Tupungato

Tupungato

Aerial view of Tupungato volcano from Argentina.
Highest point
Elevation 6,570 m (21,560 ft)[upper-alpha 1]
Prominence 2,765 m (9,072 ft)[1]
Listing Ultra
Coordinates 33°21′30″S 69°46′12″W / 33.35833°S 69.77000°W / -33.35833; -69.77000Coordinates: 33°21′30″S 69°46′12″W / 33.35833°S 69.77000°W / -33.35833; -69.77000[1]
Geography
Tupungato

Location on the Argentina–Chile border

Location Mendoza Province, ArgentinaMetropolitan Region, Chile
Parent range Andes
Geology
Age of rock Pleistocene
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Volcanic arc/belt South Volcanic Zone
Last eruption 0.8 million years ago.[2]
Climbing
First ascent 1897 by Matthias Zurbriggen and Stuart Vines

Tupungato, one of the highest mountains in the Americas, is a massive Andean stratovolcano dating to Pleistocene times. It lies on the border between the Chilean Metropolitan Region (near a major international highway about 80 km (50 mi) east of Santiago) and the Argentine province of Mendoza, about 100 km (62 mi) south of Aconcagua, the highest peak of both the Southern and Western Hemispheres. Immediately to its southwest is the active Tupungatito volcano, which last erupted in 1987.

The mountain gives its name to the Tupungato Department, an important Argentine wine producing region in the Mendoza province.

1947 plane crash

On August 2, 1947, the airliner Star Dust, an Avro Lancastrian carrying six passengers and five crew over the Andes range, crashed into a steep glacier high on the Argentine side of Tupungato. The plane was quickly buried in the resulting avalanche and heavy snowfall that was taking place at the time. The plane lay undetected deep beneath the snow and glacial ice for over 50 years, before its remnants finally re-emerged at the glacier terminus in 2000. Shortly thereafter, an Argentine army expedition discovered the scattered debris and wreckage, collecting some of the evidence for investigation.

Aerial view of Tupungato (center-left) and Tupungatito.
Tupungato volcano seen from Punta de Vacas, Argentina.

See also

Notes

  1. The given elevation of 6,570 m (21,560 ft) comes from Chilean 1:50.000 topographic mapping and is in accordance with SRTM data; the frequently given elevation of 6,800 m (22,300 ft) is incorrect

References

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.