Puerto Natales—gateway to Torres del Paine
Puerto Natales is an outdoor mecca on Seno Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope Sound) that is the capital of the Ultima Esperanza Province of Chile. It has a population of about 19,000 people that expands in the Austral summer and shrinks in the winter. Visitors who stay in Torres del Paine National Park typically stop first in Puerto Natales, as we...
Chile’s iconic Torres del Paine National Park
Once you've seen the magnificent peaks of Chile's premier national park, you will always recognize them in photos. In this post, I provide photos and descriptions of hikes, and explain a little of the geologic history that is responsible for these remarkable landscapes. After returning to Punta Arenas from Antarctica, we took a bus to Puerto Natales, gateway to Torres...
Why we flew to Antarctica
Most companies that take travelers to Antarctica use boats to make the journey from Punta Arenas, Chile, or Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Antarctica Peninsula. That journey takes two days in each direction. Clients continue on the same boat to explore various sites on the continent. We are traveling with Antarctica21, a Chilean company that takes clients to the Antarctic Peninsula in...
Aerial views of Chilean volcanoes
In my last post, I included a map of the Southern Volcanic Zone that extends south from the capital city of Santiago: https://landscapes-revealed.net/santiagos-geologic-hazards/. Flying south from Santiago to Punta Arenas on Monday, we were fortunate to have clear skies as we flew along the Andes. We made sure to get seats on the east side of the plane so that...
Santiago’s geologic hazards
When living near a plate boundary, one must expect geologic hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. For example, along the west coast of the U.S. a transform plate boundary (San Andreas fault) causes earthquakes throughout California. To the north, along the coast of northern California, Oregon and Washington, a convergent (subduction) plate boundary causes volcanic eruptions in the Cascade...
Back to Chile, a geologic wonderland
Chile is an amazing country. The most obvious feature is its unique pencil-like shape. North–south, Chile extends 4,270 km (2,653 mi), yet east–west it extends only 64 km–356 km (40–221 miles). Another striking feature is the Andes Mountains that extend along the length of Chile. The Andean crest forms the border with Argentina to the east. The highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere,...
About the Blogger
Karen (here with Mt. Shasta in background) is a geology professor emerita who aims to provide a "pocket geologist" for world travelers. Follow the blog to explore the landscapes of our planet and figure out what causes them to look the way they do.