This oblique aerial view of the southwestern margin of the avalanche deposit conveys an impression of its scale. The field of view extends about 15 km into the distance. Here the avalanche laps up on some hills of crystalline Palaeozoic basement rocks. The marginal levée is about 40 m high and several hundred meters wide in places. In the left foreground, the scarp left by the break away of the secondary avalanche can be seen; fortuitously, the Antofagasta-Salta railroad follows this scarp for several kilometers. (Fig. 13.10).

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