Ojos del Salado Ojos del Salado Nevado Ojos del Salado is a stratovolcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border and the highest active volcano in the world at . It is also the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere and the highest in Chile. It is located about north of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere at . Due to its location near the Atacama Desert, the mountain has very dry conditions with snow usually only remaining on the peak during winter, though heavy storms can cover the surrounding area with a few feet of snow
Ojos del Salado of the Nazca Plate beneath the South America Plate became increasingly shallower and this caused volcanism to shift from the Maricunga Belt to the Ojos del Salado region. The Paleozoic basement crops out only northwest of Nevado Tres Cruces. Other geologic units in the region are Oligocene sedimentary units and volcanic rocks ranging from Oligocene age to less than 1.5 million years old. The area is part of a tectonic boundary between a volcanically active region north of the boundary and a less volcanically active region south of the boundary, which is also characterized by geographical differences, e.g. the presence