Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Volcano Status: Historical
Last Known Eruption: 1940
Summit Elevation: 5911 m 19,393 feet
Latitude: 0.677°S 0°40’38″S
Longitude: 78.436°W 78°26’10″W
Cotopaxi Volcano
Symmetrical, glacier-clad Cotopaxi stratovolcano is Ecuador’s most well-known volcano and one of its most active. The steep-sided cone is capped by nested summit craters, the largest of which is about 550 x 800 m in diameter. Cotopaxi the highest active volcanoes in the world at 19,348 ft (5,897 m) is located at the center of the most visited national park on mainland Ecuador. Located 1 ½ to 2 hours south of Quito on the eastern flank of the Andes, Cotopaxi offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy a variety of activities including mountaineering, hiking, birding, horseback ridding, camping and mountain biking.
Summit of above its crater (David Rombaut)
For centuries the native people of the area worshiped Cotopaxi as a god. Foundations of homes built near the Rio Pita are evidence of the pre-Hispanic cattle herders in the area. The ruins show evidence of platforms built to worship the mighty mountain. These people also realized the strength and strategic position the mountain offered them by building fortresses high its flanks. El Saitre was built to control the passage into the area. As the Incas arrived in the area they too worshiped the mountain and built fortresses to control the surrounding area.
Cotopaxi (David Cidre)
Deep valleys scoured by lahars radiate from the summit of the andesitic volcano, and large andesitic lava flows extend as far as the base of Cotopaxi. The modern conical volcano has been constructed since a major edifice collapse sometime prior to about 5000 years ago. Pyroclastic flows (often confused in historical accounts with lava flows) have accompanied many explosive eruptions of Cotopaxi, and lahars have frequently devastated adjacent valleys. The most violent historical eruptions took place in 1744, 1768, and 1877. Pyroclastic flows descended all sides of the volcano in 1877, and lahars traveled more than 100 km into the Pacific Ocean and western Amazon basin. The last significant eruption of Cotopaxi took place in 1904.
Cotopaxi (Romulo Moya Peralta)
Location of Cotopaxi in Ecuador
Originally posted 2010-08-17 04:25:03.
