The Andes Mountains of Ecuador are home to 73 volcanoes with independent magma chambers. Eighteen of these volcanoes are considered potentially active, that is to say, with some kind of activity in the last 10,000 years. From the list of active volcanoes, seven have shown historic activity since 1534. “In Ecuador more than 250 volcanoes exist in mainland and almost 3,000 volcanoes in the Galapagos Islands” (Toulderidis, 2103).
For this educational website, three of the most feared active volcanoes in the highlands of Ecuador will be presented to demonstrate how the life of people who live in the flanks of an active volcano, such as Tungurahua, Pichincha, and Cotopaxi. Around 35% of Ecuadorians [4.4 million] live in the flanks of volcanic hazard areas. It is imperative to monitor the activity of these colossus of nature; in Ecuador the Instituto Geofísico de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional (Geophysical Institute) [IG] is officially responsible for volcanic and seismic monitoring, as well as to issue alerts in event of volcanic activity.
The volcanoes of Ecuador are part of the Northern Volcanic Zone of the Andes, which extends from the north Cerro Grande volcano in Colombia and to the south Sangay volcano in Ecuador. Southern of Sangay’s volcano there are no more active volcanoes in the Andes until the region of Arequipa in Peru. The volcanic zone of Ecuador is the result of subduction of the Nazca Pacific Oceanic plate under the continental plate of South America. The Nazca Pacific oceanic plate is between 12 and 20 million years old, is located in front of the Ecuadorian Coast, and includes the Carnegie Ridge. The Carnegie Ridge has a volcanic origin and it is the product of the activity of the Galapagos’ hotspot on the Nazca plate. |