Hualca Hualca (possibly from

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

and

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

''wallqa''

collar Collar may refer to: Human neckwear *Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations *Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck ...

) is an extinct

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

in Arequipa Region in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. It has a height of . It is located at the Peruvian province of Caylloma.

Geography and geomorphology

Hualca Hualca is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a volcanic belt which occurs where the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the

South America Plate The South American Plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African Plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid-A ...

. Volcanoes in Peru that are part of the Central Volcanic Zone include Ampato, Casiri,

Chachani Chachani is a volcanic group in southern Peru, northwest of the city of Arequipa. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it is above sea level. It consists of several lava domes and individual volcanoes such as Nocarane, along with ...

, Coropuna,

El Misti Misti, also known as Putina or Guagua Putina, is a stratovolcano of andesite, dacite, and rhyolite located in southern Peru near the city of Arequipa. With its seasonally snow-capped, symmetrical cone, Misti stands at above sea level and lies betw ...

Huaynaputina Huaynaputina ( ; ) is a volcano in a volcanic high plateau in southern Peru. Lying in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it was formed by the subduction of the oceanic Nazca Plate under the continental South American Plate. Huaynaputina is ...

, Pichu Pichu,

Sabancaya Sabancaya is an active stratovolcano in the Andes of southern Peru, about northwest of Arequipa. It is considered part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, one of the three distinct volcanic belts of the Andes. The Central Volcanic Zone i ...

Sara Sara Sara Sara is a volcano lying between Lake Parinacochas and the Ocoña River in Peru. It is situated in the Parinacochas Province and the Paucar del Sara Sara Province. The volcano formed during the Pleistocene during four different stages of ...

, Solimana, Ticsani, Tutupaca, Ubinas and Yucamane. Hualca Hualca approach trek

Hualca Hualca forms a volcanic complex with the two southerly volcanoes

and Ampato. It is older (

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

) and more heavily eroded than these two volcanoes; they are all constructed on Neogene

ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surro ...

s, one of which was dated to 2.2 ± 1.5 million years ago. The volcano has erupted andesitic lava flows; one series of such flows exceeds a thickness of . Volcanic rocks of Hualca Hualca contain

phenocryst 300px, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland">Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white plagioclase phenocrysts, triclinic minerals that give trapezoid shapes when cut through). 1 euro coins, 1 euro coin (diameter ...

s of biotite,

clinopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe I ...

hornblende Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rock ...

, orthopyroxene,

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

and sphene. The magma probably originated through mixing processes, similar to Sabancaya.

Sector collapse

The northern flank of Hualca Hualca underwent a large sector collapse between 1.36 and 0.61 million years ago, opening up a collapse amphitheatre and forming a lake in the Colca valley which later catastrophically failed. This lake has left lacustrine deposits in the Colca Valley. Eruptions within the collapse amphitheatre generated lava flows which then formed

volcanic dam A volcanic dam is a type of natural dam produced directly or indirectly by volcanism, which holds or temporarily restricts the flow of surface water in existing streams, like a man-made dam. There are two main types of volcanic dams, those create ...

s in the Colca Valley. Lava domes and

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 ...

s also originated within the collapse scar. Earthquakes and hydrothermal alteration probably caused the onset of the collapse event.

Glaciation

The volcano was glaciated during the last ice age, between 18,000 and 11,500 years ago. This glaciation has left moraines, rock glaciers and roches moutonees. The glaciers on Hualca Hualca have retreated since then, one was reported to have disappeared by 2000.

Snowmelt In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many par ...

and runoff from Hualca Hualca are sources of water for the

Colca Canyon The Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about northwest of Arequipa. With a depth of about 1000 - 2000 m (3300 - 6600 ft) (whereas bottom is at cca 2000 m and edges are at 3000 - 4000 metres above the sea lev ...

, supporting irrigated agriculture there; the mountain is worshipped by local inhabitants, who according to reports in 1586 believed that their ancestors come from it.

Recent activity

Hualca Hualca is considered to be an extinct volcano; however at least seven

vents Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal *Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water ...

on its southwestern flank show evidence of

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

activity. Satellite images in the early 21st century found that Hualca Hualca is inflating from a depth of at a rate of . This

deformation Deformation can refer to: * Deformation (engineering), changes in an object's shape or form due to the application of a force or forces. ** Deformation (physics), such changes considered and analyzed as displacements of continuum bodies. * Defor ...

may be associated with the neighbouring volcano

which is active;

magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it up ...

s of volcanoes are sometimes distant from the actual volcano as was the case with Katmai. The inflation ceased after 1997. At Pinchollo in the collapse scar three geysers were active in the past; one is still active and is named Infiernillo. The activity of the

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

system at Hualca Hualca increased beginning in 2016, an increase linked to eruptions of Sabancaya and earthquakes.

Climbing and first ascent

Hualca Hualca can be climbed in a few days from the village of Pinchollo by the north side. It was first climbed by Richard R. Culbert from Canada on 6 April 1966. Evidence of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

ascents possibly from

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

ns, such as

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, ...

leaves and a puma skin, was found near the summit. Some reports show Piero Ghiglione and P. Chavez reaching the summit on 23 August 1950, however this was a secondary summit.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hualca Hualca Volcanoes of Peru Mountains of Arequipa Region Andean Volcanic Belt Mountains of Peru Six-thousanders of the Andes