Cotopaxi
volcano
 At
5897 meters above sea level, and rising majestically above the Andean
mountains, the Cotopaxi mountain is Ecuador’s highest active volcano -
as well as being one of the most active volcanoes anywhere in Ecuador.
With an almost perfectly symmetrical cone shape its identifiable sign,
Cotopaxi mountain is also a picture book image of Ecuador. The Cotopaxi is highly symmetrical a conical volcano whose glaciers
have not affected it much due to the recent origin of these. The
inclination of its flanks observes 30º approximately, whereas the
diameter of its base is in the 15 kms. The name of the mountain is a
voice Cayapa that is disturbed asi ': Boundary , neck; pag , of pagta,
sun and if of shi, candy. That is to say, "Sweet Sun Neck". In the old
language of the Panzaleos , cotopaxi means "fire Throat". The crater
of the volcano is made oval with a diameter of 800x600 m. and a depth
of 200 m.s from the edge to the bottom of the same one. This active volcano appeared back in the middle of the Pleistocene
between million and 200,000 years on still more old volcanic layers.
The small hill Morurco or Guagua Cotopaxi that is a little to the
south more is the surplus of old Cotopaxi volcano when this it had one
more an activity more explosive than the present one. Already at the
end of the Pleistocene until the present time, the Cotopaxi resumed
its activity and constructed the present cone. For 500 years, in
historical times, numerous eruptions of the Cotopaxi have been entered
that have destroyed near valleys, their last eruption of importance
was in 1906, reactivating itself in 1944 and 1975 but with little
force.
The explosive character of its eruptions and the great amount of
incandescent material have generated numerous mud flows that have
arrived until the Pacific Ocean, historically these flows have crossed
twelve times by the channel of the Cutuchi River, by the Pita River
three times and four times by the Napo River. Nevertheless in
prehistoric times they have appeared lahares or alluviums of
gravísimas consequences, since for 2,400 years when lahar apparently
giant produced by a sliding of great dimensions, it buried great part
of valleys of the Chillos and Tumbaco, reaching up to 130 meters on
you cause them of the main rivers. |
|
A similar alluvium could not
nowadays be possible due to the little amount of ice, the perpetual
snow is located today from the 4,900 msnm whereas 2,400 only 4,000
years ago msnm could be located to, which means that the amount of ice
and snow was much greater. Many are the dangers associated to this volcano: incandescent lava, deslaves and piroclásticos
collapses, flows and of mud and rain of ashes. The greater danger
without a doubt is the piroclásticos flows that can dissolve
glaciers in minutes and create devastating mud flows which already
sometimes happened they have devastated with valleys of the
Chillos and Latacunga.
First ascents: It was climbed for the first time in 1872 by the German Wilhelm Reiss
and Colombian Angel M. Field of broom, who raised by the southwestern
flank. The following year was crowned by four Ecuadorian and another
German. In 1877 a disastrous explosion I leave of ice and mud free the
North face and many mountain climbers took advantage from this
situation and began to raise by this flank. In 1880 the expedition to more important Ecuador never done was
carried out by the English Edward Whymper, that had the reputation of
being first in raising the Matterhorn in the Alps, considered
impossible for the time. Whymper, along with the Carrel brothers
(Italian), spent one night encamping in the crater of the Cotopaxi.
They made the first ascents to great part of the highest tips of the
country: Chimborazo 6,310 m.s, Cayambe 5,790 m.s, Antisana 5,758 m.s,
South Iliniza 5,248 m.s, Carihuairazo 5,020 m.s, Sincholagua 4,893 m.s,
Cotacachi 4,944 m.s and Sara Urco 4,670 ms. |
