Portal:Andes
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The Andes Portal
The Andes (/ˈændiːz/ AN-deez), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (Spanish: Cordillera de los Andes; Quechua: Anti) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 8,900 km (5,530 mi) long and 200 to 700 km (124 to 435 mi) wide (widest between 18°S and 20°S latitude) and has an average height of about 4,000 m (13,123 ft). The Andes extend from South to North through seven South American countries.: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and western Venezuela.
Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, separated by intermediate depressions. The Andes are the location of several high plateaus—some of which host major cities such as Quito, Bogotá, Cali, Arequipa, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Sucre, Mérida, El Alto and La Paz. The Altiplano Plateau is the world's second-highest after the Tibetan Plateau. These ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate: the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes.
The Andes Mountains are the highest mountain range outside Asia. The highest mountain outside Asia, Argentina's Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m (22,838 ft) above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to the equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m (22,615 ft). (Full article...)
Selected articles
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Image 1
The royal cinclodes (Cinclodes aricomae) is a Critically Endangered passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia and Peru. (Full article...) -
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Yerupajá is a mountain of the Huayhuash mountain range in west central Peru, part of the Andes. It's located at Áncash, Bolognesi Province, Lauricocha Province. At 6,635 metres (21,768 ft) (other sources: 6,617 m (21,709 ft)) it is the second-highest in Peru and the highest in the Huayhuash mountain range. The summit is the highest point in the Amazon River watershed, and was first reached in 1950 by Jim Maxwell and Dave Harrah, and its northern peak (Yerupajá Norte) in 1968 by the Wellingtonian Roger Bates and Graeme Dingle. Many visitors consider Yerupajá to be the most spectacular peak in South America.
There have been only a few successful ascents of the peak because it is one of the hardest Andean high peaks to climb. The most popular route is the southwest face. The approach is normally made from Huaraz southwards via Chiquián and Jahuacocha. (Full article...) -
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Lastarria is a 5,697 metres (18,691 ft) high stratovolcano that lies on the border between Chile and Argentina. It is remote, and the surroundings are uninhabited but can be reached through an unpaved road. The volcano is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the four segments of the volcanic arc of the Andes. Over a thousand volcanoes—of which about 50 are active—lie in this over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) long chain of volcanoes, which is generated by subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate.
The volcano is constituted by two volcanic edifices that form a ridge, and one subsidiary lava flow field southwest of the main volcanoes. The main edifice features several aligned craters that form a line. There is no recorded eruptive activity, but the volcano displays vigorous fumarolic activity on its northern side and within the craters. It is located on top of older volcanic rocks and features both andesite and dacite. (Full article...) -
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Pico El Águila or Collado del Cóndor is the milestone that stands at the highest elevation on the Venezuelan Transandean Highway (a branch of the Pan-American Highway) in the Cordillera de Mérida of Venezuela. Nearby stands a monument, sculpted by a Colombian artist, Marcos León Mariño, depicting a condor, commemorating an event in the campaign of the Liberator, Simón Bolivar. It is located in the state of Mérida and has an altitude of 4,118 meters. (Full article...) -
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Pichincha is a stratovolcano in Ecuador. The capital Quito wraps around its eastern slopes.
The two highest peaks of the mountain are Wawa Pichincha (Kichwa wawa child, baby / small, Spanish spelling Guagua Pichincha) (4,784 metres (15,696 ft)) and Ruku Pichincha (Kichwa ruku old person, Spanish Rucu Pichincha) (4,698 metres (15,413 ft)). The active caldera is in Wawa Pichincha on the western side of the mountain. (Full article...) -
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Maipo is a stratovolcano in the Andes, lying on the border between Argentina and Chile. It is located 90 km (56 mi) south of Tupungato and about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Santiago. It has a symmetrical, conical volcanic shape, and is among the southernmost 5,000 metre peaks in the Andes.
Maipo is located within the Diamante caldera, a feature measuring 15 km by 20 km that is about half a million years old. It rises about 1,900 m (6,230 ft) above the floor of the caldera. Immediately to the east of the peak, on the eastern side of the caldera floor, is Laguna del Diamante, a lake that formed when lava flows blocked drainage channels from the caldera in 1826. The Diamante Caldera erupted 450 cubic kilometers (108 cu mi) of tephra, 450 ka. (Full article...) -
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El Cocuy National Park is a national park located in the Andes Mountains within the nation of Colombia. Its official name is Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy. (Full article...) -
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Pico El León is a mountain in the Andes of Venezuela. It has a height of 4740 metres. (Full article...) -
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Monte Pissis is an extinct volcano on the border of the La Rioja and Catamarca provinces in Argentina, 25 km (16 mi) to the east of the Chilean border and about 550 km (340 mi) north of Aconcagua. The mountain is the third-highest in the Western Hemisphere.
Monte Pissis is named after Pedro José Amadeo Pissis, a French geologist who worked for the Chilean government.
Due to its location in the Atacama Desert, the mountain has very dry conditions but features an extensive glacier, with crevasses, which is unique in the region. (Full article...) -
Image 10
The Sierra Nevada National Park (SNNP) is a National Park of Venezuela located between the states of Mérida and Barinas in western Venezuela. It was created on May 2, 1952, by decree of President Germán Suárez Flamerich, in order to protect the Sierra Nevada de Mérida in the Andes.
It was the second national park decreed, after Henri Pittier National Park, which became the first Venezuelan national park 15 years earlier. (Full article...) -
Image 11Pico El Toro is a mountain in the Andes of Venezuela. It has a height of 4755 metres. (Full article...)
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Image 12
Nevado Ojos del Salado is a dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile. The upper reaches of Ojos del Salado consist of several overlapping lava domes, lava flows and volcanic craters, with sparse ice cover. The complex extends over an area of 70–160 square kilometres (27–62 sq mi) and its highest summit reaches an altitude of 6,893 metres (22,615 ft) above sea level. Numerous other volcanoes rise around Ojos del Salado.
Being close to the Arid Diagonal of South America, the mountain has extremely dry conditions, which prevent the formation of substantial glaciers and a permanent snow cover. Despite the arid climate, there is a permanent crater lake about 100 m (330 ft) in diameter at an elevation of 6,480 metres (21,260 ft)-6,500 metres (21,300 ft) within the summit crater and east of the main summit. This is the highest lake of any kind in the world. Owing to its altitude and the desiccated climate, the mountain lacks vegetation. (Full article...) -
Image 14
Chungará is a lake situated in the extreme north of Chile at an elevation of 4,517 metres (14,820 ft), in the Altiplano of Arica y Parinacota Region in the Lauca National Park. It has a surface area of about 21.5–22.5 square kilometres (8.3–8.7 sq mi) and has a maximum depth of about 26–40 metres (85–131 ft). It receives inflow through the Río Chungara with some minor additional inflows, and loses most of its water to evaporation; seepage into the Laguna Quta Qutani plays a minor role.
The lake formed between 8,000 and 17,000 years ago when the volcano Parinacota collapsed and the debris from the collapse dammed the Lauca River. Since then the lake has progressively grown owing to decreasing seepage. The lake is part of the Lauca National Park; a planned diversion of the lake's waters into the Azapa Valley being abandoned after a decision by the Chilean Supreme Court. (Full article...) -
Image 15
Antisana is a stratovolcano of the northern Andes, in Ecuador. It is the fourth highest volcano in Ecuador, at 5,753 metres (18,875 ft), and is located 50 kilometres (31 mi) SE of the capital city of Quito.
Antisana presents one of the most challenging technical climbs in the Ecuadorian Andes. Next to the Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua and Chimborazo, the Antisana belongs to the five volcanic mountains that the Prussian-born explorer Alexander von Humboldt tried to climb in 1802 during his American journey. (Full article...) -
Image 16Orestias chungarensis is a species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to Lake Chungara in Chile. (Full article...)
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Image 17
The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita or Guican National Natural Park (or Sierra Nevada de Chita or Sierra Nevada de Güicán, Spanish: Parque Natural Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita o Guican is a national park and a series of highlands and glaciated peaks located within the Cordillera Oriental mountain range in the Andes Mountains of Colombia, at its easternmost point. It also corresponds to the highest range of the Eastern Cordillera and holds the biggest glacial mass in South America, north of the Equator. Since 1977, this region is protected within a National Natural Park (NNP-Cocuy) because of its fragile páramos, extraordinary bio-diversity and endemism, and its function as a corridor for migratory species under conditions of climate change. Among the Sierra’s natural attractions are the remaining 18 ice-covered peaks (there were as many as 25 in the recent past), glacial lakes and waterfalls. (Full article...) -
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The Andean goose (Chloephaga melanoptera) is a species of waterfowl in tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. (Full article...) -
Image 19
Pico Humboldt is Venezuela's second highest peak, at 4,925 metres above sea level. It is located in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, in the Venezuelan Andes of (Mérida State). The peak, its sister peak Pico Bonpland, and the surrounding páramos are protected by the Sierra Nevada National Park. The mountain is named after German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. (Full article...) -
Image 20
Falso Azufre is a complex volcano at the border of Argentina and Chile.
Falso Azufre is elongated in east–west direction and contains craters and lava domes; most craters have diameters of 300–600 metres (980–1,970 ft) with the exception of the main crater, which is 1 by 1.3 kilometres (0.62 mi × 0.81 mi) wide. The highest summit Cerro Falso Azufre lies at the western end in Chile, which has mostly generated pyroclastic material from craters. The probably youngest segment of the volcano is the eastern section in Argentina, where two lava domes and two cones are located; these form the Dos Conos volcano. Some lava flows linked to Dos Conos are up to 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long. The oldest is known as the Kunstmann edifice on the northwestern side of Falso Azufre; Kunstmann volcano features a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) wide scar formed by a sector collapse. Falso Azufre with a base surface of 387 square kilometres (149 sq mi) is one of the biggest volcanoes in the area. The presence of two oppositely curved vent alignments gives the complex an arc-like shape which reaches heights of about 5,900 metres (19,400 ft) above sea level. (Full article...) -
Image 21
The Andean flicker (Colaptes rupicola) is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. (Full article...) -
Image 22
Orestias is a genus of pupfish. Older systematics classified them into the own family Orestiidae. They are found in lakes, rivers and springs in the Andean highlands of South America, and several species are considered threatened. They are egg-laying fish that feed on small animals and plant matter. The largest species can reach a total length of 27 cm (10.6 in), but most remain far smaller. Their most characteristic feature is the absence of the ventral fin, although this is shared by a few other pupfish. Despite their moderate to small size, they are important to local fisheries and a few species are farmed.
Several species are locally and colloquially known as carache. The name of the genus is a reference to Orestes, a Greek mythological character who Valenciennes described as the "nymph of the mountains". (Full article...) -
Image 23
Llullaillaco (Spanish pronunciation: [ʎuʎajˈʎako]) is a dormant stratovolcano on the border between Argentina (Salta Province) and Chile (Antofagasta Region). It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of tall volcanic peaks on a high plateau close to the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. Its maximum elevation is most commonly given as 6723 m, making it the second- or third-highest volcano in the world. Despite its height, it is not clear whether the volcano has any glaciers or merely patches of perennial snow and ice. Between 3700 m and 5000 m elevation there is a sparse plant cover, while at lower altitudes the climate is too dry for plants to grow. A species of mouse on Llullaillaco is the highest-living known vertebrate species.
The volcano formed during the Pleistocene in two stages, named Llullaillaco I and Llullaillaco II. The oldest rocks are about 1.5 million years old. About 150,000 years ago, the volcano's southeastern flank collapsed, generating a debris avalanche that reached as far as 25 km from the summit. During the last stage, three conspicuous lava flows were emplaced on the summit. The youngest dated rocks are 930 ± 140 years old, but there are reports of activity from the 19th century. (Full article...) -
Image 24
Puracé is an andesitic stratovolcano located in the Puracé National Natural Park in the Cauca Department, Colombia. It is part of the North Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt. The volcano is located at the intersection of the Coconucos and Morras Faults.
It is one of the most active volcanoes in Colombia. Large explosive eruptions occurred in 1849, 1869, 1885, 1949, 1950, 1956, and 1957. There were about a dozen eruptions in the 20th century, the most recent being in 1977. On this occasion, volcanic ash was deposited 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) away. Fumaroles were seen near the summit in 1990, and hot springs emerged from some of the lower slopes. (Full article...) -
Image 25
Parinacota (in Hispanicized spelling), Parina Quta or Parinaquta is a dormant stratovolcano on the border of Bolivia and Chile. Together with Pomerape it forms the Nevados de Payachata volcanic chain. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, its summit reaches an elevation of 6,380 metres (20,930 ft) above sea level. The symmetrical cone is capped by a summit crater with widths of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) or 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). Farther down on the southern slopes lie three parasitic centres known as the Ajata cones. These cones have generated lava flows. The volcano overlies a platform formed by lava domes and andesitic lava flows.
The volcano started growing during the Pleistocene and formed a large cone. At some point between the Pleistocene and the Holocene, the western flank of the volcano collapsed, generating a giant landslide that spread west and formed a large, hummocky landslide deposit. The avalanche crossed and dammed a previously existing drainage, impounding or enlarging Lake Chungará; numerous other lakes now forming the headwaters of the Rio Lauca sprang up within the deposit. Volcanic activity rebuilt the cone after the collapse, cancelling out the collapse scar. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that the 1930s Polish Andean expeditions have been credited with several first ascents and the tracing of a new route to the summit of Aconcagua, the Andes' highest peak?
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General images
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Image 1Bolivian Andes (from Andes)
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Image 2Topographic map of the Andes by the NASA. The southern and northern ends of the Andes are not shown. The Bolivian Orocline is visible as a bend in the coastline and the Andes lower half of the map. (from Andean orogeny)
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Image 7Mashua tubers (from Andean agriculture)
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Image 9Simplified sketch of the present-situation along most of the Andes (from Andean orogeny)
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Image 10Pacha Mama Ceremony (from Andean agriculture)
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Image 11Pico Humboldt at sunset (from Andes)
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Image 12Irrigating land in the Peruvian Andes (from Andes)
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Image 14Ulluco: Common crop of the Andean region (from Andean agriculture)
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Image 19Aerial view of Valle Carbajal in the Tierra del Fuego. The Andes range is about 200 km (124 mi) wide throughout its length, except in the Bolivian flexure where it is about 640 kilometres (398 mi) wide. (from Andes)
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Image 20A male Andean cock-of-the-rock, a species found in humid Andean forests and the national bird of Peru (from Andes)
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Image 24Central Andes (from Andes)
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Image 25Peruvian farmers sowing maize and beans (from Andes)
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Image 26Map of a north-south sea-parallel pattern of rock ages in western Colombia. This pattern is a result of the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
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Image 27The seaward tilting of the sedimentary strata of Salto del Fraile Formation in Peru was caused by the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
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Image 28Syncline next to Nordenskjöld Lake in Torres del Paine National Park. The syncline formed during the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
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Image 30Paleogeography of the Late Cretaceous South America. Areas subject to the Andean orogeny are shown in light grey while the stable cratons are shown as grey squares. The sedimentary formations of Los Alamitos and La Colonia that formed in the Late Cretaceous are indicated. (from Andean orogeny)
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