Introduction and overview, R J Pankhurst and F Hervé • Metamorphic and plutonic basement complexes, F Hervé, V Faundez, M Calderón, H-J Massonne and A P Willner • Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Andean Orogen in Chile, R Charrier, L Pinto and M P Rodríguez • Andean magmatism, M A Parada, L López-Escobar, V Oliveros, F Fuentes, D Morata, M Calderón, L Aguirre, G Féraud, F Espinoza, H Moreno, O Figueroa, J Muñoz Bravo, R Troncoso Vásquez and C R Stern • Chilean volcanoes, C R Stern, H Moreno, L López-Escobar, J E Clavero, L E Lara, J A Naranjo, M A Parada and M A Skewes • Metallic ore deposits, V Maksaev, B Townley, C Palacios and F Camus • Industrial minerals and rocks, G Chong Díaz, A Gajardo Cubillos, A J Hartley and T Moreno • Chilean water resources, J F Muñoz, B Fernández, E Varas, P Pastén, D Gómez, P Rengifo, J Muñoz, M Atenas and J C Jofré • Neotectonics J Cembrano, A Lavenu, G Yañez, R Riquelme, M García, G González and G Hérail • Earthquakes in Chile, S E Barrientos • Marine geology, oceanography and climate, M Marchant, A Cecioni, S Figueroa, H González, S Giglio, D Hebbeln, J Kaiser, F Lamy, M Mohtadi, V Pineda and O Romero • Late Quaternary environments and palaeoclimate C Latorre, P I Moreno, G Vargas, A Maldonado, R Villa-Martínez, J J Annesto, C Villagrán, M Pino, L Núñez and M Grosjean • Field excursion from central Chile to the Atacama Desert, W Gibbons and T Moreno