Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland,across the Strait of Magellan.
The Magallanes Region,officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English,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.
Puerto Williams is a city,port and naval base on Navarino Island in Chile. It faces the Beagle Channel. It is the capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province,one of four provinces in the Magellan and Chilean Antarctica Region,and administers the communes of Chilean Antarctic Territory and Cabo de Hornos. It has a population of 2,874,including both naval personnel and civilians. Puerto Williams claims the title of world's southernmost city. The settlement was founded in 1953,and was first named Puerto Luisa. The town was later named after John Williams Wilson,a British man who founded Fuerte Bulnes,the first settlement in the Strait of Magellan. It has served primarily as a naval base for Chile. The Chilean Navy runs the Guardiamarina Zañartu Airport and hospital,as well as nearby meteorological stations. Since the late 20th century,the number of navy personnel has decreased in Puerto Williams and the civilian population has increased. In that period,tourism and support of scientific research have contributed to an increase in economic activity.
The Perito Moreno,Francisco Gormaz or Bismarck Glacier is a glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province,Argentina,and originated in the Magallanes Region in Chile,being also part of the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.
The Northern Patagonian Ice Field,located in southern Chile,is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park.
The Southern Patagonian Ice Field,located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina,is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Patagonian Ice Sheet,which covered all of southern Chile during the last glacial period,locally called the Llanquihue glaciation.
Torres del Paine National Park is a national park encompassing mountains,glaciers,lakes,and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpolar forests and the Patagonian Steppes. The park is located 112 km (70 mi) north of Puerto Natales and 312 km (194 mi) north of Punta Arenas. The park borders Bernardo O'Higgins National Park to the west and the Los Glaciares National Park to the north in Argentine territory. Paine means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced PIE-neh. It was established as a National Park in 1959.
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 Chilean Antarctic Territory,or Chilean Antarctica,is a part of West Antarctica and nearby islands claimed by Chile. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 53°W and 90°W,partially overlapping the Antarctic claims of Argentina and the United Kingdom. It constitutes the Antártica commune of Chile.
Mocho-Choshuenco is a glacier covered compound stratovolcano in the Andes of Los Ríos Region,Chile. It is made of the twin volcanoes Choshuenco in the northwest and the Mocho in the southeast. The highest parts of the volcano are part of the Mocho-Choshuenco National Reserve while the eastern slopes are partly inside the Huilo-Huilo Natural Reserve.
The subantarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere,located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46°and 60°south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Atlantic,Indian,and Pacific oceans,especially those situated north of the Antarctic Convergence. Subantarctic glaciers are,by definition,located on islands within the subantarctic region. All glaciers located on the continent of Antarctica are by definition considered to be Antarctic glaciers.
Jorge Montt Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in the Aisén Region of Chile,south of the town of Caleta Tortel. It lies at the north end of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field,within Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. The mouth of Pascua River is located in the vicinity of the glacier calving front.
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.
The Chilean Antarctic Institute,known as INACH,is a public service institution in charge of managing and coordinating scientific activities in the Chilean Antarctic Territory. It is the national Antarctic operator and has an active role in Antarctic affairs.
Reclus,also written as Reclús,is a cinder cone and stratovolcano located in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field,Chile. Part of the Austral Volcanic Zone of the Andes,its summit rises 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above sea level and is capped by a crater about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide. Close to the volcano lies the Amalia Glacier,which is actively eroding Reclus.
Monte Burney is a volcano in southern Chile,part of its Austral Volcanic Zone which consists of six volcanoes with activity during the Quaternary. This volcanism is linked to the subduction of the Antarctic Plate beneath the South America Plate and the Scotia Plate.
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.
Cerro Murallón is a glacier mountain of the Andes,in Patagonia,located on the eastern edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field,southwest of Lake Viedma,at the border between Chile and Argentina.
The natural delimitation between the Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans by the Scotia arc is a hydrographical concept developed in Chile in 1952 in which it was postulated that the boundary between the southeast Pacific Ocean and the southwest Atlantic Ocean should not be the meridian of Cape Horn but rather follow the line of the Scotia Arc,an underwater mountain range which links the Tierra del Fuego archipelago with the Antarctic continent.
The Southern Patagonian ice field dispute is a border dispute between Argentina and Chile over the delineation of the boundary line between the two countries on the Southern Patagonian Ice Field,a large expanse of glaciers located in the Patagonian Andes,which is the largest non-polar continental ice field with land access. It is called continental ice in Argentina and southern ice field in Chile,to differentiate it from the northern ice field. As of 2025,the Argentine–Chilean border in this sector is still pending of definition according to the 1998 agreement signed by both countries. The original border was defined 100 years prior on 1 October 1898 by experts from both countries.
