Editing Tierra del Fuego (section)

===Geology===
{{see also|Andean orogeny}}
The geology of the archipelago is influenced by the effects of the [[Andean orogeny]] and the repeated [[Pleistocene]] [[glaciation]]s. The geology of the island can be divided into large east–west-oriented units. The southwestern islands of the archipelago, including [[Cape Horn]], are part of the [[South Patagonian Batholith]], while the [[Cordillera Darwin]] and the area around the [[Beagle Channel]] form the principal mountain range hosting the highest mountains. The Magallanes [[fold and thrust belt]] extends north of [[Almirantazgo Fjord]] and [[Fagnano Lake]], and north of this lies the Magallanes foreland, an old [[sedimentary basin]] that hosts [[petroleum reserve|hydrocarbon reserves]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.raco.cat/index.php/GeologicaActa/article/view/83442/108425 |first1=M. |last1=Menichetti |first2=E. |last2=Lodolo |first3=A. |last3=Tassone |title=Structural geology of the Fuegian Andes and Magallanes fold-and-thrust belt – Tierra del Fuego Island |journal=[[Geologica Acta]] |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=March 2008 |access-date=20 June 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718174921/http://www.raco.cat/index.php/GeologicaActa/article/view/83442/108425 |archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> [[Orthogneiss]] dated at 525 million years is known to underlie some of the oil wells in northern Tierra del Fuego.<ref>[[Francisco Hervé|Hervé, Francisco]]; Miller, Hubert; Pimpirev Christo. 2003. Patagonia – Antarctica Connections before Gondwana Break-Up in Antarctica Contributions to Global Earth Sciences. Chapter 5.1</ref>

The [[Magallanes–Fagnano Fault]], a [[Sinistral and dextral|sinistral]] [[Strike-slip tectonics|strike slip]] fault crosses the southern part of the main island from west to east. It is an active [[Fault (geology)|fault]], located inside and parallel to the Fuegian [[fold and thrust belt]], and marks the boundary between a southern belt of [[Paleozoic]] [[metamorphic rock|meta]] [[sedimentary rock|sediments]] and a northern [[Mesozoic]] belt of sedimentary sequences. Fagnano Lake occupies a glacier-carved depression in a pull-apart basin that has developed along the Magallanes-Fagnano Fault zone.<ref name="Lod">{{cite journal| last =Lodolo| first =Emanuele |author2=Menichetti, Marco |author3=Bartole, Roberto |author4=Ben-Avraham, Zvi |author-link4=Zvi Ben-Avraham |author5=Tassone, Alejandro |author6=Lippai, Horacio| title =Magallanes-Fagnano continental transform fault (Tierra del Fuego, southernmost South America)| journal =Tectonics| volume =22| issue =6| page =1076| year =2003| doi =10.1029/2003TC001500| bibcode =2003Tecto..22.1076L | doi-access =free}}</ref>

[[Podzol]]s and [[inceptisol]]s occur beneath ''[[Nothofagus betuloides]]'' forests in Tierra del Fuego.<ref name=GerdingThiers>{{Citation
 |last1       = Gerding
 |first1      = Victor
 |last2       = Thiers
 |first2      = Oscar
 |title       = Characterization of soils of Nothofagus betuloides (Mirb) Blume forests, in Tierra del Fuego, Chile
 |journal     = [[Revista Chilena de Historia Natural]]
 |volume      = 75
 |issue       = 4
 |year        = 2002
 |pages       = 819–833
 |language    = es
 |doi = 10.4067/S0716-078X2002000400015
 |doi-access= free
 }}</ref>