El Tatio

El Tatio is a geyser field located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at 4,320 metres above mean sea level. Various etymologies have been proposed for the name "El Tatio", which might mean "oven" or "grandfather". It is the third-largest geyser field in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

El Tatio lies at the western foot of a series of stratovolcanoes, which run along the border between Chile and Bolivia. This series of volcanoes is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of several volcanic belts in the Andes, and there are no recorded historical eruptions at the Tatio volcanoes. El Tatio is also part of the Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex, a system of large calderas and associated ignimbrites, which have been the sources of supereruptions. Some of these calderas may be the source of heat for the El Tatio geothermal system.