Northern Chile

RESUMEN Arica es una ciudad puerto que se emplaza en el territorio fronterizo del norte de Chile, un espacio caracterizado por su convergencia e intercambio cultural, en el cual convergen valles, desierto y océano, y que si bien tiene importantes antecedentes precolombinos y coloniales, fue la producción arquitectónica realizada a partir de la mitad del siglo XX, la que definió un laboratorio de modernidad que singularizó su espacio urbano. Ese laboratorio de la modernidad surgió desde la creación del Puerto Libre en 1953, los que motivó el desarrollo de un plan de inversiones que incluyó muchas arquitecturas significativas. Las primeras fueron realizadas por la Sociedad Modernizadora de Arica (SMA) y luego por la Junta de Adelanto de Arica (JAA) una institución creada en 1958 que gestionó, financió y realizó muchísimas obras hasta 1976, cuando fue disuelta. Entre las variadas obras motivadas por el Puerto Libre, algunas fueron diseñadas y construidas bajo una expresiva estética del...

A 2-year time series (∼ 17-d interval) of zooplankton, sampled from June 1996 through January 1998, along with oceanographic data, allowed the study of species abundances and diversity during non-El Niño and El Niño conditions at Mejillones (23° S) northern Chile. A total of 28 species was identified, of which the most abundant were the calanoids Paracalanus parvus, Calanus chilensis, Acartia tonsa, and Centropages brachiatus, the cyclopoid Oithona similis, and the poecilostomatoids Oncaea conifera and Corycaeus typicus. El Niño Southern Oscillation (El Niño) was first detected in the area in May 1997 and persisted until March 1998. We divided the time series into two parts: non-El Niño conditions. The number of species significantly increased during Eland El Niño conditions, but total abundance of copepods was greater during non-El Niño conditions. Although some expatriate species appeared during El Niño, such as the harpacticoid Microsetella norvegica and Eucalanus subtenuis, the diversity index of Hulburt was not significantly different between the two periods. Despite the dramatic alteration of oceanographic conditions during the El Niño period, we concluded that the community of pelagic copepods was not subject to drastic changes either in total abundance or in structure.

The Chilean government has determined that a renewable energy quota of up to 10% of the electrical energy generated must be met by 2024. This plan has already sparked interest in wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass power plants in order to introduce renewable energy systems to the country. Solar energy is being considered only for demonstration, small-scale CSP plants and for domestic water heating applications. This apparent lack of interest in solar energy is partly due to the absence of a valid solar energy database, adequate for energy system simulation and planning activities. One of the available solar radiation databases is 20–40 years old, with measurements taken by pyranographs and Campbell–Stokes devices. A second database from the Chilean Meteorological Service is composed by pyranometer readings, sparsely distributed along the country and available from 1988, with a number of these stations operating intermittently. The Chilean government through its National Energy Commission (CNE) has contracted the formulation of a simulation model and also the deployment of network of measurement stations in northern Chile. Recent efforts by the authors have resulted in a preliminary assessment by satellite image processing. Here, we compare the existing databases of solar radiation in Chile. Monthly mean solar energy maps are created from ground measurements and satellite estimations and compared. It is found that significant deviation exists between sources, and that all ground-station measurements display unknown uncertainty levels, thus highlighting the need for a proper, country-wide long-term resource assessment initiative. However, the solar energy levels throughout the country can be considered as high, and it is thought that they are adequate for energy planning activities – although not yet for proper power plant design and dimensioning.

The recently discovered La Pacana caldera, 60 × 35 km, is the largest caldera yet described in South America. This resurgent caldera of Pliocene age developed in a continental platemargin environment in a major province of ignimbrite volcanism in the Central Andes of northern Chile at about 23° S latitude. Collapse of La Pacana caldera was initiated by the eruption of about 900 km3 of the rhyodacitic Atana Ignimbrite. The Atana Ignimbrite was erupted from a composite ring fracture system and formed at least four major ash-flow tuff units that are separated locally by thin air-fall and surge deposits; all four sheets were emplaced in rapid succession about 4.1 ± 0.4 Ma ago. Caldera collapse was followed closely by resurgent doming of the caldera floor, accompanied by early postcaldera eruptions of dacitic to rhyolitic lava domes along the ring fractures. The resurgent dome is an elongated, asymmetrical uplift, 48.5 × 12 km, which is broken by a complex system of normal faults locally forming a narrow discontinuous apical graben. Later, postcaldera eruptions produced large andesitic and dacitic stratocones along the caldera margins and dacitic domes on the resurgent dome beginning about 3.5 Ma ago and persisting into the Quaternary. Hydrothermally altered rocks occur in the eroded cores of precaldera and postcaldera stratovolcanoes and along fractures in the resurgent dome, but no ore deposits are known. A few warm springs located in salars within the caldera moat appear to be vestiges of the caldera geothermal system.

The feeding of 2 sympatric larval myctophids, Diogenichthys laternatus and Triphoturus mexicanus aff. oculeus, was analyzed in an upwelling area off northern Chile (23° S, 71° W). Diel feeding period, feeding incidence, feeding selectivity and diet overlap was estimated under different environmental conditions: coastal and oceanic areas and 2 depth strata in summer and winter 1997. Analyses were based on

We studied the thermal tolerance of embryos and ontogeny of thermoregulation in chicks of Gray Gulls, Larus modestus, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Critical thermal maximum (CTmax = 42°C) and minimum (CTmin = 17°C), determined from embryo heart rate, were consistent with the high ambient temperatures to which eggs are exposed when incubating adults stand above nests to

La colección paleontológica del Museo Regional de Iquique de la Corporación Municipal de Desarrollo Social de Iquique es simplemente maravillosa. Es una completa visión panorámica hacia la vida pretérita en la tierra, una ventana por la cual no creemos que exista quién no se sienta atraído a mirar. Debido a su precario estado de conservación, sin duda que su protección fue una tarea urgente. Desde su ingreso al museo en 1986, esta valiosa colección se mantuvo en el depósito esperando salir del olvido. Desde su primera evaluación que pudimos realizar (bajo la dirección de Francisco Téllez Cancino, 2008), una latencia mágica, algo único capturado en la escena detenida de la vida fosilizada, emana cautivando a quienes logran observar la escena vívida, más allá del objeto, la roca, el fósil, sino el pretérito paisaje ecológico. Ineludiblemente esto requería una puesta en valor, pues la deslumbrante historia de la evolución de la vida, es un relato tan fantástico que toda persona apenas ya comienza a deslumbrarse con ella, siente la necesidad de que otras igualmente se maravillen. La tarea demandó un proceso multidisciplinario cuyo eje principal es la paleontología, con un acucioso análisis taxonómico de más de 230 ejemplares, y sobre medio millar de piezas fósiles provenientes de todo el mundo, representativos de casi todos los periodos en los que se ha desarrollado la vida en nuestro planeta.

Paralelamente se investigó la historia de la colección, e implementaron acciones que permitieran un manejo óptimo de la colección a través de su inventario y catalogación sistemática bajo los parámetros unificadores del Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales, sumado a una conservación preventiva y un ordenamiento accesible con un depósito sistematizado, facilitando el acceso a otros investigadores interesados en su estudio.

Finalmente la puesta en valor contempló un plan de difusión en dos líneas: la publicación del presente catálogo considerando estándares que permitieran su uso para consulta científica. Por otra parte, y que creemos es de vital importancia, el montaje de la sala museográfica: “Tarapacá desde el origen de la vida”, en la cual esperamos que la comunidad en general y las futuras generaciones se maravillen y deslumbren con los increíbles seres olvidados.

A three-dimensional (3D) numerical model using the finite element method was used to diagnose coastal currents off Antofagasta, in the upwelling region of northern Chile. The diagnosis was emphasized in the nearshore zone off Peninsula Mejillones (23°S), a well-known upwelling site off northern Chile. Water density fields, available from seasonal climatologies of the region, were used to predict currents for the austral winter, and summer conditions. Steady-state conditions were simulated under absence of wind, with a constant southwest wind of 10 knots (5.14 m s−1), which is the dominant upwelling-favorable wind in the zone, and with a constant north wind of 10 knots. Spatial variability of winds was examined by using historical wind fields for the region. A 3D particle tracking program was further used to diagnose expected particle trajectories over a 72 h steady-state period. Coastal circulation was dominated by alongshore currents, and presence of reversal currents and coastal eddies. Wind forcing accelerated the flow of the nearsurface layer in most cases, but did not considerably alter the circulation pattern of the average water column. Simulation of passive particle drift showed that the whole nearshore zone might act as an efficient retention area. It was concluded that, as a result of the interactions among distinct water masses, upwelling plumes, and alongshore currents, physical barriers may develop and give rise to semi-enclosed habitats. Physical structuring may have important ecological implications for the upwelling ecosystem.

En la Precordillera de la región de Atacama (~ 27 ° S), el Caos de Puquios corresponde a una unidad tectónica singular tradicionalmente adscrita a una etapa extensional del Cretácico medio que afecta a las formaciones mesozoicas que se depositaron entre el arco y el retroarco del margen andino. La unidad tipo mélange consiste en bloques de calizas en una matriz principalmente volcánica que incluye lavas andesíticas, brechas volcánicas y vulcarenitas rojas del Jurásico Superior al Cretácico Inferior. Estas rocas constituyen una sucesión andesitas, calizas y vulcarenitas (desde la base a techo) de los estratos de Cerro Águila, observados al sur del área de estudio. El caos de Puquios se caracteriza por pliegues a menudo aislados, apretados a isoclinales y un conjunto de fallas normales de ángulo bajo y alto que fueron responsables de la estructura mesoscópica de bloque en matriz de la unidad tectónica. Estas estructuras son fácilmente observables en las rocas calcáreas ya que la matriz volcánica muestra una textura tectónicamente brechizada. El detallado estudio estructural presentado en este trabajo nos permite proponer los mecanismos deformacionales que finalmente constituyeron la unidad aparentemente caótica, incluyendo la restauración de las estructuras relacionadas con etapas contractivas tardías. Por lo tanto, sugerimos que la singularidad del caos de Puquios está asociada con una zona de cizallamiento extensional local amplia vinculada a una superficie de despegue regional. La íntima relación entre los pliegues recumbentes y las fallas normales de ángulo bajo y alto, además de la orientación similar de las charnelas de los pliegues y los planos de falla, apuntan a la ocurrencia de una zona de cizalle dúctil-frágil donde las capas calcáreas competentes dieron lugar a pliegues de escala decamétrica ya que la matriz volcánica respondió a la deformación a través de la brechización. Los cálculos de estiramiento realizados en un sistema de fallas dominaron local dentro del afloramiento arrojó una extensión horizontal de alrededor del 30% para las fallas de ángulo alto.

The mummification methods of an ancient maritime population on the northern coast of Chile are reviewed and the findings in an additional seven individuals are reported. Members of this cultural group, Chinchorro, practiced a selective, elaborate form of artificial mummification which persisted more than 4,000 years. Its complexity diminished with time, gradually disappearing after 2,000 B. C. One of the seven individuals herein reported is a rather poorly but spontaneously (“naturally”) preserved body that may represent the oldest mummy reported to date–about 9,000 years old. Chemical reconstruction of their diet demonstrates that the principal component was derived from marine resources with only minor supplementation from terrestrial hunting as well as food gathering from river mouth vegetal sources, confirming the marine dependence of their adaptational strategy. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, defined primarily by their elevated magnetite and/or hematite contents, constitute a broad, ill-defined clan related to a variety of tectono-magmatic settings. The youngest and, therefore, most readily understandable IOCG belt is located in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile and southern Peru, where it is part of a volcano-plutonic arc of Jurassic through Early Cretaceous age. The arc is characterised by voluminous tholeiitic to calc-alkaline plutonic complexes of gabbro through granodiorite composition and primitive, mantle-derived parentage. Major arc-parallel fault systems developed in response to extension and transtension induced by subduction roll-back at the retreating convergent margin. The arc crust was attenuated and subjected to high heat flow. IOCG deposits share the arc with massive magnetite deposits, the copper-deficient end-members of the IOCG clan, as well as with manto-type copper and small porphyry copper deposits to create a distinctive metallogenic signature. The IOCG deposits display close relations to the plutonic complexes and broadly coeval fault systems. Based on deposit morphology and dictated in part by lithological and structural parameters, they can be separated into several styles: veins, hydrothermal breccias, replacement mantos, calcic skarns and composite deposits that combine all or many of the preceding types. The vein deposits tend to be hosted by intrusive rocks, especially equigranular gabbrodiorite and diorite, whereas the larger, composite deposits (e.g. Candelaria-Punta del Cobre) occur within volcano-sedimentary sequences up to 2 km from pluton contacts and in intimate association with major orogen-parallel fault systems. Structurally localised IOCG deposits normally share faults and fractures with pre-mineral mafic dykes, many of dioritic composition, thereby further emphasising the close connection with mafic magmatism. The deposits formed in association with sodic, calcic and potassic alteration, either alone or in some combination, reveal evidence of an upward and outward zonation from magnetite-actinolite-apatite to specular hematite-chlorite-sericite and possess a Cu-Au-Co-Ni-As-Mo-U-(LREE) (light rare earth element) signature reminiscent of some calcic iron skarns around diorite intrusions. Scant observations suggest that massive calcite veins and, at shallower palaeodepths, extensive zones of barren pyritic feldspar-destructive alteration may be indicators of concealed IOCG deposits. The balance of evidence strongly supports a genetic connection of the central Andean IOCG deposits with gabbrodiorite to diorite magmas from which the ore fluid may have been channelled by major ductile to brittle fault systems for several kilometres vertically or perhaps even laterally. The large, composite IOCG deposits originated by ingress of the ore fluid to relatively permeable volcano-sedimentary sequences. The mafic magma may form entire plutons or, alternatively, may underplate more felsic intrusions, as witnessed by the ore-related diorite dykes, but in either case the origin of the ore fluid at greater, unobserved depths may be inferred. It is concluded that external 'basinal' fluids were not a requirement for IOCG formation in the central Andes, although metamorphic, seawater, evaporitic or meteoric fluids may have fortuitously contaminated the magmatic ore fluid locally. The proposed linkage of central Andean and probably some other IOCG deposits to oxidised dioritic magmas may be compared with the well-documented dependency of several other magmatic-hydrothermal deposit types on igneous petrochemistry. The affiliation of a spectrum of base-metal poor gold-(Bi-W-Mo) deposit styles to relatively reduced monzogranite-granodiorite intrusions may be considered as a closely analogous example.

El estudio de la tecnología, estilo, iconografía y algunos datos del contexto de los textiles hallados en un entierro colectivo en una cueva en la localidad de Pulacayo (este del salar de Uyuni, Depto. de Potosí, Bolivia) lleva a vincular a estas prendas con estilos procedentes del centro Tiwanaku y de los oasis de Atacama. De esta manera, el hallazgo de los textiles confirma el carácter bicomponente de este entierro emplazado en el área intermedia que conecta estos oasis con los valles orientales de Cochabamba, y con el centro de Tiwanaku, proveyendo de datos para proponer una probable ruta de tráfico entre los centros de origen de estos estilos, y avalando la existencia de antiguos contactos a larga distancia durante la Fase Coyo o V del Salar (700-900 DC).

"From new archaeological research on Caserones site and his cemetery (Tarapacá 40) in north Chile, and particularly
trough the textile analysis we extend the vision of this site in the regional context and bring new interpretations of the
meaning of the considerable amount of yarns and clothing of camelid fiber registered in the offerings. Specifically we
propose that the communities of Tarapacá should generate competence skills and inequalities in the economic, political
and social, creating new social protagonism. The reproduction of the symbolic and ideological social life in these times of
complexity, specially the abundance of textiles in Tarapacá 40, and its ritual character, suggests that these communities
were able to exercise a hegemony and leadership on access, circulation and distribution of goods traffic, both in and out
of the region."

"Este libro es un importante aporte a la comprensión del complejo Pica-Tarapacá y al significado de la evidencia textil en arqueología. Posee, por lo tanto, una relevancia regional a nivel del Área Centro-Sur Andina, pero también más general, sobre todo como una contribución metodológica para rescatar con los medios de la arqueología el tema de las identidades sociales y culturales en los Andes prehispánicos. Se trata de una obra muy esperada, ya que sintetiza, desarrolla y actualiza las investigaciones de su autora desde hace unos 15 años sobre el tema, algunas de las cuales se hayan repartidas en diferentes revistas científicas."

Two flotation tailings sites (Ojancos and P. Cerda) from the Fe oxide Cu–Au Punta del Cobre belt, south of Copiapó, Atacama desert, northern Chile, are geochemically (largely using sequential extractions) and mineralogically compared. Main ore minerals are pyrite, magnetite and/or hematite and chalcopyrite. Gangue is dominantly calcite with minor quartz. The host silicate assemblage is largely controlled by hydrothermal alteration

The local planning instrument in the Local Action Program framework is a government program of FOSIS. We show the experience and case of the Neighbourhood Council of the Juan Pablo II Population in the city of Arica

Instrumento de planificación local en el marco del Programa Acción Local. Se aborda la experiencia y caso de la Junta de vecinos de la Población Juan Pablo II de la ciudad de Arica.

Pre-Hispanic Andean textiles constitute the longest continuous textile record in the world, their structure and design being one of the most significant markers of group identity in Andean populations. Since the Late Formative Period (ca. 100 – 400 AD), the region around San Pedro de Atacama (SPA) in the Atacama desert of northern Chile has been part of a complex and extensive network of interacting polities through which raw materials, agricultural products, goods, people and ideas circulated in the South-Central Andes. The archaeological record in SPA abounds with textiles from various cultures that participated in such network. A study of these textiles would allow intercultural as well as diachronical comparisons. Numerous studies on textiles found in SPA have focused on their technological and iconographic features. This work addresses the identification of the organic dyes employed in the manufacture of 38 textiles found in funerary contexts in SPA from the Middle (ca. 400 – 1000 A.D.) and the Late Intermediate periods (ca. 1000 – 1450 A.D.), using high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Purpurin and not alizarin was found in all red dyed fibers and indigotin (IND) and indirubin (INR) in all blue dyed fibers. Natural sources of these dyes are exogenous to SPA; their importation into SPA lasted for nearly a millennium. A positive correlation was found between [IND]/[INR] concentration ratio and the altitude of the place where the fiber was presumably dyed. Overall, the results indicate that finished garments and also raw dyes and ready-to-use dyed fibers were imported into SPA from neighboring regions and that foreign weavers were possibly active at SPA.

During the Formative period, the area between the Azapa Valley, the coast and the Loa River (northern Chile) saw the construction of ritual/ceremonial tumuli which are reminiscent of structures found in the Bolivian highlands. On the basis of this, various researchers have proposed that these remains signalled the arrival of highland populations in northern Chile, thus triggering off a Formative transition towards social complexity. However, many coastal desertic Chilean tumuli are associated with cemeteries of shaft tombs which pre-date – and seem to be the predecessors of – these structures. In this sense, our research focuses on the role of local societies, for as well as mortuary traditions and ceremonies we have identified ceramic, textile and iconographic traditions which are indigenous to the Tarapacá region, and which highlight the importance of the trade networks that ran through the area and connected the coast with the Pampa del Tamarugal. In the current paper we present a general study of these indicators, addressing the issue of burgeoning complexity in Northern Chile as an internalised process, focusing on ceremonial dynamics as regulators of access to lands and resources.