The sharp teeth of the southern hemisphere, holding Puerto Wiliams rear. They lie at the heart of Navarino Island, protagonists of Cabo de Hornos commune, receiving more and more yearly visitors and becoming one the most valued explorable landscapes of the region.
For thousands of years these teeth were the main tower of the ancient Yagan rein, whose sustainable and nomadic way of life was the governing political system spreading to every channel and fjord.
These peaks have witnessed the variations of the cultural landscape throughout history, from yagan ancestors to a contemporary society, growing farther away from sustainable, natural ways.
Georeading
South of the Beagle Channel emerges the last segment, the meridional end of the Patagonian Andes: the Dientes de Navarino mountain range. They assimilate a sharp saw, a series of pyramidal teeth organised from west to east, decorating Puerto Williams background.
Their height and shape stand out from the rest of the Island, which is made mostly of sedimentary rocks: weak and soft, hardly resistant to the unforgiving erosive nature of the weather. The Dientes, though, are made of igneous rocks, hot magmas that ascended from the depths of the Earth and intruding the sedimentary sequence.
The sharp strength contrast between these two rock types makes the Dientes mountain range to stand alone, survivor of the hostile Austral weather.Vertical fractures cross-cutting from peak to foot can be observed along this mountain range.
These cracks formed when the hot magma arose to the surface, experiencing a sharp temperThe rocks lost temperature rapidly, the abrupt volume change resulting in explosive cracking. These cracks aid the erosive action of glaciers, who together are the artists responsible for the sharp, characteristic shape of this mountain range.ature contrast.