The San Quintín Glacier is the largest outflow glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile. Its terminus is a piedmont lobe just short of the Gulf of Penas on the Pacific Ocean and just north of 47°S.
Laguna San Rafael National Park is a park located on the Pacific coast of southern Chile. The park is named for the San Rafael Lagoon formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier. Created in 1959, it covers an area of 17,420 km2 (6,726 sq mi) and includes the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. A fjord more than 16 km (10 mi) long is one of the park's principal attractions.
The Central Valley, Intermediate Depression, or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Coastal Range and the Andes Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley extends from the border with Peru to Puerto Montt in southern Chile, with a notable interruption at Norte Chico. South of Puerto Montt the valley has a continuation as a series of marine basins up to the isthmus of Ofqui. Some of Chile's most populous cities lie within the valley including Santiago, Temuco, Rancagua, Talca and Chillán.
The Taitao Peninsula is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boats between the Moraleda Channel and Gulf of Penas. It is situated in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region and a part of this peninsula is located inside the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park. The Presidente Ríos Lake, with a surface area of 352 square kilometres (136 sq mi), lies in the middle of the peninsula. A southward incurving projection of the outer shoreline of this peninsula is known as Tres Montes peninsula, the most southern point of which is a cape of the same name.
The Gulf of Penas is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile. It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean, but it affords entrance to several natural harbours. Among these are the gulfs of Tres Montes and San Esteban, and Tarn Bay at the entrance to Messier Channel. To the south of the gulf lies Guayaneco Archipelago and to the east lies San Javier Island and then the mainland.
Mentolat is an ice-filled, 6 km (4 mi) wide caldera in the central portion of Magdalena Island, Aisén Province, Chilean Patagonia. This caldera sits on top of a stratovolcano which has generated lava flows and pyroclastic flows. The caldera is filled with a glacier.
Presidente Ríos Lake is located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It lies in the middle of the Taitao Peninsula.
San Rafael Lake is an arc-shaped coastal lake located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within the national park that bears its name. To the north the lagoon is connected to the Moraleda Channel, to the south lies the Ofqui Isthmus. To the west and east lie the Taitao Peninsula and the Northern Patagonian Ice Field respectively.
Melinka is a Chilean town in Aysén Province, Aysén Region. It is located on Ascención Island and is the administrative center of the commune of Guaitecas since 1979.
Guaitecas Archipelago is an archipelago in the Aisén region of Chile. The archipelago is made up of eight main islands and numerous smaller ones. The eight largest islands are from northwest to southeast: Gran Guaiteca, Ascención, Betecoy, Clotilde, Leucayec, Elvira, Sánchez and Mulchey. The islands have subdued topography compared to the Andes, with Gran Guaiteca containing the archipelago's high point at 369 m (1,211 ft).
The Chono people, or Guaiteco were a nomadic indigenous people or group of peoples of the archipelagos of Chiloé, Guaitecas and Chonos.
The geology of Chile is a characterized by processes linked to subduction such as volcanism, earthquakes and orogeny. The buildings blocks of Chile's geology assembled during the Paleozoic Era. Chile was by then the southwestern margin of the supercontinent Gondwana. In the Jurassic Gondwana begun to split and the ongoing period of crustal deformation and mountain building known as the Andean orogeny begun. In the Late Cenozoic Chile definitely separated from Antarctica, the Andes expienced a great rise accomplained by a cooling climate and the onset of glaciations.
The Tres Montes Peninsula is a southwestward projection of Taitao Peninsula which in turn connects to the mainland of Chile by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui. The peninsula is situated in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region close to the Chile Triple Junction of the Nazca, Antarctic and South American plates.
Hans Steffen Hoffman was a German geographer and explorer of the Aysén Region in western Patagonia. Steffen also worked as a teacher, encyclopedist and historian. Steffen Glacier on the Northern Patagonian Ice Field is named after him.
The southern coast of Chile presents a large number of fjords and fjord-like channels from the latitudes of Cape Horn to Reloncaví Estuary. Some fjords and channels are important navigable channels providing access to ports like Punta Arenas, Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Natales.
San Tadeo River is a river in the Isthmus of Ofqui, Aysén Region, Chile. San Tadeo River flows in a SSW direction into the Gulf of San Esteban. It drains much of the swampy Isthmus of Ofqui and the meltwater from San Quintín Glacier's proglacial lake.
Bartolomé Diez Gallardo y Andrade was a criollo soldier from Chiloé. He is known for leading a 1674–1675 expedition to the fjords and channels of Patagonia, participating in the following year in the Antonio de Vea expedition to the same area and for serving as Governor of Chiloé from 1686 to 1688.
Martín Olleta was a Chono chieftain who was an important broker between Spanish authorities in Chiloé Archipelago and indigenous people of the fjords and channels of Patagonia. He is known for rescuing the survivors of the HMS Wager wreckage in 1742. He was identified as chieftain by the British and referred to as "gobernadorcillo de dicha nación chonos" by the Spanish governor of Chiloé Victoriano Martínez de Tineo. He used a rod with a silver handle as symbol of authority.
The Gulf of San Esteban is an embayment in Aysén Region in the Chilean part of Patagonia. The gulf forms a northeastern subembayment of the larger Gulf of Penas and to the northwest it bounds the Bay of San Quintín. The Gulf of San Esteban lies southwest of Forelius Peninsula, southwest of Isthmus of Ofqui and north of San Javier Island.
Mañihuales River or Mañiguales River is a river in the Isthmus of Ofqui, Aysén Region, Chile. Mañihuales River flows in a SE direction into the Gulf of San Esteban, close to the Bay of San Quintín. At its estuary it joints with San Tadeo River. The river drains much of the swampy Isthmus of Ofqui and originates near Presidente Ríos Lake.
