Ajusco is a

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 on ...

volcano A volcano is a rupture 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 often found where tectonic plates are ...

located just south of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Mexico, in the

Tlalpan Tlalpan ( nci, Tlālpan, , place on the earth, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. It is the largest borough, with over eighty percent under conservation as forest and other ecologically sensitive area. The rest, almost ...

borough of the city. It is the highest point in the city.

Etymology

Ajusco is a

Náhuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

word variously translated as "source of waters" or "watered grove", and the

Lerma River The Lerma River ( es, Río Lerma) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near ...

and

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Al ...

draw some of their source waters from this area. Also, the flow from all of the remaining strong springs in the area adjacent to the peak are captured to augment Mexico City's water supply.

Geology

Ajusco is a lava dome complex of

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 (geology), 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 fina ...

age, surrounded by

block and ash flow A block and ash flow or block-and-ash flow is a flowing mixture of volcanic ash and large (>26 cm) angular blocks commonly formed as a result of a gravitational collapse of a lava dome or lava flow. Block and ash flows are a type of pyroclastic ...

deposits. Ajusco is part of the mountain chain of volcanic origin known as

Sierra de Ajusco-Chichinauhtzin The Sierra del Ajusco-Chichinauhtzin, (Ajusco-Chichinautzin Mountain Range) also known as ''Serranía del Ajusco'' or ''Sierra de Chichinauhtzin'', is a Mexican mountain range located between Mexico City and the states of Morelos and Mexico. It m ...

, among which

Xitle Xitle ( Nahuatl, "navel") is a monogenetic volcano in the Ajusco range in Cumbres del Ajusco National Park. It is located in the Tlalpan borough in the southwestern part of Mexico City. It is an ash cone volcano with a conical form, round base, a ...

(), Tláloc (), Pelado (), Cuautzin () and Chichinautzin () stand out. This range is part of the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

which crosses central Mexico and contains the country's highest peaks.

Ecology

Parts of this range account for about half of the area of the

Mexican Federal District Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of M ...

, the rest of which is occupied by Mexico City. The area is important for conservation of local ecosystems. In its oak, pine and fir forests there are unique endemic species like the teporingo rabbit and the volcano mouse.

Sites of interest

The area around the peak is a popular destination for residents of Mexico City and tourists, with activities such mountain biking, horseback riding, motorcycling, hiking and climbing. The area is one of the few around Mexico City where it may snow in the winter. This mountain offers views over the Valley of Mexico (weather and pollution permitting), including the city and its skyscrapers, Popocatepetl,

Iztaccihuatl Iztaccíhuatl (alternative spellings include Ixtaccíhuatl, or either variant spelled without the accent) ( or, as spelled with the x, ), is a dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla wit ...

and

Nevado de Toluca Nevado de Toluca () is a stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The volcano and the area ar ...

volcanoes, and parts of the Valley of

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

. The Ajusco area is also home to

Six Flags México Six Flags México is a amusement park located in the Tlalpan forest and borough, on the southern edge of Mexico City, Mexico. It is owned and operated by Six Flags, and is the most visited theme park in Latin America with 2.8 million annual visi ...

(the largest amusement park in Latin America), the

TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two national ...

television network, the National Pedagogic University, the

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

radio transmission center, the

Fondo de Cultura Económica Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE or simply "Fondo") is a Spanish language, non-profit publishing group, partly funded by the Mexican government. It is based in Mexico but it has subsidiaries throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It was founded in ...

and

El Colegio de México El Colegio de México, A.C. (commonly known as Colmex, English: The College of Mexico) is a Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in social sciences and humanities. The college was founded in 1940 by the Mex ...

. Atop the volcano is a pre-Hispanic site where artifacts have been discovered.

References

External links

Chichinautzin volcano
* {{Authority control Geography of Mesoamerica Mountains of Mexico Volcanoes of Mexico City Landforms of Mexico City Pliocene lava domes Pleistocene lava domes