Portal:Andes
Portal maintenance status: (November 2018)
|
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 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 are the highest mountain range which is outside of Asia. The range's highest peak, 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
-
Image 1
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 2
Lake Carhuacocha (possibly from Quechua qarwa leaf worm, larva of a beetle; pale, yellowish, golden, qucha lake,) is a lake in Peru located in the Huanuco Region, Lauricocha Province, on the border of the districts of Jesús and Queropalca. It lies on the east side of the Huayhuash mountain range. The lake is about 1.5 km long and 0.44 km at its widest point. (Full article...) -
Image 3
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...) -
Image 4
Tungurahua (/tʊŋɡʊˈrɑːwə/; from Quichua tunguri (throat) and rahua (fire), "Throat of Fire") is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity restarted on August 19, 1999, and is ongoing as of 2023[update], with several eruptive episodes since then, the most recent lasting from February 26 to March 16, 2016. (Full article...) -
Image 5
Cerro Bayo is a complex volcano on the northern part border between Argentina and Chile. It consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes along a north–south line. The main volcano face is located on the Argentine side, thought the summit of the complex is just west of the border, in Chile. The volcano is about 800,000 years old, but it is associated with ongoing ground uplift encompassing also the more northerly Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre volcanoes. The 5,401-metre (17,720 ft) high summit is the source of two viscous dacitic lava flows with prominent levees that traveled to the north.
Elemental sulfur can be found at Bayo, both in the form of high-grade massive deposits and as extinct fumarole chimneys. The volcano formed in three separate phases that produced lava flows. One is dated to 1.6±0.4 million years ago. The volcano can bear snow in winter. The youngest dated rocks are about 23,000 years old; in 2007 a steam eruption were observed by researchers investigating nearby salt pans such as Salar Ignorado. (Full article...) -
Image 6
Incahuasi (Spanish pronunciation: [iŋkaˈwasi]; possibly from Quechua: inka Inca, wasi house) is a volcanic mountain in the Andes of South America. It lies on the border of the Catamarca Province of Argentina and the Atacama Region of Chile. Incahuasi has a summit elevation of 6,621 metres (21,722 ft) above sea level.
The volcano consists of a 3.5-kilometre-wide (2.2 mi) caldera and two stratovolcanoes. Four pyroclastic cones located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to the northeast have produced basalt-andesite lava flows that cover an area of 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi). (Full article...) -
Image 7Touching the Void is a 2003 survival documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, and Ollie Ryall. The plot concerns Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' near-fatal descent after making the first successful ascent of the West Face of Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes, in 1985. It is based on Simpson's 1988 book of the same name.
Critically acclaimed, Touching the Void was listed in PBS's "100 Greatest Documentaries of All Time". The Guardian described it as "the most successful documentary in British cinema history". (Full article...) -
Image 8
The Sierra de La Culata is a mountain range in the largest massif in Venezuela, the Cordillera de Mérida, which in turn is part of the northern extent of the Cordillera de los Andes (Andes Mountains). The Sierra la Culata includes some of the highest peaks in Venezuela, such as Pico Piedras Blancas, Pico Pan de Azúcar, and Collado del Cóndor.
It is located between the states of Mérida and Trujillo. Most of the lagoons are a result of the Mérida glaciation. (Full article...) -
Image 9
Artesonraju is a pyramidal mountain peak located near the city of Caraz in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is located at the Peruvian province of Huaylas and its slopes are within two cities: Santa Cruz and Caraz. Its summit has an elevation of 6,025 metres (19,767 ft) (or 5,999 metres (19,682 ft) according to the IGN-Peru map). It is one of many prominent peaks (2772 metres) located within the boundaries of Peru's Huascarán National Park.
Artesonraju has two distinguished climbing routes. Due to their difficulties, Artesonraju is seldom successfully climbed in comparison to other well known mountains in the Cordillera Blanca. This mountain serves as the inspiration mascot for the newer Paramount Pictures production logo. (Full article...) -
Image 10
Cordón del Azufre is an inactive complex volcano located in the Central Andes, at the border of Argentina and Chile. It consists of three stages of volcanic cones and associated lava flows, and its activity is a consequence of the subduction of the Nazca Plate underneath the South American Plate. North of it are the dormant volcano Lastarria and the actively uplifting Lazufre region. (Full article...) -
Image 11
The llama (/ˈlɑːmə/; Spanish pronunciation: [ˈʎama] or [ˈʝama]) (Lama glama) is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era.
Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft and contains only a small amount of lanolin. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions. When using a pack, they can carry about 25 to 30% of their body weight for 8 to 13 km (5–8 miles). The name llama (in the past also spelled "lama" or "glama") was adopted by European settlers from native Peruvians. (Full article...) -
Image 12
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...) -
Image 13
Sarapo is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about 6,127 metres (20,102 ft) high. It is located in the Huánuco Region, Lauricocha Province, Jesús District as well as in the Lima Region, Cajatambo Province, in the districts Cajatambo and Copa. Sarapo lies south of the Yerupaja and the Siula Grande and east of the lake Sarapococha. (Full article...) -
Image 14Orestias chungarensis is a species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is endemic to Lake Chungara in Chile. (Full article...)
-
Image 15
Pico Bonpland is Venezuela's fourth-highest peak, at 4,883 metres above sea level. It is located in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, in the Venezuelan Andes of (Mérida State). The peak with its sister peak Pico Humboldt, and the surrounding páramos are protected by the Sierra Nevada National Park. The name of the peak is in honor of Aimé Bonpland, although he never visited the Venezuelan Andes.
The glaciers located in the Bonpland were the result from Merida glaciation in the Pleistocene. By 2011 they had all disappeared. (Full article...) -
Image 16
Nevado Anallajsi is a stratovolcano in Bolivia. The date of its last eruption is unknown, but its youngest lava flows appear to have erupted from a vent on the north flank of the mountain. The main composition of the volcano is andesitic and dacitic. It overlies a plateau which is composed of ignimbrite. The volcano covers an area of 368.8 square kilometres (142.4 sq mi) and is 10.2 mya old based on its erosion state, while other estimates indicate an age of 2.6 mya. (Full article...) -
Image 17
Nevado del Huila (/nɛˈvɑːdoʊ dɛl ˈwiːlə/, Spanish pronunciation: [neˈβaðo ðel ˈwila]) at 5,364 metres (17,598 ft), is the highest volcano in Colombia, located at the tripoint of the departments of Huila, Tolima and Cauca. It is visible from the city of Cali. The andesitic volcano is located on top of the Ibagué Batholith.
After being dormant for more than 500 years, the volcano showed heavy signs of activity in 2007 and 2008. As of February 20, 2007, there were more than 7000 "minor" seismic events, and a high state of alert was in place for the departments of Cauca, Huila, Caldas and Valle del Cauca. The volcano erupted twice in April 2007, once in April 2008 and again in November 2008. Any eruption would affect the small villages around the volcano, mostly Páez, where their inhabitants still have in memory the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano and the destruction of Armero. (Full article...) -
Image 18
Volcán Marmolejo is a 6,108 m (20,039 ft) high Pleistocene stratovolcano in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile. It is located 9 km (6 mi) NNE of the active San José volcano, and is the southernmost 6,000 m (19,685 ft)-plus peak in the world. The Argentine portion is within the Argentinean protection area of Provincial Reserve for Multiple Use and Natural Recreation Manzano / Portillo de Piuquenes. It is on the border of two provinces: Argentinean province of Mendoza and Chilean province of Cordillera. Its slopes are within the administrative boundaries of the two cities: Argentinean city of Tunuyán and the Chilean commune of San José de Maipo. (Full article...) -
Image 19
The Titicaca orestias, Lake Titicaca orestias, or Lake Titicaca flat-headed fish (Orestias cuvieri), also known by its native name amanto, is a likely extinct freshwater killifish from Lake Titicaca in South America. It belongs in the pupfish genus Orestias, endemic to lakes, rivers and streams in the Andean highlands. With a total length of up to 27 cm (10.6 in), it was the largest member in that genus. In the hope that an undiscovered population remains, it is listed as Data Deficient by the IUCN. Despite its common name, it is not the only Orestias from Lake Titicaca.
Its mouth was nearly turned upwards, thereby giving the flat head a concave shape. The head took up nearly a third of the whole body length. The upperside was greenish-yellow to umber. The lower jaw was black. Its scales were oddly light coloured at their centre. The scales of the young were blotched. (Full article...) -
Image 20
Acamarachi (also known as Pili) is a 6,046-metre (19,836 ft) high volcano in northern Chile. In this part of Chile, it is the highest volcano. Its name means "black moon". It is a volcano in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a zone of strong volcanic activity during the last million years. Old volcanoes in the area are well-preserved, due to the dry climate.
Acamarachi itself is a cone-shaped volcano with steep upper flanks and a lava dome on its northern side. While there is no indication of historical activity and the flank lava flows are old, some lava flows around the summit crater and a lava coulee north of Acamarachi on the saddle between Acamarachi and Colachi volcano may be postglacial in age. Acamarachi is formed by andesitic and dacitic rocks. (Full article...) -
Image 21
Jirishanca is a 6,094-metre-high (19,993 ft) mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in west central Peru, part of the Andes. Other sources cite a height of 6,125 metres (20,095 ft). It is the tenth highest peak in Peru and the third in the Huayhuash range (after Yerupajá and Siula Grande). Jirishanca translates as "hummingbird bill peak". (Full article...) -
Image 22
The yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) is a New World monkey endemic to Peru. It is a rare primate species found only in the Peruvian Andes, in the departments of Amazonas and San Martin, as well as bordering areas of La Libertad, Huánuco, and Loreto. (Full article...) -
Image 23
El Altar or Capac Urcu (possibly from Kichwa kapak principal, great, important / magnificence, urku mountain) is an extinct volcano on the western side of Sangay National Park in Ecuador, 170 km (110 mi) south of Quito, with a highest point of 5,319 m (17,451 ft). Spaniards named it so because it resembled two nuns and four friars listening to a bishop around a church altar. In older English sources it is also called The Altar. (Full article...) -
Image 24Cerro Castillo Dynevor, also known as Castillo Dynevor is located on the northwest coast of Skyring Sound, in Magallanes Region, Chile. It is named after its resemblance with Dynevor Castle in Wales, which was noticed by British explorers in 1830.
Its access is quite harsh due to the nature that all roads end about 30 km from it, and the rest of the way must be done either on a 4×4 vehicle, motorcycle, horse or on foot, either way the appropriate track is just by the shore, not through the woods, as they are too dense. (Full article...) -
Image 25
The Andean orogeny (Spanish: Orogenia andina) is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along the western margin of South America. On a continental scale the Cretaceous (90 Ma) and Oligocene (30 Ma) were periods of re-arrangements in the orogeny. The details of the orogeny vary depending on the segment and the geological period considered. (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?
Need help?
Do you have a question about Andes that you can't find the answer to?
Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
General images
-
Image 2Peruvian farmers sowing maize and beans (from Andes)
-
Image 4Central Andes (from Andes)
-
Image 6Paleogeography 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)
-
Image 11Ulluco: Common crop of the Andean region (from Andean agriculture)
-
Image 12Huayna Potosí, Bolivia (from Andes)
-
Image 13Mashua tubers (from Andean agriculture)
-
Image 15Map 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)
-
Image 17Irrigating land in the Peruvian Andes (from Andes)
-
Image 18A male Andean cock-of-the-rock, a species found in humid Andean forests and the national bird of Peru (from Andes)
-
Image 19Topographic 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)
-
Image 21Simplified sketch of the present-situation along most of the Andes (from Andean orogeny)
-
Image 22Aerial 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)
-
Image 23Pacha Mama Ceremony (from Andean agriculture)
-
Image 26Bolivian Andes (from Andes)
-
Image 27Syncline next to Nordenskjöld Lake in Torres del Paine National Park. The syncline formed during the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
-
Image 29Pico Humboldt at sunset (from Andes)
-
Image 34The seaward tilting of the sedimentary strata of Salto del Fraile Formation in Peru was caused by the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
Subcategories
- Select [►] to view subcategories
Related portals
Subtopics
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus