Cordillera Pelada (Spanish for Bald Range or Barren Range) is a mountain range in southern Los Ríos Region, southern Chile. It is located along the Pacific coast and forms part of the larger Chilean Coast Range. It got its name pelada from the Spanish word for bare or bald in reference to large fires that once burned the forests on the cordillera.[citation needed]

Pelada Range
View of Fitzroya forests of Cordillera Pelada in La Unión commune
Highest point
Elevation1,751 m (5,745 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Geography
CountryChile
RegionLos Ríos, Los Lagos
Range coordinates40°22.2′S 73°37.8′W / 40.3700°S 73.6300°W / -40.3700; -73.6300
Parent rangeCordillera de la costa
Geology
OrogenyToco
Age of rockCarboniferous[1]
Type of rockSchists and gneiss of the Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex

From about 1750 to 1943, when the land between Maullín River and Valdivia was colonized by Spain and Chile, numerous fires of Fitzroya woods occurred in Cordillera Pelada. These fires were initiated by Spaniards, Chileans, and Europeans. Earlier, from 1397 to 1750 the Fitzroya woods of Cordillera Pelada also suffered from fires that originated from lightning strikes and indigenous inhabitants.[2]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ The Geology of Chile
  2. ^ Lara, A.; Fraver, S.; Aravena, J.C.; Wolodarsky-Franke, F. (1999), "Fire and the dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides (alerce) forests of Chile's Cordillera Pelada", Écoscience, 6 (1): 100–109, archived from the original on 2014-08-27