At 6885 m, this is the world's highest active volcano, although the edifice itself is not large -- its basement is at about 4500 m, roughly the level of the camera. Nevado Ojos del Salado is a compound or multiple volcano, consisting of a massif covering some 70 square kilometers formed of at least a dozen andesitic and dacitic cones intermingled with lava domes and craters. The volcano has never been studied in detail. It has not erupted in historic times, though it exhibits continuing fumarolic acitivity. White material in gullies is snow; the greyer material is pumice from a large but undated plinian eruption. (Fig. 2.4).

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