Valle Rojo
Vinicunca, also called Montaña de Siete Colores or Rainbow Mountain, is a mountain in Peru with an altitude of 5,200 meters above sea level.
Valle Rojo (The Red Valley) is located on the road to the Ausangate mountain, in the Andes of Peru.
The reason why of these colors is because till 10 year ago, they were totally covered by snow and ice. Whit the global warming the glacier started to melt, the water mixed with minerals in the ground, turning the earth into many colors.
Mineralogical composition
According to the investigation of the Cultural Landscape Office of the Decentralization of the City of Cusco, the colorations of the mountain of the 7 Colors are due to the mineralogical composition that it has: the pink color is for the red clay, fangolitas (mud) and arilitas (sand). The whitish colouring is because of the quartzose, sandstone and marls, rich in calcium carbonate. The red one made up of the claystones (iron) and clays belonging to the upper tertiary. The green is due to the compound of phyllites and clays rich in ferro magnesian. The earthy brown is a product of fanglomerate composed of rock with magnesium belonging to the Quaternary era. And the mustard yellow color for the calcareous sandstones rich in sulphurous minerals.
Featured articles: Fubiz
⇓
