The Andes Portal
The Andes mountain range as seen from a plane, between Santiago de Chile and Mendoza, Argentina, in summer
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, 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 north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
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
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...)
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...)
Pico Mucuñuque is a mountain in the Andes of Venezuela. It has a height of 4,609 metres. (Full article...)
Monte San Valentin, also known as Monte San Clemente, is the highest mountain in Chilean Patagonia and the highest mountain south of 37°S outside Antarctica. It stands at the north end of the North Patagonian Icefield.
Monte San Valentin can be climbed from Lago Leones, to the south east, or from Laguna San Rafael, to the west. The ascent is long and is particularly subject to bad weather. The accident and fatality rate is high. (Full article...)
Cerro Macá is a stratovolcano located to the north of the Aisén Fjord and to the east of the Moraleda Channel, in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. This glacier-covered volcano lies along the regional Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone.
Cerro Macá is a relatively small volcano with a volume of only 39 cubic kilometres (9.4 cu mi). It has a summit elevation of approximately 2,300 m above sea level and features glaciers that in 2011 covered an area of 27.62 square kilometres (10.66 sq mi). The edifice is partially eroded and a sector collapse is probably the origin of a large steep sided depression in the summit area. Pyroclastic cones with associated lava flows are found on its southwestern flank but also on the other slopes of the volcano, as far down as sea level and in the Bahia Aysen. (Full article...)
Reventador is an active stratovolcano which lies in the eastern Andes of Ecuador. It lies in a remote area of the national park of the same name, which is Spanish for "exploder". Since 1541, it has erupted over 25 times, although its isolated location means that many of its eruptions have gone unreported.
The largest historical eruption occurred in 2002. During that eruption, the plume from the volcano reached a height of 17 kilometres (11 mi) and pyroclastic flows proceeded to 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the cone. On March 30, 2007, the mountain ejected ash to a height of about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi). No injuries or damage were reported. Its most recent eruption began on 27 July 2008, and it has remained in continuing eruption status (intermittent eruptive events without a break of 3 months or more) as of 15 October 2021. (Full article...)
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...)
Socompa is a large stratovolcano at the border of Argentina and Chile with an elevation of 6,051 metres (19,852 ft) metres. Part of the Chilean and Argentine Andean Volcanic Belt (AVB), it is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the various segments of the AVB. This part of the Andean volcanic arc begins in Peru and runs first through Bolivia and Chile, and then through Argentina and Chile, and contains about 44 active volcanoes. Socompa lies close to the pass of the same name, where the Salta-Antofagasta railway crosses the border.
Socompa is known for its large debris avalanche, which was formed 7,200 years ago when most of the northwestern slope collapsed and slid down, forming an extensive deposit. It was at first considered to be either a moraine or a nuee ardende deposit, until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens prompted awareness of the instability of volcanic edifices and the existence of large scale collapses on them. The Socompa collapse is among the largest known with a volume of 19.2 cubic kilometres (4.6 cu mi) and covers a surface area of 490 square kilometres (190 sq mi), and its features are well preserved by the arid climate. Notable are the large toreva blocks which were left behind within the collapse crater. After the landslide, the volcano was rebuilt by the effusion of lava flows and much of the scar is now filled in. (Full article...)
Cumbal is a stratovolcano of the Caribe Terrane, located at the Nudo de los Pastos in Nariño, Colombia. It is the southernmost historically active volcano of Colombia and is together with Chiles and Azufral one of the few volcanoes of the Western Ranges. The volcano is dominated by andesites. (Full article...)
The Puracé National Natural Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Natural Puracé) is a national park located in the Andean region of Colombia, southeast of the city of Popayán in the Cordillera Central range. Its main feature is the active stratovolcano Puracé, one of Colombia's most active volcanoes. Four of the country's most important rivers originate within the area: Magdalena River, Cauca River, Japurá River and Patía River. (Full article...)
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...)
The Sierra Nevada National Park (PNSN) is an important National Park of Venezuela located between Mérida and Barinas states in the west of the country. 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...)
The Andean avocet (Recurvirostra andina) is a large wader in the avocet and stilt bird family, Recurvirostridae. It is resident in the Andes, breeding above 3500 m in northwestern Argentina, western Bolivia, northern Chile and southern Peru. (Full article...)
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...)
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...)
The Laguna de Sonso Nature Reserve is located in the Valle del Cauca Department of Colombia. It contains the last extensive remnant of original natural wetland remaining in the Cauca River Valley in western Colombia, and was declared a nature reserve in October 1978. It comprises a series of marshes and lagoons on the east bank of the Cauca River, between the municipalities of Buga, Yotoco and Guacari. It has an area of 2,045 ha (7.90 sq mi), lying at an altitude of 935 m (3,068 ft). The wetlands are affected by the introduced water hyacinth. The reserve has been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2017. (Full article...)
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...)
Chacaltaya (Mollo language for "bridge of winds" or "winds meeting point", Aymara for "cold road") is a mountain in the Cordillera Real, one of the mountain ranges of the Cordillera Oriental, itself a range of the Bolivian Andes. Its elevation is 5,421 meters (17,785 ft). Chacaltaya's glacier — which was as old as 18,000 years — had an area of 0.22 km2 (0.085 sq mi) in 1940, which had been reduced to 0.01 km2 (0.0039 sq mi) in 2007 and was completely gone by 2009. Half of the meltdown, as measured by volume, took place before 1980. The final meltdown after 1980, due to missing precipitation and the warm phase of El Niño, resulted in the glacier's disappearance in 2009. The glacier was located about 30 kilometers (19 mi) from La Paz, near Huayna Potosí mountain. (Full article...)
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...)
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...).jpg.webp)
Andean Geology (formerly Revista Geológica de Chile) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published three times per year by the National Geology and Mining Service, Chile's geology and mining agency. The journal covers the field of geology and related earth sciences, primarily on issues that are relevant to South America, Central America, and Antarctica with a particular focus on the Andes. The journal was established in 1974 and articles are published in English and Spanish. The editor-in-chief is Waldo Vivallo (National Geology and Mining Service). (Full article...)
The hooded mountain tanager (Buthraupis montana) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is the only member of the genus Buthraupis. This yellow, blue and black tanager is found in forest, woodland and shrub in the Andean highlands of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. At 23 centimetres (9.1 in) and 85 grams (3.0 oz), it is one of the largest tanagers (second in weight only to the white-capped tanager). (Full article...)
Cerro Mercedario is the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes. It is located 100 km to the north of Aconcagua, in the Argentine province of San Juan. (Full article...)
Acotango is the central and highest of a group of stratovolcanoes straddling the border of Bolivia and Chile. It is 6,052 metres (19,856 ft) high. The group is known as Kimsa Chata and consists of three mountains: Acotango, Umurata (5,730 metres (18,799 ft)) north of it and Capurata (5,990 metres (19,652 ft)) south of it.
The group lies along a north–south alignment. The Acotango volcano is heavily eroded, but a lava flow on its northern flank is morphologically young, suggesting Acotango was active in the Holocene. Later research has suggested that lava flow may be of Pleistocene age. Argon-argon dating has yielded ages of 192,000±8,000 and 241,000±27,000 years on dacites from Acotango. Glacial activity has exposed parts of the inner volcano, which is hydrothermally altered. Glacial moraines lie at an altitude of 4,200 metres (13,800 ft) but a present ice cap is only found past 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) of altitude. (Full article...)
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...)
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Did you know...
- ... that Distichia muscoides provides good grazing all-year-round in the High Andes for domesticated llamas and alpacas, and non-native livestock?
- ... 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
The following are images from various Andes-related articles on Wikipedia.
Central Andes (from Andes)
Paleogeography 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).jpg.webp)
Syncline next to Nordenskjöld Lake in Torres del Paine National Park. The syncline formed during the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
Bolivian Andes (from Andes)
Pacha Mama Ceremony (from Andean agriculture)
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Mashua tubers (from Andean agriculture).jpg.webp)
The seaward tilting of the sedimentary strata of Salto del Fraile Formation in Peru was caused by the Andean orogeny. (from Andean orogeny)
Topographic 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)
Peruvian farmers sowing maize and beans (from Andes)
Irrigating land in the Peruvian Andes (from Andes)
Parinacota, Bolivia/Chile (from Andes)
A male Andean cock-of-the-rock, a species found in humid Andean forests and the national bird of Peru (from Andes)
Map of the Andean region of South America (from Andean agriculture)
Map 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)%E2%80%93Valle_Carbajal_01.jpg.webp)
Aerial 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)
- Laguna de Sonso tropical dry forest in Northern Andes (from Andes)
Pico Humboldt at sunset (from Andes)
View of Cuernos del Paine in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile (from Andes).jpg.webp)
Ulluco: Common crop of the Andean region (from Andean agriculture)
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Nevado del Huila, Colombia (from Andes)
Simplified sketch of the present-situation along most of the Andes (from Andean orogeny)
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Andes
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Andean music
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