Coropuna
| Coropuna | ||
|---|---|---|
 View of Coropuna volcano |
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| height | 6425 m | |
| location | Arequipa , Peru | |
| Mountains | Cordillera Volcánica , Andes | |
| Coordinates | 15 ° 31 ′ 13 ″ S , 72 ° 39 ′ 26 ″ W | |
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| Type | Sleeping stratovolcano | |
| rock | Andesite / Dacite | |
| Age of the rock | Pliocene and Quaternary | |
| First ascent | 1911 by Annie Peck or Hiram Bingham (unclear) | |
At 6425 m, the Coropuna is the highest volcano in Peru and the third highest peak in this country. The heavily glaciated mountain is part of the volcanic chain ( Cordillera Volcánica ) in southern Peru. It is located around 150 km northwest of the city of Arequipa and 110 km from the Pacific coast.
According to recent sources, the height of the Coropuna is only 6377 m. It would still be the highest volcano in Peru, but only the fifth highest peak in Peru.
geology
The Coropuna is a stratovolcano that was formed about one to three million years ago, i.e. in the Pliocene . There is evidence that the volcano was active several times during the Holocene . However, there are no records of an eruption in historical times. Geologists have identified Holocene lava flows that flowed up to 8.5 km. There are also deposits of ash and lapilli within 7 km of the mountain. The Coropuna is counted among the dormant volcanoes. The current activity is limited to a few thermal springs in the vicinity of the volcano, the water temperature of which is between 20 ° C and 51 ° C. According to geologists, the likelihood of another eruption in the next few years is close to zero.
The base of the mighty volcano has a diameter of about 20 km and is located at an altitude of 4200 m. The summit area is characterized by at least six ice-covered peaks.
Glaciation
The snow line today is between 5300 m and 5600 m. The glacial melt has - accelerated in the last 50 years - as elsewhere in the Andes. In 1955 the ice surface was given as 122.7 km², in 2003 it was only 56.7 km², which corresponds to a reduction of 54%. In 2018 it was estimated at 44.1 km². The Coropuna ice cap lost around 0.41 km² annually between 1980 and 2014. The Quelccaya Ice Cap, also located in Peru, has long been considered the largest tropical ice surface, but it melted much faster than the Coropuna glaciers, which have been the largest tropical glacier surface since the beginning of the 2010s.
The ice mass on the Coropuna forms the largest water reservoir in the Arequipa region . The meltwater supplies around 50,000 residents in the provinces of Condesuyos and Castilla. If the melting process continues at the same pace, the Coropuna could be ice-free by 2120. Earlier fears were based on an even faster melt, so that by 2050 the residents of the area would have been lacking drinking and irrigation water.
sacred mountain
Like many other mountains in Peru, the Coropuna is, from the point of view of the indigenous population, a sacred mountain that is inhabited by an Apu . An Apu is a mountain deity that was already intensely venerated in the Inca period and to whom sacrifices were made so that the climate or the amount of rainfall would meet the wishes of the inhabitants. For this purpose, the Incas climbed to the peaks of many sacred mountains in southern Peru, in order to be as close as possible to the Apu and to make sacrifices to it.
Touristic
The ascent of the Coropuna is technically not very demanding, but the remoteness of the volcano, the high altitude and the sometimes extremely low temperatures can make very high physical demands on every mountaineer. The ascent is mostly made from Laguna Pallarcocha, which is at the southwestern foot of the glacier.
See also
Web links
- Coropuna in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
- Coropuna on summitpost.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Segundo Juárez Núñez, Germán Valenzuela Ortiz: Reconocimiento geológico perliminar del volcán nevado Coropuna. 2008 (overview of the geology of the Coropuna, Spanish). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ A b c William H. Kochtitzky, Benjamin R. Edwards, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Jersy Marino, Nelida Marinque: Improved estimates of glacier change rates at Nevado Coropuna Ice Cap, Peru . In: Journal of Glaciology . April 2018, doi : 10.1017 / jog.2018.2 .
- ↑ Juan Carlos Soto: El Coropuna. Otro gigante que agoniza. In: La República. January 4, 2008, accessed October 15, 2019 .