Friday Field Foto #14: Landslide deposit

In the spring of 2006 I was lucky enough to attend a geology conference in Mendoza, Argentina, which is in the foreland of the central Andes east of, and just over the continental divide from Santiago, Chile. Part of the program was a day trip up to the Andes to look at the fold-thrust belt structure. This is very close to Aconcagua, which is the highest peak in the western hemisphere (almost 7,000 meters).

I snapped this photo on the last stop of the day (near the divide/border) of a landslide that occured about 100 years ago. Apparently, the timing of this is known from notes and observations from European explorers/settlers. Note the building in the lower right foreground for scale.

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