Nevado de Toluca

EtymologyEdit

It is often called by the Nahuatl name Xinantecatl which is usually translate as The Naked Lord, Señor Desnudo in Spanish, although other etymologies have been suggested such as "Lord of the Corn Stalks", Tzinacantecatl or Zinacantepec (Mountain of the Bats). Recently other evidence regarding the etymologies of this mountain have surfaced and after many archeology discoveries in and around the area. It has been concluded that its correct etymology is Chicnauhtecatl meaning "nine lakes" as the top of the cone has various deep lakes.

DescriptionEdit

The volcano has a 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) wide summit caldera which is open to the east. The highest summit, 4,680-metre (15,354 ft) Pico del Fraile (Friar's Peak), is on the southwest side of the crater and the second highest, 4,640-metre (15,223 ft) Pico del Aguila (Eagle's Peak), is on the northwest. There are two crater lakes on the floor of the basin at about 4,200 m (13,800 ft), the larger Lago del Sol (Sun Lake) and the smaller, but deeper, Lago de la Luna (Moon Lake). A road formerly ran into the caldera to the lakes, making this perhaps the most accessible major Mexican peak. The road is now gated 2 km before the lakes.

The last major eruption of Nevado de Toluca occurred about 10,500 years ago (10.5 ka BP), as the volcano erupted a total estimated volume of 14 km³ for a VEI strength of 6 (comparable to the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo). The eruption emplaced 1.5 m (5 ft) of pebble-sized pumice in the City of Toluca region and ~50 cm (2 ft) of medium to fine sand in the Mexico City region. Distal lahar deposits derived from the Upper Toluca Pumice event incorporated mammoth bones and other mammals in the basin of Mexico. A future event of this magnitude would disrupt the lives of 30 million people now living in these cities and their surroundings.

From the southeast, Nevado de Toluca looks flat-topped, like shoulders without a head. A Nahuatl legend (recounted as part of the legend of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl) provides a mythical explanation.

The volcano and the area around it is now a national park.

ClimateEdit

Near the summit, Nevado de Toluca has a cold alpine climate (Köppen climate classification ET) with cold temperatures year round. There is little variation in the temperatures and frost and snow can occur in any month. The dry season covers from November to March and precipitation is low, averaging 12.4 millimetres (0.49 in) in March, the driest month. Temperatures during this time are cold, averaging 2.3 °C (36.1 °F) in January. The wet season spans from May to October and precipitation is very high, averaging 243.5 millimetres (10 in) in July. The summit is often foggy, averaging 110 days with fog, most of it during the rainy season. The wettest record month was July 2008 when 513.5 millimetres (20 in) of precipitation fell and the wettest recorded day was July 16, 1999 when 90.5 millimetres (4 in) of precipitation fell. The highest temperature ever recorded was 23 °C (73.4 °F) on August 16, 1993 and the lowest temperature recorded was −10 °C (14.0 °F) on February 2, 2004.

Archeological sitesEdit

There are 18 registered archeological sites in the park, as this was a ritual center during pre-Hispanic periods. Bernardino de Sahagún wrote about the lakes as a place where the indigenous held ceremonies and sacrifices. The lakes themselves are considered to be two sites, as a large number of offerings, especially copal, were deposited in the lakes. These deposits can be found all over the lakebed as the burning copal was set adrift on the lakes’ waters until it sank. Other objects have been found such as ceramics and sculpted stones. Divers used to sack many of the pieces found here but now authorities carefully monitor those who dive.

Most of the other sites are found on the crater's walls and peaks. One of the sites is called Xicotepec which is at the top of the Cerro de Ombligo (Spanish for belly button). Principally green obsidian blades and multicolored ceramic has been found here. On the north side of the crater is Pico Sahagun, with ceramic pieces, Picos Heilprin North and South in which various types of objects have been found, and El Mirador, which is thought to be related the marking of the zenith of the sun. A stele found here seems to indicate this. The site at the highest altitude is Pico Noreste at 4,130 meters above sea level. It is a small platform with drainage on which has been found highly deteriorated ceramic pieces. On the west side is the Cerro Prieto Cave, which is really a rock shelter which is more than 60 meters high. Not only does it contain evidence of pre-Hispanic visits but also has been a shrine to the Archangel Michael since the colonial period.

There have been intermittent archeological excavations here with the most recent occurring in 2010 sponsored by INAH which found artifacts dating from the Epi-Classic (650-900 AD) and Post-Classic (900-1200 AD) periods and showed that the crater was a meeting place for astronomer priests to predict the growing season.