The Nevado del Quindío, also known as Volcán Paramillo del Quindío or simply Paramillo del Quindío, is an inactive

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

located in the Central Cordillera of the

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 ...

in central

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The summit marks the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Risaralda, Tolima, and Quindío, and is the highest point of the latter. The mountain is the fourth highest peak in Los Nevados National Natural Park among those with a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

exceeding 300 meters. There are no historical records of any eruption. The

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

volcano is located on top of the Palestina Fault.Plancha 225, 1998González, 2001 The mountain formerly had

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s, which disappeared in the second half of the 20th century due to changing climatic conditions associated with

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. Presently there is no permanent ice, only intermittent snow. The mountain's alternative designation as "paramillo" (like paramo, a high-elevation area of sparse vegetation exposed to wind, rain, and cold) reflects this new reality, whereas the term "nevado" inaccurately implies continuous snow cover. The mountain area offers beautiful landscapes, attracting touristic visits all the year. The lower part is a

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

habitat, rich in

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species. Botanist and naturalist

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

visited the area in 1801, describing new species such as the frailejón.

In popular culture

The postal service of Colombia, AdPostal, released a postal stamp featuring the Nevado del Quindío and Von Humboldt, to celebrate the anniversary of his visit. It is a

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

composite volcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a ...

, evidenced by geological studies. A watercolor painting of the volcano by Manuel María Paz (1820–1902) is held by the National Library of Colombia.

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References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
Parque Nacional Natural los Nevados website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nevado del Quindio Mountains of Colombia Volcanoes of Colombia Glaciers of Colombia Andean Volcanic Belt Geography of Risaralda Department Geography of Quindío Department Geography of Tolima Department Four-thousanders of the Andes Stratovolcanoes of Colombia Pleistocene stratovolcanoes

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links