Cuicocha ( Kichwa: ''Kuykucha'' 'lake of guinea pigs' or ''Kuychikucha'' 'rainbow lake') is a wide

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Its name comes from the Kichwa indigenous language and means "Lago del Cuy" or Guinea Pig Lake in English. It was given this name due to the guinea pig shape of the largest Island in the middle of the laguna. These animals play a significant part in the everyday life of Ecuadorians, as they reproduce rapidly and need a minimum of food and care to survive. They make for a high protein meal especially for populations living in high altitude. The caldera was created by a massive eruption about 3100 years ago that generated about 5 cubic kilometres (6.54 billion cubic yards) of

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...

and covered the surrounding area in

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

up to 20 cm (8 inches) deep. Activity continued until 650 CE. In combination with other eruptions from nearby Imbabura, Mojanda, Cotacachi, and Cayambe, Cuicocha is responsible for the fertile soil of the Otavalo Valley. Cuicocha lake, a crater lake within the Cuicocha caldera contains four dacitic

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...

s which form two steep forested islands: ''Yerovi'', the smaller, and ''Teodoro Wolf'', the larger. People are prohibited on both. The rim of the caldera is extremely steep — so steep, in fact, that the accumulation of

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

is insufficient for most hydrophyte vegetation. An older lava dome from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

forms part of the eastern rim. The lake, which is 200 m (656 ft) deep at its deepest point, is highly

alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...

ne and contains little life. It has no known outlet. The intra-caldera islands, on the other hand, support some wildlife, most notably the silvery grebe, which lives around the reeds and feeds on small fish, frogs, crayfish, small water snakes, seeds of water plants, and insects. The bird is found in upper temperate and lower

páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

zones throughout the Andes, but little is known about the species. In 1974 a census was taken of the population of grebes at Cuicocha and 44 birds were found. Cuicocha forms the southern end of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve. During the second day of

Inti Raymi The Inti Raymi (Quechua language, Quechua for "Inti festival") is a traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for "sun"), the most venerated deity in Religion in the Inca Empire, Inca religion. It was t ...

(or Sun Festival) every summer

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

, indigenous

shamans Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...

use Cuicocha as a bath for ritual cleansing and purification. Laguna de Cuicocha 01

IUGS geological heritage site

In respect of it being a 'volcanic complex with a spectacular 3km wide active volcanic caldera, with many documented records of violent historic eruptions', the

International Union of Geological Sciences The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to global cooperation in the field of geology. As of 2023, it represents more than 1 million geoscientists around the world. About Fo ...

(IUGS) included 'The Cotacachi - Cuicocha volcanic complex' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'

Climate

{{Weather box, width=auto , metric first=y , single line=y , collapsed = Y , location = Sigsicunga, elevation {{convert, 3111, m, ft, abbr=on, (1961–1990) , Jan high C = 14.6 , Feb high C = 14.6 , Mar high C = 14.3 , Apr high C = 14.3 , May high C = 14.8 , Jun high C = 14.1 , Jul high C = 14.1 , Aug high C = 14.6 , Sep high C = 15.3 , Oct high C = 15.1 , Nov high C = 14.6 , Dec high C = 14.8 , year high C = , Jan low C = 5.8 , Feb low C = 5.9 , Mar low C = 5.8 , Apr low C = 6.1 , May low C = 6.1 , Jun low C = 5.5 , Jul low C = 5.0 , Aug low C = 5.0 , Sep low C = 5.4 , Oct low C = 5.8 , Nov low C = 5.5 , Dec low C = 5.6 , year low C = , precipitation colour = green , Jan precipitation mm = 93.0 , Feb precipitation mm = 78.0 , Mar precipitation mm = 106.0 , Apr precipitation mm = 119.0 , May precipitation mm = 60.0 , Jun precipitation mm = 100.0 , Jul precipitation mm = 106.0 , Aug precipitation mm = 71.0 , Sep precipitation mm = 61.0 , Oct precipitation mm = 84.0 , Nov precipitation mm = 113.0 , Dec precipitation mm = 72.0 , year precipitation mm = , source 1 = FAO{{cite web , url = https://www.fao.org/land-water/land/land-governance/land-resources-planning-toolbox/category/details/fr/c/1028000/ , title = World-wide Agroclimatic Data of FAO (FAOCLIM) , publisher= Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations , access-date = 22 June 2024

References

Stratovolcanoes of Ecuador Subduction volcanoes Calderas of Ecuador Geography of Imbabura Province Holocene calderas VEI-5 volcanoes First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites

IUGS geological heritage site

Climate

See also

References