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Guaitecas Archipelago
The Guaitecas Archipelago is a sparsely populated archipelago in the Aisén region of Chile. The archipelago is made up of eight main islands and numerous smaller ones. The eight largest islands are from northwest to southeast: Gran Guaiteca, Ascención, Betecoy, Clotilde, Leucayec, Elvira, Sánchez and Mulchey. The islands have subdued topography compared to the Andes, with Gran Guaiteca containing the archipelago's high point at 369 m (1,211 ft).
The main settlement in the archipelago is Melinka, a port town with an economy revolving around fishing and salmon aquaculture. Most islands are forested, rocky with recurrent peat bogs. The archipelago waters are renowned for their rich whale and dolphin fauna. The climate is cool, rainy and oceanic. Historically the islands were inhabited by semi-nomad and seafaring Chonos and lay beyond the southernmost outposts of the Spanish Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, the islands became permanently settled as consequence of a wood logging boom centered on Ciprés de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron uviferum), a tree named after the archipelago. Culturally the northwestern part of the archipelago is similar to the Chiloé Archipelago.
The archipelago has a rainy and cool maritime temperate climate. Mean annual precipitation at Melinka is of 3,173 mm (124.9 in). Mean annual temperature is about 7–9 °C (44.6–48.2 °F). From September to December high tides in combination with storms produce large waves that wash over land depositing sand and gravel onshore.
The main vegetation assemblage of the islands is the Bosque Siempreverde con Turberas de los Chonos (lit. "Chonos Evergreen Forest with Bogs") with the characteristic tree Pilgerodendron uviferum. Other trees in these forests are Nothofagus nitida (coigüe de Chiloé), Metrosideros stipularis (tepú) and Weinmannia trichosperma (tineo). In the ground of the more-less open Pilgerodendron forest cushion plants such as Astelia pumila, Donatia fascicularis and Oreobolus obtusangulus grow. In the western fringes of the archipelago the vegetation is made up of a c. 2-meter (6.6 ft) high shrubland of Pilgerondendron and Nothofagus nitida. Amidst this shrubland, occasional peatlands and forest exists.
Vegetation type changes from the shore towards the island's interior parts. Next to the sea, herbs and occasional wild potatoes grow. This is a zone of regular disturbance that is affected by winter storms. The wild potatoes that grow in the archipelago are mostly found in its western part. Apparently these potatoes do not reproduce by seeds and rarely produce flowers and fruits. Slightly inland from the herbaceous zone follows a belt of brushy thickets. This belt is followed by coastline forest that further away from the coasts gives way to a proper inland forest, which may contain peat bogs.
The archipelago contains 431 —or 2.8%— of Aysén Region's 15,240 ha of Sphagnum bogs.
A variety of whales and dolphins have been spotted in the archipelago waters including: Peale's dolphins, black dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales, minke whales and killer whales. The Gulf of Corcovado to the north of the archipelago is "arguably the largest feeding and nursing ground for blue whales [...] in the entire Southern Hemisphere". All of this makes Guaitecas Archipelago a privileged place for whale watching.
The bedrock of the archipelago is varied. In the northwest it is made of metamorphic rock, with rocks such as phyllite, metacherts and greenschist. In the southeast granitoids, lavas and brecciated lavas make most of the bedrock.
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Guaitecas Archipelago
The Guaitecas Archipelago is a sparsely populated archipelago in the Aisén region of Chile. The archipelago is made up of eight main islands and numerous smaller ones. The eight largest islands are from northwest to southeast: Gran Guaiteca, Ascención, Betecoy, Clotilde, Leucayec, Elvira, Sánchez and Mulchey. The islands have subdued topography compared to the Andes, with Gran Guaiteca containing the archipelago's high point at 369 m (1,211 ft).
The main settlement in the archipelago is Melinka, a port town with an economy revolving around fishing and salmon aquaculture. Most islands are forested, rocky with recurrent peat bogs. The archipelago waters are renowned for their rich whale and dolphin fauna. The climate is cool, rainy and oceanic. Historically the islands were inhabited by semi-nomad and seafaring Chonos and lay beyond the southernmost outposts of the Spanish Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, the islands became permanently settled as consequence of a wood logging boom centered on Ciprés de las Guaitecas (Pilgerodendron uviferum), a tree named after the archipelago. Culturally the northwestern part of the archipelago is similar to the Chiloé Archipelago.
The archipelago has a rainy and cool maritime temperate climate. Mean annual precipitation at Melinka is of 3,173 mm (124.9 in). Mean annual temperature is about 7–9 °C (44.6–48.2 °F). From September to December high tides in combination with storms produce large waves that wash over land depositing sand and gravel onshore.
The main vegetation assemblage of the islands is the Bosque Siempreverde con Turberas de los Chonos (lit. "Chonos Evergreen Forest with Bogs") with the characteristic tree Pilgerodendron uviferum. Other trees in these forests are Nothofagus nitida (coigüe de Chiloé), Metrosideros stipularis (tepú) and Weinmannia trichosperma (tineo). In the ground of the more-less open Pilgerodendron forest cushion plants such as Astelia pumila, Donatia fascicularis and Oreobolus obtusangulus grow. In the western fringes of the archipelago the vegetation is made up of a c. 2-meter (6.6 ft) high shrubland of Pilgerondendron and Nothofagus nitida. Amidst this shrubland, occasional peatlands and forest exists.
Vegetation type changes from the shore towards the island's interior parts. Next to the sea, herbs and occasional wild potatoes grow. This is a zone of regular disturbance that is affected by winter storms. The wild potatoes that grow in the archipelago are mostly found in its western part. Apparently these potatoes do not reproduce by seeds and rarely produce flowers and fruits. Slightly inland from the herbaceous zone follows a belt of brushy thickets. This belt is followed by coastline forest that further away from the coasts gives way to a proper inland forest, which may contain peat bogs.
The archipelago contains 431 —or 2.8%— of Aysén Region's 15,240 ha of Sphagnum bogs.
A variety of whales and dolphins have been spotted in the archipelago waters including: Peale's dolphins, black dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales, minke whales and killer whales. The Gulf of Corcovado to the north of the archipelago is "arguably the largest feeding and nursing ground for blue whales [...] in the entire Southern Hemisphere". All of this makes Guaitecas Archipelago a privileged place for whale watching.
The bedrock of the archipelago is varied. In the northwest it is made of metamorphic rock, with rocks such as phyllite, metacherts and greenschist. In the southeast granitoids, lavas and brecciated lavas make most of the bedrock.