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is Ecuador's
highest active volcano at 5897m,
located in the Eastern Cordillera. It is a stratovolcano
(very similar to Mt. Fuji or Mt. Sashta)
with an almost perfectly symmetrical cone, rising from a highland plain
of 3800m and covered by a mighty glacier starting at
a height of 5000m. The side of the cone has deep valleys
scoured by lahars. The summit crater is 600m x 800m in
diameter and several hundred meters deep.
Its geographical location is 0.677°S
and 78.43°W, some 60 km
southeast of Quito
and 15 km northeast of Latacunga, provincial capital of
Cotopaxi province. |
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This majestic volcano forms the crown jewel of the
Avenida de los Volcanes, named so rightly by Alexander
von Humboldt, the German naturalist, who visited Ecuador at
the beginning of the 19th century. Several active and dormant
volcanoes in the Western and Eastern Cordillera
dot this stretch of road leading from Quito to Riobamba. |
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Cotopaxi has a well recorded history of explosive eruptions with
lava and pyroclastic flows, which devastated often part of nearby
valleys. During a battle between Incas and Spaniards in 1534, the
volcano erupted and put an end to the fighting as both fled from the
battle field. Eruptions in 1744 and 1768 destroyed the colonial town of Latacunga and in 1877 a huge eruption produced
lahars, which reached
even the Pacific oceans through the rivers, draining the valley to the
west. The last recorded eruption occurred in
1904 and in 1975 the volcano awoke for a short time but did
not produce any spectacular events. In
the last few years fumarolic activities and sulfuric emissions
increased and ice around the inside rim and on the
southeastern side of the cone started to melt away.
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Roads lead through an lava field
with huge boulders, ejected from the last major eruption in
1877. That was the last big one of the volcano and
many scientist think that one is due again soon as the volcano
presents historically a hundred year cycle of eruptions. |
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The main danger of a huge eruption of Cotopaxi would be the ensuring flow
of mud and ice from its glacier (lahars). Computer models calculated
lahars of eight meters coming down by way of River Pita to the valley of
Los Chillos, nowadays a main suburban area of Quito with a population of more than
100 000 people living there. In the event of a huge explosion, not much
would be left from those settlement in the valley. Another major
city in danger would be Latacunga to the southwest of Cotopaxi and all
the small farming villages skirting the mountain.
Many experts think that another eruptive stage might be coming very
soon. |
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Latest Update: |
Danger alert: None
In 2004 lesser activities observed
and potential for eruptions increased. |
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