| Cordillera Darwin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Mont Shipton |
| Elevation | 2,469 m (8,100 ft)  |
| Geography | |
  | |
| Country | Chile |
| State | Magallanes Region |
| Range coordinates | 54°45′S69°29′W / 54.75°S 69.48°W |
The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. [1]
Cordillera Darwin is located in the southwestern portion of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, entirely within the Chilean territory. It is part of the longest Andes range and includes the highest mountains in Tierra del Fuego, with elevations reaching over 2,000 m (6,600 ft); The ice field of the Cordillera Darwin covers an area greater than 2,300 square kilometres (890 sq mi). [2] The Darwin Range extends in a west–east direction from the Monte Sarmiento (located in the vicinity of Magdalena Channel) to Yendegaia Valley. It is bounded by the Almirantazgo Fjord on the north and the Beagle Channel on the south. The range is named after Charles Darwin and is the most important feature of Alberto de Agostini National Park, which includes a number of well-known glaciers including the Marinelli Glacier, which is now under prolonged retreat as of 2008. [3]
In October 2011, a team of French mountaineers from the French Army's Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne announced the first crossing of the Cordillera Darwin in a 29-day trip which included an ascent of Mount Darwin, the highest peak in the range. [4]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the latter controlling the eastern half of the main island and the former the western half plus the islands south of Beagle Channel and the southernmost islands. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is just north of latitude 56°S.
The Magallanes Region, officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second least populated region of Chile. It comprises four provinces: Última Esperanza, Magallanes, Tierra del Fuego, and Antártica Chilena.
Father Alberto Maria de Agostini born in Pollone, Piedmont was an Italian missionary of the Salesians of Don Bosco order as well as a passionate mountaineer, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, photographer and cinematographer.
An ice field is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation for them to form. The higher peaks of the underlying mountain rock that protrude through the icefields are known as nunataks. Ice fields are larger than alpine glaciers, but smaller than ice caps and ice sheets. The topography of ice fields is determined by the shape of the surrounding landforms, while ice caps have their own forms overriding underlying shapes.
Sarmiento may refer to:
Mount Darwin is a peak in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego forming part of the Cordillera Darwin, the southernmost range of the Andes, just to the north of the Beagle Channel.
Alberto de Agostini National Park is a protected area that was created on January 22, 1965, on land that was formerly part of the "Hollanda" forest reserve and "Hernando de Magallanes National Park". It covers 1,460,000 hectares and includes the Cordillera Darwin mountain range, which is the final land-based stretch of the Andes before it becomes a chain of mountains appearing as small islands that sink into the Pacific Ocean and the Beagle Channel.
The Cordillera Sarmiento is a mountain range located in the Chilean Patagonia to the west of Puerto Natales named after Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who was a Spanish explorer who navigated the region's waterways between 1579 and 1580. It extends in north–south direction on the western shore of the Fjord of the Mountains and parallel to the Cordillera Riesco. The highest mountain in this range is La Dama Blanca, with an elevation of 1,941 m (6,368 ft), which is located at 51°48′S73°24′W. It is a subrange of the Andes and has a number of small glaciers.
Almirantazgo Fjord, also known as Almirantazgo Sound or Admiralty Sound, is a Chilean fjord located in the far south of the country at 54°19′S69°30′W. The fjord cuts deeply into the west coast of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, extending southeastwards from the Whiteside Channel, which separates Isla Grande from Dawson Island. On its south side several smaller fjords and bays make significant indentations into the north coastline of the Cordillera Darwin. One of these, Ainsworth Bay, is home to a colony of elephant seals. Azopardo River empties into the head of the fjord.
The Zona Austral is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950 corresponding to the Chilean portion of Patagonia. It is surrounded by the Zona Sur and the Chacao Channel to the north, the Pacific Ocean and Drake's Passage to the south and west, and the Andean mountains and Argentina to the east. If excluding Chiloé Archipelago, Zona Austral covers all of Chilean Patagonia.
Monte Sarmiento is a pyramidal peak with a glaciated saddle-shaped summit located within Alberto de Agostini National Park, in the Chilean portion of Tierra del Fuego. It rises abruptly from the east shore of the Magdalena Channel and marks the western border of the Cordillera Darwin. The mountain is frequently shrouded in clouds, but when it is visible is "the most sublime spectacle in Tierra del Fuego" according to the words of Charles Darwin, one of the many people who have been captivated by the beauty of this mountain.
The geology of Chile is a characterized by processes linked to subduction, such as volcanism, earthquakes, and orogeny. The building blocks of Chile's geology were assembled during the Paleozoic Era when Chile was the southwestern margin of the supercontinent Gondwana. In the Jurassic, Gondwana began to split, and the ongoing period of crustal deformation and mountain building known as the Andean orogeny began. In the Late Cenozoic, Chile definitely separated from Antarctica, and the Andes experienced a significant rise accompanied by a cooling climate and the onset of glaciations.
Marinelli Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The glacier spills out from the backbone of the Cordillera Darwin and calves into Ainsworth Bay, an embayment of the Almirantazgo Fjord. The Marinelli Glacier is in a state of retreat, beginning at least as early as 1960 and continuing to the present time. Meltwater of Marinelli glacier discharges to form the headwaters of Marinelli Creek.
The Martial Mountains are a mountain range in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, an island of Argentina and Chile. The mountain range is located east of Cordillera Darwin, just north of Ushuaia city in Argentina, along the Beagle Channel strait.
Dientes de Navarino are a mountain range in Navarino Island, Chile, located just south of Puerto Williams, along the Beagle Channel coast. They are named for the jagged pinnacles which resemble teeth.
Tierra del Fuego National Park is a national park on the Argentine part of the island of Tierra del Fuego, within Tierra del Fuego Province in the ecoregion of Patagonic Forest and Altos Andes, a part of the subantarctic forest. Established on 15 October 1960 under the Law 15.554 and expanded in 1966, it was the first shoreline national park to be established in Argentina.
Fueguino is a volcanic field in Chile. The southernmost volcano in the Andes, it lies on Tierra del Fuego's Cook Island and also extends over nearby Londonderry Island. The field is formed by lava domes, pyroclastic cones, and a crater lake.