Arequipa and The Misti from the EEI

On November 2, 2009, the page of the Terrestrial Observatory of the NASA was published by this impressive sight, in which we can appreciate the contrast of the city of Arequipa, in Peru, opposite to the volcano Misti. Although it it looks like this one it is not an image satelital, but a combination of 2 photos taken recently from the International Space station.

Next, the translation of the text that he accompanies to the image:

Diverse cities of Latin America have grown in the flanks of active volcanoes. This mosaic of 2 photos illustrates the Arequipa closeness, Peru, to the volcano Misti 5822 meters high. The symmetrical conical form of the Misti is typical of an estratovolcán, a type of volcano constituted by inserted layers of lava and remains of explosive, such eruptions as ash and flows piroclásticos. Commonly these volcanoes are in the continental crust, it surrounds to subduction areas. The magma that feeds the estratovolcanes of the Mountain range of the Andes, including to the Misti, is associated with the active subduction of the Badge of Nazca under the South American Badge. The most recent eruption (although relatively light) of the Misti happened in 1985.

The center of the city of Arequipa is to only 17 kilometers of distance of the top of the Misti; the urban area in gray color is bordered by agricultural fields in green color (left side of the image). With a population of almost 1 million inhabitants in 2009, it is the second city most filled with Peru. The principal building material, a type of rock known locally like ashlar, is extracted from flows piroclásticos nearby, from white color. Arequipa is known like the "White City" due to the predominance of this volcanic rock in his constructions. The river Chili spreads towards the North-East from the center of the city and flows across a cannon (right side of the image) between the volcano Misti and the volcano Chachani to the north. The Chachani is a volcanic complex that might have done eruption during the Holoceno (geologic epoch that it includes aprox. 10 000 years behind, up to the present), although historical records of observed eruptions do not exist.

Since I have done sometimes previous, I did the attempt of answering this sight in Google Earth. This is the result:

To bear in mind that the north is not faced up but is inclined towards the right top corner.
I would like making some comments with regard to the risk that represents this volcano for the city of Arequipa, but I will leave it for a future entry.
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Blogalaxia Tags: volcano misti chachani arequipa peru vista+satelital photographs remote sensing google+earth a+vista+de+satelite NASA
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