Mountain type Stratovolcano Elevation 4,723 m Parent range Andes | Last eruption July 17, 1936(?) Age of rock Pleistocene | |
Location Nariño, Colombia /
Carchi, Ecuador Volcanic belt Northern Volcanic Zone, Andean Volcanic Belt Easiest route Ecuador side - Class 3 scramble Mountain range Andes, Cordillera Central, Cordillera Occidental, Cordillera Real Similar Cumbal Volcano, Cerro Negro de Mayasquer, Azufral, Galeras, Doña Juana | ||
Chiles is a volcano on the border of Colombia and Ecuador. It lies 3 kilometres (2 mi) south-east of the volcano Cerro Negro de Mayasquer, and the two peaks are considered part of the same Chiles-Cerro Negro volcanic complex. A 1936 eruption reported by the Colombian government agency Ingeominas may have been from the Ecuadorean volcano Reventador, otherwise the volcano has not erupted for around 160,000 years.
Map of Chiles
On 20 October 2014 Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC) reported that a M 5.8 earthquake, the largest to date, occurred in the vicinity of the Cerro Negro de Mayasquer and Chiles volcanoes at a depth of less than 10 km. The event was felt to the north in Pasto, Colombia, and to the south in Quito, Ecuador.
On 21 October 2014 SGC raised the alert level for the volcanic complex to orange (level 3 of 4) noting that a seismic swarm characterized by 4,300 earthquakes was detected in an 18-hour period. Hypocenters were located 1–4 km southwest of Chiles volcano at depths of 3–5 km and local magnitudes between M 0.2 and 4.5. Inhabitants felt 11 of the events. On 22 October a report noted that the total number of earthquakes recorded on 21 October 2014 reached 7,717, which was the largest number of earthquakes recorded on one day since the installation of a local seismic network in November 2013. Several swarms have occurred in the area since February 2013. By the end of November 2014 over 132,000 earthquakes occurred within a narrow area .5 – 6 km SW of the summit of Chiles.