Huascaran Mountain

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Huascaran Mountain

Huascarán or Nevado Huascarán is a mountain in the Peruvian province of Yungay, situated in the Cordillera Blanca range of the Western Andes. The highest southern summit of Huascarán (Huascarán Sur) is the highest point in Peru, and all the Earth's Tropics. The Huascarán summit is one of the points on the Earth's surface farthest from the Earth's center,closely behind the farthest point, Chimborazo in Ecuador. Huascarán is the fourth highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere after Aconcagua, Ojos del Salado, and Monte Pissis. It has an elevation of 6,768 metres (22,205 ft).The core of Nevada Huascarán, like much of the Cordillera Blanca, are Tertiary granites.
On 31 May 1970, the Ancash earthquake caused a substantial part of the north side of the mountain to collapse. The avalanche mass, an estimated 80 million cubic feet of ice, mud and rock was about half a mile wide and a mile long. It advanced about 11 miles (18 km) at an average speed of 280 to 335 km per hourburying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca under ice and rock, killing more than 20,000 people.