Uturuncu is a double-peaked dormant giant Bolivia's volcano classified as one of the only 7 super-volcanoes in the World. Super volcanos are one of nature's most destructive forces. The world's fastest-inflating one is situated 70km/43mi West of the main Volcanic Arc and it is shedding some light on how super volcanos become so powerful.
A volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanos formed above a convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where one plate moves under another and is forced or sinks due to gravity into the layer between the crust and the outer core (mantle). The volcanos positioned in an arc shape seen from above.
Most of what scientists know about super volcanos comes from studying the after-maths of eruptions.
At Uturunku, scientists can observe in real time how the volcano is evolving because thanks to infrared satelite images, the magma chamber of the volcano is shown not only huge, but fills up at a rate never measured before (1cubic meter/sec). Uturunku was active between 890,000 and 271,000 years ago. Volcanic activity was episodic with bursts of eruptions separated by between 50,000 and 180,000 years of rest. The volcano mountain has been rising more that 1/2 inch a year for almost 20 years, suggesting that the volcano is steadily inflating.
Researchers discovered an enormous molten lake bubbling under a huge magma basin of 70 km diameter below the volcano at a depth of 15km/9mi and is expected to burst anytime in the future causing a massive impact on the World's climate. Such eruption of ash, rock and pumice could produce 1,000 times the strength of the 1980 eruption of Mount Helen in Washington State, the worst volcanic event in modern American history, and 10,000 times that of Icelandic eruptions in 2010 that paralyzed global air traffic for weeks.
Starting in 1992, and increasing in 1998, a 70km/43mi wide circular region around the volcano has been deforming at a rate of 1-2 cm/year (0.39-0.79 in/year). A ring of decreased surface is now surrounding the uplift and expand the size of the deformed area to a diameter of 150km/93mi. It looks like a tumor growing within the earth and the way to discern if it is benign or malignant depends on the understanding of the laws that control the forces of the natural World.
Analysis of the electrical conductivity of the ground beneath Uturunku has shown the presence of layers where electrical conductivity is high. The scorching sulfur gases that leaks from small holes in the ground are evidence of a heat source close to its surface. Also the white soil near the summit that from a distance it looks deceptively like snow are the result from thermal changes below. The mix of water and molten rock in huge amounts triggers an eruption. Super-eruptions occur only every 100,000years or so. The last one, that of the Toba volcano in Sumatra about 74,000 years ago, spewed enough ash to cause 6 to 10 years of 'volcanic winter,' a 1,000-year global cooling period and a loss of life so vast that changed the course of human life on earth.
Uturunku is the Quechua word for 'jaguar'.The jaguar is the only Panthera species that are native to the New World. Being the the 3rd largest cat after the tiger and the lion, the jaguar is the most compact and well-muscled feline. A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept to climbing, crawling and swimming. It is a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator, having an exceptional powerful bite. This allows to pierce the shells of armored reptiles and employs an unusual killing method: it bites directly to the skull of the prey between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain. For the Andean people, the jaguar is a symbol of power and strength. A jaguar cult was disseminated by the early Chavin culture and was accepted over all of what is today Peru by 900 BC. Later the Mochica culture used the jaguar as a symbol of warrior power and its soul is placed in many of their ceramics.
Uturunku, as part of the Andes, is located in the Lipez mountain range in Northern Potosi, Bolivia, and Northern Argentina, helping to form the boundary between Bolivia and Argentina. Thus the Lipez is a transverse range in the Andes, between the Oriental and the Occidental mountain ranges, creating also the Southern boundary of the Bolivian High Plateau. The Uturunku is the highest peak of the range at 6,008m/19,711ft above sea level. Despite the high elevations, there is no current glacier activity in the Lipez mountain range, just some semi-permanent snow fields.
Until mid of the 1990s there was a sulphur mine on the lower peak at an altitude of 5,900m which was accessed via a ride-able road. Nowadays the runway is only maintained for touristic purposes by few local guides who were the ones who used to work for many years in the mine and have the skills to teach tourists how to prepare themselves for the trip to the summit either by driving or by biking.
This road brings the traveler to 5,600m above the sea level and it is the highest ride-able road in South America and in the World of today thanks to the sulfur mine. There is an amazing view down to the Bolivian High Plateau. The road leads up to the saddle between the 2 summits, from the higher right-hand peak (6,000m) to across the light sulfur field over the dark boulder area. At the cross-over from the sulphur field the lane narrows and the way becomes very stony and partly rocky.
It is a real challenging road and a true test for a vehicle and the individual stamina. The biggest problem for engines is the extremely low oxygen for the engine combustion and the bad condition of the road with extremely large pot holes that could potentially pop a tire, crack a rim, or screw up the car alignment. The road also abounds in twists and narrow turns that sometimes the wheels of the vehicle hang above the precipice. An average gradient on the first 5 km is some 8%, and increase to more than 10% between 5,100 and 5,600 meters and finally lowers in the upper part of the road.
The road is very sandy in its lower part and in an altitude of more than 5,000 meters the lack of oxygen becomes a very severe problem for bikers. The pulse is much higher that in lower altitudes and it quickens to anaerobic respiration when the biker tries to get back onto the bicycle seat after a little driving mistake causes the tires to slip in the loose sand. The gasp for breath becomes a challenge and it feels like being held by an invisible power because the partial pressure of oxygen, at 5,000m altitude, amounts to only half of that on sea level. The 10% slope is then hardly ride-able and it is more bike pushing than bicycling for a biker. After many kilometers the gradient finally decreases and the run-way turns bicycle-able again for the bikers thanks to the strong North West winds that gets up and pushes rider and bicycle to the finish point.
There is no other run-way on the Bolivian High Land, or the Chilean Atacama desert, or the Himalayas where cyclists can get higher, or daring drivers with a well prepared vehicle want to reach the sky.
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