National Parks, Biological Reserves, and Natural Santuary - Chile
Torres del Paine National Park (1959) - also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (1978) - the park comprises the Paine Massif, also called the Cordillera Paine, a compact mountain range created when the sedimentary stratum was pressure injected, forming a laccolith (a sheet intrusion, of granite between the sedimentary rock), later it was uplifted, and subsequent glaciation sculpted the final appearance seen today - here at a section of the iconic rock spires, viewing southeastern to Mount Almirante Nieto (l) - and Torre Central (peak in the cloud), Torre Norte, and Cerro Nido de Condor (r) - the park includes the Magellanic Subpolar Forest and Patagonia Steppe ecoregions - the Austral Zone natural region, comprised of fjords, glaciers, endorheic lakes, rivers, and ice field - located in the Magallanes region, Ultima Esperanza province, of southern Chile.