Huayna-Putina is located in a volcanic upland in Southern Peru's Moquegua Region, 80 kilometers (50mi) South East of Arequipa. The volcano is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, the segment of the Andes running through Peru and Chile.
One of the largest cataclysmic eruption, like no other, in historical times, and that the Andes has ever witnessed over the past 2,000 years, took place at Huayna-Putina from February 19 to March 6, 1600. It caused a short-term cooling that sent societies around the world reeling, as sulfur released into the upper atmosphere blocked the sunlight from reaching the surface.
The majestic mountain as it use to be is not there. In its place there is a double crater in the ground, several kilometers across, with thick ice on one side and an opening in the other side to a majestic river valley. The debris is evidence of a violent past but it gives little hint of what was there before.
The name of the volcano came after the event. Part of the name came from El Misti, which was called Putina (pu=blow, tina=furnace) at the time. The other part relates to Huayna Capac, the mighty one. He was the emperor under whom the Inca empire reached its expansion's peak. He died before his time in the smallpox epidemic brought by the foreigners which preceded the time of the arrival of the small group of Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro.
Before the arrival of the foreigners, Andean people usually offered sacrifices to the volcano mountains, to appease the anger of the god of the death, Supay (associated with miner's rituals). He was the ruler of the Inca underworld (Uku Pacha) as well as a race of demons. The Andean people did not repudiated Supay but, being scared of him, they invoked him and begged him not to harm them. Any disruption in the maintenance of peace in relation to the three levels of Inca existence indicated an upcoming disaster.
A century later, when the unnamed volcano erupted, the whole area was populated by foreigners that obtained rights to the land through their own crown at the cost of decimating the Inca population.
A few days before the eruption, a booming noise and a fog-like gas being emitted from its crater, was reported , By February 15, the activity had noticeably increased, as earthquakes began to occur, the most severe of which measured over 8.0 on the Richter scale.
By February 18, seismic activity occurred three or four times every fifteen minutes. On February 19, the volcano erupted violently, having the appearance of an enormous fire and sending volcanic ash into the atmosphere. The atmospheric spike of acid as a result of the eruption was higher than that of Krakatoa (Indonesia, 1883).
One hour after the eruption, the volcanic ash began to fall from the sky, and within 24 hours, Arequipa was covered with 25 centimeters (10in) of ash. Asfall was reported 250-500 kilometers (160-310 mi) away, throughout Southern Peru and in what is now Chile and Western Bolivia. Some people did not see the sun for months, and agricultural production was devastated for the next two following years.
The chilling effects of the eruption were substantial and were felt worldwide. In Northern Hemisphere, 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries, leading to a famine in Russia. In Estonia, Switzerland, and Latvia, there were bitterly cold winters in 1600-1602; in France, the wine harvest came late (1601), in China, peach trees bloomed late. Additionally, wine production also collapsed in colonial Peru and Germany, in 1601.
In Japan, Lake Suwa (Kiso Mountains), in the central region, had one of its earliest freezing stage in 500 years. The Lake is the site of an interesting natural phenomenon, "the God's Crossing." It has a natural hot spring under its surface. When the Lake's surface freezes in winter, its lower waters still move and circulate around it. This results in ice pressure ridges forming in the surface ice, reaching heights of 30 centimeters (0.98ft) or more. Local tradition holds that the ridges are formed by the gods crossing the lake, when traveling between the various buildings of the Suwa Grand Shrine.
In general, the larger the volcanic eruption, the bigger the cooling effect and the longer the effect lasts.
Scientists categorize eruptions according to the Volcanic Explosive index, a parameter that depends on factors such as how much material is thrown from the peak and the height of ash plume that's produce.
The Huayna-Putina eruption of 1600 falls in VEI category 6, which denotes an eruption with a volume greater than 10 cubic kilometers and a plume height that exceeds 25 kilometers.
Since 1601, there have been five category 6 eruptions, including Laki (1783), Krakatoa (1883) and Pinatubo (1991). However, none of these events spawned adverse societal effects on a global scale as Huayna-Putina did.
No comments:
Post a Comment