Origins of the Maymeja volcanic depression

The Maymeja area is a depression surrounded by transversal flows and domes that appear to have been heavily glaciated in the Pleistocene epoch. The Maymeja depression contains certain features that resemble those of a volcanic caldera resulting from eruption-induced subsidence and collapse. However, further consultation with volcanologists indicates that the Maymeja depression is likely nota caldera. The characteristics that do suggest that Maymeja is a caldera include: a circular, steep-walled perimeter, occasional ignimbritic deposits, the Anchachita and Hornillo vents located along the margins, and remnant vent-like features in the center of the Maymeja area (Fisher and Schmincke 1984: 360;Karátson, et al. 1999;Szakács and Ort 2001). However, the small size (2 km diameter), an irregular southern and breached western margin, and overall paucity of ignimbritic materials in the region suggest, rather, that the margins of this area were defined by highly viscous rhyolitic lava flows from Ancachita and Hornillo that were subsequently eroded into the circular form of a cirque, particularly on the south-facing (heavily glaciated) slopes, as a result of abundant Pleistocene glaciation. An example of a large Pliocene caldera is the Cailloma caldera that dominates the Cailloma quadrangle immediately to the northwest of the Chivay area (Davila M. 1988). Rather, the Maymeja area can be more generally described as a volcanic depression that underwent significant glaciation during periods subsequent its Pliocene formation.