Suni K'ira (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

''suni'' 'long', ''k'ira'' 'prop, support'; hispanicized spellings ''Sonequera, Soniquera, Suniquera, Suniquira'') is a

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. It is located in the

Potosí Department Potosí (; Southern Quechua, Quechua: ''P'utuqsi''; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi'') is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419 (2024 census). The capital is the ...

Nor Lípez Province Nor Lípez is a province in the Bolivian department of Potosí. Its seat is Colcha "K", also called Villa Martín. The majority of the area of the province was titled as the Nor Lípez Native Community Land on 19 April 2011. One of the largest min ...

Colcha "K" Municipality Colcha "K" Municipality is the first municipal section of the Nor Lípez Province in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. Its seat is Colcha "K" or Villa Martín. Geography The municipality lies at the Uyuni salt flat. Some of the highest mountai ...

, and in the Sud Lípez Province,

San Pablo de Lípez Municipality San Pablo de Lípez Municipality is the first Municipalities of Bolivia, municipal section of the Sur Lípez Province in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. Its seat is San Pablo de Lípez. Geography The highest mountain of the municipality is Ut ...

. It lies north of the

Uturunku Uturuncu is a dormant volcano in the Sur Lípez Province of Bolivia. It is high, has two summit peaks, and consists of a complex of lava domes and lava flows with a total volume estimated to be . It bears traces of a former glaciation, even ...

volcano. The volcano rises above the surrounding terrain. Suni K'ira is the source of an

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 surrou ...

, and it features a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

at the intersection of several faults. The volcano features

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

s which were formerly considered to be

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

s, leading to the belief that eruptions occurred during the

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 ...

. Rock samples taken from Suni K'ira consist of

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 predomina ...

and

dacite 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 rhyolite. ...

. The former contains latite and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

and the latter

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron- endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more al ...

and

hornblende Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals#Inosilicates, 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 ...

. '' Polylepis tarapacana'' trees grow on its slopes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suni Kira Volcanoes of Potosí Department Pleistocene shield volcanoes Calderas of Bolivia