Iztaccíhuatl or Ixtaccíhuatl (both forms also spelled without the accent) ( or, as spelled with the x, ) is a dormant volcanic mountain in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

located on the border between the

State of Mexico The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mo ...

and

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

within Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park. It is the nation's third highest, after Pico de Orizaba at , and Popocatépetl at . The name "Iztaccíhuatl" is

Nahuatl 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 Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

for "White (like salt) woman", reflecting the four individual snow-capped peaks which depict the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeping female when seen from east or west. Iztaccíhuatl is to the north of its

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

Popocatépetl, to which it is connected by the high altitude Paso de Cortés. Depending on atmospheric conditions Iztaccíhuatl is visible much of the year from

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

some to the northwest. The first recorded ascent was made in 1889, though archaeological evidence suggests the

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...

and previous cultures climbed it previously. It is the lowest peak containing permanent

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

and

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s in Mexico.

Geology

The summit ridge of the massive volcano is a series of overlapping cones constructed along a NNW-SSE line to the south of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Llano Grande caldera. There have been

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 predomina ...

and dacitic

and

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

eruptions from vents at or near the summit. Areas near the El Pecho summit vent are covered in flows and

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 co ...

beds post-dating

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

, approximately 11,000 years ago. The most recent vents are at El Pecho and a depression at along the summit ridge midway between El Pecho and Los Pies.

Legend of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl

In Tlaxcaltecan mythology, ''Iztaccíhuatl'' was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors, Popocatépetl. The emperor sent Popocatépetl to war in

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

, promising him Iztaccíhuatl as his wife when he returned (which Iztaccíhuatl's father presumed he would not). Iztaccíhuatl was falsely told that Popocatépetl had died in battle, and believing the news, she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned to find his love dead, he took her body to a spot outside

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

and knelt by her grave. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains. Iztaccíhuatl's mountain is called "White Woman" (from Nahuatl "white" and "woman") because it resembles a woman lying on her back, and is often covered with snow — the peak is sometimes nicknamed ', "The Sleeping Woman". Popocatépetl became an active volcano, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

Elevation

Iztaccihuatl is usually listed at , but

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56th parallel south, 56°S to 60th parallel north, 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resol ...

data and the Mexican national mapping survey assert that a range of is more accurate. The

Global Volcanism Program The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) documents Earth's volcanoes and their eruptive history during the Quaternary Period of Earth's geologic history, with particular emphasis on volcanic activity during the Holocene Epoc ...

cites .

Gallery

Image:Ixtaccihuatl_Cornshocks.jpg, Iztaccíhuatl from the Puebla side File:Mexico-Iztaccihuatl-hreben.jpg, Around the Knees () of Iztaccíhuatl File:CSIRO ScienceImage 5599 Forest fires on the slopes of Mount Ixtaccihuatl Mexico.jpg, Forest fires on the slopes File:Izta_crater_orizaba_in_background.jpg, View from the ridge of Mt. Izta towards Pico de Orizaba File:Iztaccihuatl_Ridge.JPG, Iztaccihuatl Ridge after the mountain shelter

References

External links

Descriptions

Iztaccíhuatl - Volcano World

Iztaccíhuatl - Ski Mountaineer
*

Other

Legend of The Sleeping Lady and Smoking Mountain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iztaccihuatl Volcanoes of Puebla Volcanoes of the State of Mexico Mountains of Mexico Landforms of Puebla Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Geography of Mesoamerica Places in Aztec mythology Landforms of the State of Mexico North American 5000 m summits Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America Sacred mountains of Mexico