Nevado Sajama (; ) is an extinct
stratovolcano and the highest peak in
Bolivia. The mountain is located in
Sajama Province
Sajama is a province in the northwestern parts of the Bolivian Oruro Department.
Location
''Sajama'' province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 39' and 18° 39' South and between 67° 38' and 68° ...
, in
Oruro Department
Oruro (; Quechua: ''Uru Uru''; Aymara: ''Ururu'') is a department of Bolivia, with an area of . Its capital is the city of Oruro. According to the 2012 census, the Oruro department had a population of 494,178.
Provinces of Oruro
The departme ...
. It is situated in
Sajama National Park and is a
composite volcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...
consisting of a stratovolcano on top of several
lava domes. It is not clear when it erupted last but it may have been during the
Pleistocene
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 ...
or
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 ...
.
The mountain is covered by an
ice cap, and ''
Polylepis tarapacana'' trees occur up to elevation.
Geography and geomorphology
Nevado Sajama is located in the
Sajama Province
Sajama is a province in the northwestern parts of the Bolivian Oruro Department.
Location
''Sajama'' province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 39' and 18° 39' South and between 67° 38' and 68° ...
of the
Oruro Department
Oruro (; Quechua: ''Uru Uru''; Aymara: ''Ururu'') is a department of Bolivia, with an area of . Its capital is the city of Oruro. According to the 2012 census, the Oruro department had a population of 494,178.
Provinces of Oruro
The departme ...
in Bolivia,
about from the border with
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. Cholcani volcano lies southeast of Sajama,
and another neighbouring volcano,
Pomerape
Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the sou ...
, resembles Sajama in its appearance.
A road runs along the southeastern flank of the volcano, with additional roads completing a circle around Sajama. The village of
Sajma lies on its western foot, with the village of Caripe to the northeast of the mountain and Lagunas to the southwest, and there are a number of farms.
In Bolivia, 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 ...
mountain chain splits into two branches separated by a high plateau, the
Altiplano
The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...
. Nevado Sajama lies in the Western Andes of Bolivia and in the western side of the Altiplano;
more specifically the mountain is located before the
Western Cordillera.
Nevado Sajama rises about from the surrounding terrain to a height of (earlier estimates of its height are
),
making it the highest mountain of Bolivia. Below the mountain is characterized by
parasitic vents and a cover of
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
fragments and
volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...
. Two secondary summits and occur west and east-northeast from Sajama respectively; the former is named Cerro Huisalla
and the second is Huayna Potosi.
The mountain has a conical shape and is capped by a
summit crater that, owing to its ice fill, appears to be linked to the flat summit plateau of Sajama
but other records do not indicate the presence of a crater.
The Patokho, Huaqui Jihuata and Phajokhoni valleys are located on the eastern flank; at lower elevations the whole volcano features glacially deepened valleys.
The terrain is characterized by a continuous
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...
cover in the central sector of the mountain, exposures of
bedrock, deposits and
rock glaciers in some sites,
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s and
scree
Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...
in the periphery of Sajama and
moraines forming a girdle around the upper sector of Sajama. The ground moraines are the most prominent moraines on Sajama, and have varying colours depending on the source of their component rocks. Vegetation and small lakes occur in their proximity, while other parts are unvegetated. They mostly occur within glacial valleys, but some appear to have formed underneath small plateau ice caps on flatter terrain.
A number of
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
s called ''
bofedales'' occur on the mountain.
Starting in the lake Laguna Huana Kkota on the northwestern foot of Sajama, the Tomarapi River flows first northeastward, then east, south and southeast around the northern and eastern flanks of the volcano; the Sicuyani River, which originates on Sajama, joins it there. The southern flanks give rise to the Huaythana River, which flows directly south and then makes a sharp turn to the east. The Sajama River originates on the western side of the volcano, flowing due south and increasingly turning southeast before joining the
Lauca River.
The other rivers draining Sajama and its ice cap also eventually join the Lauca River and end in the
Salar de Coipasa.
Geology
Nevado Sajama is part of the
Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, where volcanism is triggered by the
subduction of the
Nazca Plate 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 ...
.
Changes in the subduction regime took place during the
Oligocene and directed an increase of volcanic activity in the region. Volcanoes in the region have ages ranging from
Pleistocene
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 ...
to
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
and grew on top of earlier
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; the whole volcanic activity was controlled by
faults.
The mountain is a
stratovolcano located atop several
lava domes. The stratovolcano consists of
lava flows and
pyroclastic material that radiate away from the centre of the volcano.
Some
parasitic vents occur southeast of Sajama
and have produced lava domes and lava flows. The parasitic vents away from the volcano are older
and their location appears to be controlled by
radial dikes; the whole complex is a
compound volcano
A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or i ...
. Two later volcanic units are known as the Colquen Wilqui lavas and the Jacha Khala
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...
.
The Sajama volcano rises within a
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
that has been buried by later volcanic activity so that it is only recognizable on its eastern-northeastern side. A circular structure around Sajama may be the origin of the 2.7 million years old Lauca-Perez
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 ...
.
Argon-argon dating has yielded ages of 679,000 years ago from Sajama
and of 80,900 to 25,000 years ago for the Kkota Kkotani lavas, which are unrelated to the main Sajama volcano.
The date of the last eruption is not known, it may have occurred in the
Pleistocene
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 ...
or
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 ...
.
Hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...
s occur on the Junthuma River and reflect the presence of
geothermal heat with temperatures of about on the western foot of Sajama, and volcanic rocks of Sajama bear traces of
fumarolic
A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volc ...
activity.
Three major geologic
lineament ''See also Line (geometry)''
A lineament is a linear feature in a landscape which is an expression of an underlying geological structure such as a fault. Typically a lineament will appear as a fault-aligned valley, a series of fault or fold-ali ...
s occur in the region, the north-northwesterly trending Sajama lineament, a west-southwesterly one aligned with high topographical features and a west-northwesterly one. The west-southwesterly one played an important role in the development of Sajama volcano.
Composition
The volcano has erupted rocks ranging from
andesite
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 predo ...
to
rhyodacite
Rhyodacite is a volcanic rock intermediate in composition between dacite and rhyolite. It is the extrusive equivalent of those plutonic rocks that are intermediate in composition between monzogranite and granodiorite. Rhyodacites form from rap ...
, with the main stratovolcano formed by andesites
that contain
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 ...
and
pyroxene and
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
augite,
biotite,
iron oxide,
olivine
The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...
,
orthopyroxene,
pargasite
Pargasite is a complex inosilicate mineral of the amphibole group with formula NaCa2(Mg4Al)(Si6Al2)O22(OH)2.
It was first described for an occurrence in Pargas, Finland in 1814 and named for the locality.
It occurs in high temperature regional ...
,
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 ...
,
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
and
titanium oxide
Titanium oxide may refer to:
* Titanium dioxide (titanium(IV) oxide), TiO2
* Titanium(II) oxide (titanium monoxide), TiO, a non-stoichiometric oxide
* Titanium(III) oxide (dititanium trioxide), Ti2O3
* Ti3O
* Ti2O
* δ-TiOx (x= 0.68–0.75)
* T ...
.
Deposits of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
,
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
and
sulfur were reported as well.
The volcanic rocks erupted by Sajama define a
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
-rich
calc-alkaline
The calc-alkaline magma series is one of two main subdivisions of the subalkaline magma series, the other subalkaline magma series being the tholeiitic series. A magma series is a series of compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic m ...
suite and formed through various processes, including assimilation of
country rock,
fractional crystallization and magma mixing (particularly in the Sayara lavas).
Climate
At Cosapa on the foot of Sajama, annual mean temperatures are about while the town of Sajama sees annual temperatures of ; precipitation there is about . The daily temperature range approaches there.
Sajama is located between two climate regimes, a westerly one characterized by a dry climate and the
Southeast Pacific High and an easterly one with a moister atmosphere. During the southern hemisphere summer, easterly winds carry moist air towards Sajama where solar
insolation then triggers showers and
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...
s; the moisture ultimately originates in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. During winter, dry westerly winds prevail although cold air outbreaks from the
westerlies
The westerlies, anti-trades, or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes and trend t ...
belt sometimes trigger intense
snowfall which is often underestimated by precipitation data. Overall, on the Altiplano precipitation diminishes from the northeast to the southwest.
Summer precipitation is typically reduced during
El Nino
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
years, but on Nevado Sajama there is little correlation.
Vegetation
While the vegetation of the surroundings of Sajama is considered to be a dry
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
known as
puna, on the mountain itself there is some vertical gradation. Below
shrubs such as
asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
,
cactaceae
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...
,
fabaceae and
solanaceae dominate the vegetation. Between the last three families become less important. Here especially during the wet season
poaceae grasses become more important; finally above frost-tolerant herbs such as ''
Azorella'' and
asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
,
caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...
,
malvaceae
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...
and
poaceae make up most of the vegetation.
In depressions or places where water occurs,
peat bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
s called ''
bofedales
Bofedales (singular ''bofedal''), known in some parts of Peru as ''oconales'', are a type of wetland found in the Andes in Peru and Chile. They are a feature in the land use and ecology of high Andean ecosystems. They form in flat areas around pon ...
'' develop. Taxa that occur here include
apiaceae
Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...
,
cyperaceae
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...
, ''
Azolla
''Azolla'' (mosquito fern, duckweed fern, fairy moss, water fern) is a genus of seven species of aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. They are extremely reduced in form and specialized, looking nothing like other typical ferns but more rese ...
'', ''
Distichia
A distichia is an eyelash that arises from an abnormal part of the eyelid. This abnormality, attributed to a genetic mutation, is known to affect dogs and humans. Distichiae usually exit from the duct of the meibomian gland at the eyelid margin. T ...
'' and ''
Plantago
''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...
''.
Up to elevation ''
Polylepis tarapacana'' forms
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
s
that have both a sharp upper and a sharp lower limit on the mountain. The trees are usually no higher than and are separated by large distances from each other and appear to localize to spots where water is available. The current woods are remnants; whether the decrease is caused by human impact or climate change is not clear.
Protecting these woodlands was the impetus for the 1939 creation of the
Sajama National Park.
File:Polylepis Tarapacana 1.jpg
File:Polylepis Tarapacana 2.jpg
File:National parks of bolivia.PNG
Glaciers
Above , Sajama is extensively
glaciated
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
.
It is among the southernmost mountains in the region with significant glaciers; farther south the atmosphere is too dry to permit the development of glaciers. Two
ice core
An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier. Since the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper ones, and an ice core contains ic ...
s were taken from the summit area in 1997,
preceded by a religious ceremony, as the local
Aymara people
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 ...
feared that the mountain deities would be angered by the drilling otherwise.
Rock glacier
Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in-between. Rock glaciers are normally found at high ...
s also occur above the zero degree isotherm above , such as on lateral peaks. Meltwater from the glaciers partially seeps underground and only reappears away from the volcano.
Sajama and neighbouring mountains featured much larger glaciers in the past. The history of glaciation on Sajama in general is poorly known, but it appears that the outermost glacial features originated during the late
last glacial maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent.
Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eur ...
and the intermediary features during the
Middle Holocene
In the geologic time scale, the Northgrippian is the middle one of three ages or stages of the Holocene Epoch or Series. It was officially ratified by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in June 2018 along with the earlier Greenlandia ...
which is usually considered to be a warm and dry period in the region.
Human interactions
A number of
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
s record beliefs involving Sajama. In one myth, Sajama is the head of the
Mururata
Mururata is a mountain in the Cordillera Real of Bolivia. Approximately 35 km East of La Paz, the Mururata lies to the North of the Illimani. The Mururata offers accessible climbing, as its shape does not contain difficult obstacles.
Loca ...
mountain after the latter was decapitated by
Illimani
Illimani (Aymara) is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real (part of the Cordillera Oriental, a subrange of the Andes) of western Bolivia. It lies near the cities of El Alto and La Paz at the eastern edge of the Altiplano. It is the secon ...
mountain, both in the
Eastern Cordillera.
Other mythologies assert that the
Nevados de Payachata
Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex c ...
(
Pomerape
Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the sou ...
and
Parinacota Parinacota (in hispanicized spelling), Parina Quta or Parinaquta (Aymara, ''parina'' flamingo, ''quta'' lake, "flamingo lake", other hispanicized spellings ''Parinaccota, Parinajota'') may refer to:
Lakes
* Parinaquta (Carabaya), in Peru, Puno R ...
) are the children of Sajama and Anallaxchi. In another local belief,
Tacora
Tacora is a stratovolcano located in the Andes of the Arica y Parinacota Region of Chile. Near the border with Peru, it is one of the northernmost volcanoes of Chile. It is part of the Central Volcanic Zone in Chile, one of the four volcanic b ...
and Sajama were two mountains in competition for two women (the
Nevados de Payachata
Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex c ...
). Depending on the specific myth either the two women drove Tacora off and removed the top of the mountain, or Sajama did and injured Tacora; Tacora subsequently fled, shedding blood and a piece of its heart.
During the second undisputed ascent on the mountain in 1946, one mountaineer disappeared and his body was never found.
In August 2001, two teams of Sajama villagers and Bolivian mountain guides played a football match on top of Mount Sajama in an effort to show that altitude itself is not a limitation to physical strain.
In 2015, a challenge to hold a political debate on the summit of Sajama was made by a candidate to an election.
The 50-
boliviano Bolivian
banknote
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes w ...
launched in October 2018 shows Sajama on its reverse.
See also
*
Asu Asuni
*
Jach'a Kunturiri
*
K'isi K'isini
K'isi K'isini (Aymara and Quechua expression, ''k'isi'' a stipa variety, the reduplication signifies there is a group or complex of something, the Aymara suffix ''-ni'' indicates ownership, "the one with a group of ''stipa''", Hispanicized spel ...
*
Llisa
*
Pomerape
Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the sou ...
*
Sajama Lines
*
Waña Quta
*
List of volcanoes in Bolivia
The country of Bolivia hosts numerous activeIn vulcanology and this article active volcanoes are those with Holocene eruption, that means eruptions in the last 10,000 years. and extinct volcanoes across its territory. The active volcanoes are i ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Climbing Sajama and Illimani*
Detailed description of the volcano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sajama
Stratovolcanoes of Bolivia
Mountains of Bolivia
Subduction volcanoes
Volcanoes of Oruro Department
Extinct volcanoes
Glaciers of Bolivia
Six-thousanders of the Andes
Pleistocene stratovolcanoes