The Nevado del Tolima is a Late Pleistocene to recently active

andesitic 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 predomin ...

stratovolcano located in the Tolima department, Colombia. The volcano lies south of

Nevado del Ruiz The Nevado del Ruiz (), also known as La Mesa de Herveo ( en, Mesa of Herveo, the name of the nearby town) is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratov ...

volcano and is situated within the

Los Nevados National Natural Park Los Nevados National Natural Park ( es, Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados) is a national park located in the Cordillera Central (Colombia), Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes. The park surrounds the northern volcanic complex formed by Ne ...

. The volcano, whose most recent activity dates to 1943 and last major eruption around 3600 years ago, overlies the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

El Bosque Batholith 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 p ...

, dated at 49.1 ± 1.7 Ma.Plancha 225, 1998González, 2001

Geography and geology

The steep-sided, glacier-clad Nevado del Tolima volcano contrasts with the broad profile of Nevado del Ruiz to the north. The

dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyol ...

younger Tolima formed during the past 40,000 years, rising above and largely obscuring a wide Late Pleistocene

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 ...

. The summit consists of a cluster of Late Pleistocene to

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 ...

lava domes that were associated with thick block-lava flows on the northern and eastern flanks, and extensive pyroclastic-flow deposits. The summit contains a funnel-shaped crater deep. Holocene activity has included explosive eruptions ranging in size from moderate to plinian. The last major eruption took place about 3600 years ago. Lava dome growth has produced

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 ...

s that traveled primarily to the northeast and southeast.

Hydrology

The snow-capped Nevado del Tolima, with its almost symmetrical structure, has a radial drainage pattern in the upper part. The residual glacier on the top of the mountain feeds the rivers Totare, San Romualdo, Toche and Combeima. The latter is the main water source of the municipality of

Ibagué Ibagué () (referred to as San Bonifacio de Ibagué del Valle de las Lanzas during the Spanish period) is the capital of Tolima, one of the 32 departments that make up the Republic of Colombia. The city is located in the center of the country ...

. All these currents drain into the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central, directly into the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

Flora and fauna

Los Nevados National Park

The Nevado del Tolima is located within the

, In addition to the Nevado del Tolima, seven other volcanoes are located in the park:

, Santa Isabel, Nevado del Quindío, Paramillo de Santa Rosa, Cerro Bravo, Cerro Machín and Nevado El Cisne. The park spans and stretches across the departments of Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda, Tolima. The park is administratively part of the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Villamaría,

Santa Rosa de Cabal Santa Rosa de Cabal is a town and municipality in the Risaralda Department, of west central Colombia, on the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera Central. It is a commercial and manufacturing centre for the fertile agricultural and pastoral h ...

, Pereira,

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

, and

Eruptive history

Holocene activity has included explosive eruptions ranging in size from moderate to plinian. The last major eruption took place about 3600 years ago. Lava dome growth has produced block and ash flows that traveled primarily to the NE and SE. Minor explosive eruptions have been recorded from Tolima in the 19th and 20th centuries.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Nevado del Tolima on summitpost

{{Authority control Mountains of Colombia Glaciers of Colombia Stratovolcanoes of Colombia Active volcanoes Andean Volcanic Belt Pleistocene stratovolcanoes Pleistocene Colombia Late Pleistocene Geography of Tolima Department Five-thousanders of the Andes