Payún Matrú

Payún Matrú is a large shield volcano and volcanic complex in Mendoza Province, Argentina, noted for extensive lava fields and many scoria cones. It is a dominant volcanic feature within the Payún Matrú volcanic field.

The area offers broad volcanic landscapes with visible lava flows, scattered cinder cones and a central caldera; routes around the complex cross sparsely vegetated plateau and volcanic rock. Accessibility is generally remote and sites are visited for geology, hiking and landscape photography rather than built facilities.

The complex formed through repeated volcanic eruptions over tens of thousands of years, producing the shield profile, caldera and numerous secondary cones and flows that define the field today. Scientific study has focused on its eruptive history and the morphology of its lava provinces.

Located in west-central Mendoza Province near the town of Malargüe, the volcano sits on the high Patagonian plateau of Argentina and is surrounded by arid steppe and volcanic terrain.

What to See #

• Caldera: A volcanic caldera roughly circular in plan, surrounded by lava flows and small scoria cones; it is the central feature of the Payún Matrú volcanic complex.
• Lava flows and cones: Extensive ʻaʻā and pāhoehoe lava fields and numerous cinder cones that extend for many kilometres across the surrounding plateau.