They lie on the eastern side near the Cordilleras, and serve the purpose of great reservoirs for the excessive precipitation of rain and snow on their western slopes. With one exception they all drain westward into the Pacific through short and partly navigable rivers, and some of the lakes are also utilized for steamship navigation. These lakes are Villarica on the southern frontier of Cautin, Rinihue and Ranco in Valdivia, and Puyehue, Rupanco, Llanquihue and Todos los Santos in Llanquihue. The largest of the number are Lakes Ranco and Llanquihue, the former with an estimated area of 200 sq. m. and the latter of 300 sq. m. Lake Todos los Santos is situated well within the Andean foothills north-east of Puerto Montt and at an elevation of 509 ft., considerably above that of the other lakes, Lake Ranco being 230 ft. above sea-level. The great Andean lakes of General Paz (near the 44th parallel), Buenos Aires (in lat. 46° 30′ S.), Pueyrredon, or Cpchrane (47° 15′ S.) and San Martin (49° S.), lie partly within Chilean territory. In the extreme south are Lagoa Blanca, a large fresh-water lake in lat. 52° 30′ S., and two large inland salt-water sounds, or lagoons, called Otway Water and Skyring Water, connected by FitzRoy Passage.
Geology.—Chile may be divided longitudinally into two regions which differ from each other in their geological structure. Along the coast lies a belt of granite and schist overlaid unconformably by Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits; inland the mountains are formed chiefly of folded Mesozoic beds, together with volcanic rocks of later date. The great longitudinal valley of Chile runs approximately, but only approximately, along the boundary between the two zones. Towards the north the coastal zone disappears beneath the sea and the Andean zone reaches to the shore. The ancient rocks which form the most characteristic feature of the former do indeed occur upon the coast of Peru, but in the north of Chile they are found only in isolated masses standing close to the shore or, as at Mejillones, projecting into the sea. South of Antofagasta the old rocks form a nearly continuous band along the coast, extending as far as Cape Horn and Staten Island, and occupying the greater part of the islands of southern Chile. Lithologically they are crystalline schists, together with granite, diorite, gabbro and other igneous rocks. They are known to be pre-Jurassic, but whether they are Palaeozoic or Archaean is uncertain. They are strongly folded and are overlaid unconformably by Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits. In the north both the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds of this zone are limited in extent, but towards the south Mesozoic beds, which are at least in part Cretaceous, form a band of considerable width. The Tertiary beds include both marine and terrestrial deposits, and appear to be chiefly of Miocene and Pliocene age. The whole of the north part of Tierra del Fuego is occupied by plateaus of horizontal Tertiary strata.
The Chilean Andes correspond with the Western Cordillera of Bolivia and Peru, and consist almost entirely of Jurassic and Cretaceous beds, together with the products of the Tertiary eruptions. The Mesozoic beds are thrown into a series of parallel folds which run in the direction of the chain and which are generally free from any complications such as overthrusting or overfolding. The Cretaceous beds form a synclinal upon the eastern side of the chain (and, in general, beyond the Chilean boundary), while the Jurassic beds are thrown into a number of folds which form the axis and the western flank. Through the Mesozoic beds are intruded granitic and other igneous rocks of Tertiary age, and upon the folded Mesozoic foundation rise the volcanic cones of Tertiary and later date. The Trias is known only at La Ternera near Copiapó, where coal-seams with Rhaetic plants have been found; but the rest of the Mesozoic series, from the Lias to the Upper Cretaceous, appears to be represented without a break of more than local importance. The deposits are marine, consisting mainly of sandstone and limestone, together with tuffs and conglomerates of porphyry and porphyrite. These porphyritic rocks form a characteristic feature of the southern Andes, and were at one time supposed to be metamorphic; but they are certainly volcanic, and as they contain marine fossils they must have been laid down beneath the sea. They are not confined to any one horizon, but occur irregularly throughout the Jurassic and occasionally also amongst the Cretaceous strata. They form, in fact, a special facies which may frequently be traced laterally into the more normal marine deposit of the same age. The fauna of the Mesozoic beds is very rich, and includes forms which are found in northern Europe, others which occur in central Europe, and others again which are characteristic of the Mediterranean region. It lends no support to Neumayr’s theory of climatic zones. A large part of the chain is covered by the products of the great volcanoes which still form the highest summits of the Chilean and Argentine Andes. The rocks are liparites, dacites, hornblende and pyroxene andesites. The recent lavas of the still active volcanoes of the south are olivine-bearing hypersthene-andesite and basalt.[1]
Climate.—The climate of Chile varies widely, from the tropical heat and extreme arid conditions of the northern coast to the low temperatures and extreme humidity of western Tierra del Fuego and the southern coast. The high altitudes of the Andean region also introduce vertical zones of temperature, modified to some extent by the rainless plateaus of the north, and by the excessive rainfall of the south. In general terms it may be said that the extremes of temperature are not so great as in corresponding latitudes of the northern hemisphere, because of the greater expanse of water in comparison with the land areas, the summers being cooler and the winters warmer. The cold antarctic, or Humboldt, current sweeps northward along the coast and greatly modifies the heat of the arid, tropical plateaus. The climate of northern and central Chile is profoundly affected by the high mountain barrier on the eastern frontier and by the broad treeless pampas of Argentina, which raise the easterly moisture-laden winds from the Atlantic to so high an elevation that they sweep across Chile without leaving a drop of rain. At very rare intervals light rains fall in the desert regions north of Coquimbo, but these are brought by the prevailing coast winds. With this exception these regions are the most arid on the face of the globe, highly heated by a tropical sun during the day and chilled at night by the proximity of snow-covered heights and a cold ocean current. Going south the temperature slowly falls and the rainfall gradually increases, the year being divided into a short rainy season and a long, dry, cloudless season. At Copiapó, in 27° 22′ S., 1300 ft. above the sea, the mean annual temperature is 60° and the rainfall about 1 in., but at Coquimbo, in 29° 56′ S., the temperature is 59.2° and the rainfall 1½ in. At Santiago, in 33° 27′ S., 1755 ft. above the sea, the mean temperature is 54° and the annual rainfall 16½ in., though the latter varies considerably. The number of rainy days in the year averages about 21. At Talca, in 35° 36′ S. and 334 ft. above sea-level, the mean annual temperature is nearly one degree above that of Santiago, but the rainfall has increased to 19.7 in. The long dry season of this region makes irrigation necessary, and vegetation has something of a subtropical appearance, palms growing naturally as far south as 37°. The climate is healthy and agreeable, though the death-rate among the common people is abnormally high on account of personal habits and unsanitary surroundings. In southern Chile the climate undergoes a radical change—the prevailing winds becoming westerly, causing a long rainy season with a phenomenal rainfall. The plains as well as the western slopes of the Andes are covered with forest, the rivers become torrents, and the sky is covered with heavy clouds a great part of the year. At Valdivia, in 39° 49′ S. and near the sea-level, the mean annual temperature is 52.9° and the annual rainfall 108 to 115 in., with about 150 rainy days in the year. These meteorological conditions are still more accentuated at Ancud, at the north end of the island of Chiloé, in 41° 46′ S., where the mean annual temperature is 50.7° and the annual rainfall 134 in. The equable character of the climate at this point is shown by the limited range between its summer and winter temperatures, the mean for January being 56.5° and the mean for July 45.9°. The almost continual cloudiness is undoubtedly a principal cause, not only of the low summer temperatures, but also of the comparatively high winter temperatures. Frosts are infrequent, and snow does not lie long. The climate is considered to be healthful notwithstanding the excessive humidity. The 600 m. of coast from the Chonos Archipelago south to the Fuegian islands have a climate closely approximating that of the latter. It is wet and stormy all the year through, though the rainfall is much less than that of Ancud and Valdivia. The line of perpetual snow, which is 6000 ft. above sea-level between lat. 41° and 43°, descends to 3500 (to 4000) ft. in Tierra del Fuego, affording another indication of the low maximum temperatures ruling during the summer. At the extreme south, where Chilean territory extends across to the Atlantic entrance to the Straits of Magellan, a new climatic influence is encountered in the warm equatorial current flowing down the east coast of South America, which gives to eastern Tierra del Fuego a higher temperature than that of the western shore. The Andes, although much broken in these latitudes, also exert a modifying influence on these eastern districts, sheltering them from the cold westerly storms and giving them a drier climate. This accounts for the surprising meteorological data obtained from Punta Arenas, in 53° 10′ S., where the mean annual temperature is 43.2° and the annual rainfall only 22.5 in. Other observations reduce this annual precipitation to less than 16 in. According to observations made by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition (1901–1903), at Orange Bay, Hoste Island, in lat. 55° 31′ S., long. 68° 05′ W., which is more exposed to the westerly storms, the mean temperature for 11 months was 41.98° and the total precipitation (rain and snow) 53.1 in. The mean maximum temperature was 49.24°, and the mean minimum 35.83°. The observations showed 284 days with rain or snow, of which 70 were with snow.
Flora.—The indigenous flora of Chile is less extensive and less interesting than those of Argentina and Brazil, but contains many peculiar genera and species. A classification of this flora necessitates
- ↑ See A. Pissis, “Sur la constitution géologique de la chaîne des Andes entre le 16° et le 55° degré de latitude sud,” Ann. des mines, ser. 7, vol. iii. (Mém.), 1873, pp. 402-426, pils. ix., x.; R. A. Philippi, Die tertiären und quartären Versteinerungen Chiles (Leipzig, 1887), (includes also descriptions of some Cretaceous fossils), and Los Fósiles secondarios de Chile (Santiago, 1899); Karl Burckhardt, “Profils géologiques transversaux de la Cordillère argentino-chilienne. Stratigraphie et tectonique,” Anales Mus. La Plata, 1900, and “Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Jura- und Kreide-formation der Cordillere,” Palaeontographica, vol. 1. (1903–1904) pp. 1–144, pls. i.-xvi.; see also a series of papers on South American geology by G. Steinmann and his collaborators in Neues Jahrb, für Min. Beil.-band viii. et seq.
