Mount Pico de Loro, also known as ''Mount Palay-Palay'', is a dormant

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 ...

located on the border of

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southw ...

and

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and L ...

, in the island of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is the highest mountain in the province of Cavite, with an elevation of above sea level and the highest peak of the Mounts Palay-Palay–Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape. The mountain is one of the ancient volcanic features of Bataan Arc.

History

Pico de Loro was first named by Spanish sea-farers which means "Parrot's Beak" as its pointed summit resembles the shape of a parrot's beak from afar and it is commonly used as a signal by sea-farers to turn east to get to Manila Bay.

Governance

Under the ''Proclamation No. 1315 s. 2007'' of the Philippine government, the Mounts Palay-Palay–Mataas-na-Gulod Protected Landscape is placed under the protection and jurisdiction of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Geology

Pico de Loro is found within the Talahib Andesite rock formation (Avila, 1980). This is seen as being comparable to the Nasugbu Volcanic Complex ( MGB, 2005). The Talahib Andesite is visible in western, central, and southeastern Batangas. It is overlain by the Mapulo Limestone (Avila, 1980), which is regarded to be identical to the Calatagan Formation in the upper sections of Talahib River's western branch and also along the Laiya River. The

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 ...

crystal structure is vesicular and amygdaloidal, with flow banding. Additionally, fine-grained, porphyritic, and medium-grained equigranular phases are included. Intercalated with the flows are thin pyroclastic strata. Propylitization of andesite is widespread, resulting in the formation of

chlorite The chlorite ion, or chlorine dioxide anion, is the halite with the chemical formula of . A chlorite (compound) is a compound that contains this group, with chlorine in the oxidation state of +3. Chlorites are also known as salts of chlorou ...

and

epidote Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral. Description Well developed crystals of epidote, Ca2Al2(Fe3+;Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system, are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in ...

. Generally, moderate

silicification In geology, silicification is a petrification process in which silica-rich fluids seep into the voids of Earth materials, e.g., rocks, wood, bones, shells, and replace the original materials with silica (SiO2). Silica is a naturally existing and ...

and pyritization occur along shear zones. This unit appears to be equivalent to Wolfe and others' (1980) Banoy Volcanics, which they date to the Middle to

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million years ago) to 5.333 Ma. The ...

Hiking activity

Near its summit is a lone vertical cliff feature called the ''Parrot's Beak'' or the ''Monolith'' that offers a 360-degree view of the protected landscape and the shores of Limbones Cove. Hiking has been closed for rehabilitation purposes since October 1, 2016. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

in 2020, the visitors prohibited the hiking activity from avoiding the spread of dangerous diseases. The reopening is scheduled for 2022, as the restriction level on quarantine status decreased, but no date has been revealed due to the renovation of the hiking trail following damage caused by Typhoon Jolina in 2021.

References

Mountains of the Philippines Landforms of Cavite Landforms of Batangas {{Calabarzon-geo-stub

History

Governance

Geology

Hiking activity

See also

References