, and material eroded from such flows.[12]
The Negro de Chorrillos monogenetic volcano formed during the Pleistocene. Together with neighbouring San Geronimo volcano it lies on a left-trending strike-slip fault,[13] the El Toro fault.[14] Nearby faults include the Incachule fault to the south and the Chorrillos fault to the north, which actually crosses the Negro de Chorrillos centre.[15] Both faults are part of the Calama-Olacapato-El Toro fault.[10] An onset of crustal tension probably facilitated the ascent of magma.[8]
Negro de Chorrillos like San Geronimo has erupted basaltictrachyandesite to trachyandesite,[16] both shoshonite magmas.[14] The eruption that gave rise to Negro de Chorrillos took place in several stages that produced magmas of different composition.[1] They formed over the volcanic back-arc of the Peru-Chile Trench; low percentage melts that were contaminated with lithospheric material formed these two centres.[17]
Eruption dates from the volcano are contradictory; radiometric dates range from 200,000 ± 150,000 years ago,[12] 450,000 years ago,[13] 200,000 ± 80,000 years ago[10] and - the most recent dating effort - 51,000 ± 2,000 years ago according to potassium-argon dating.[18] Lava flows from Negro de Chorrillos were later cut by fault offset.[19]
^Schreiber, U.; Schwab, K. (1991). "Geochemistry of quaternary shoshonitic lavas related to the Calama-Olacapato-El Toro Lineament, NW Argentina". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 4 (1–2): 74. doi:10.1016/0895-9811(91)90019-h.
^Lanza, F.; Tibaldi, A.; Bonali, F. L.; Corazzato, C. (2013-05-08). "Space–time variations of stresses in the Miocene–Quaternary along the Calama–Olacapato–El Toro Fault Zone, Central Andes". Tectonophysics. 593: 33–56. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2013.02.029.
Giordano, Guido; Pinton, Annamaria; Cianfarra, Paola; Baez, Walter; Chiodi, Agostina; Viramonte, José; Norini, Gianluca; Groppelli, Gianluca (2013-01-01). "Structural control on geothermal circulation in the Cerro Tuzgle–Tocomar geothermal volcanic area (Puna plateau, Argentina)". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 249: 77–94. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2012.09.009. hdl:11336/2089.
Kay, Suzanne Mahlburg; Coira, Beatriz; Mpodozis, Constantino (2008-01-01). Field trip guide: Neogene evolution of the central Andean Puna plateau and southern Central Volcanic Zone. Vol. 13. pp. 117–181. doi:10.1130/2008.0013(05). ISBN978-0-8137-0013-7. ISSN2333-0937. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
Petrinovic, I. A.; Riller, U.; Brod, J. A.; Alvarado, G.; Arnosio, M. (2006-04-15). "Bimodal volcanism in a tectonic transfer zone: Evidence for tectonically controlled magmatism in the southern Central Andes, NW Argentina". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 152 (3–4): 240–252. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2005.10.008.