He Transversal Volcanic System of Mexico Is one of the 7 main morphotactonic provinces of Mexico . It is a mountain chain formed by Volcanoes .
This system crosses the country by its central part from East to West between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, hence its name. It was formed from the Upper Tertiary period to the Quaternary of the Cenozoic era. During Pleistocene and Recent times, it finished conforming like a chain of basaltic volcanos.
Relative Location of the System (Modified from: Rhoda, Richard, Burton, Tony, The Volcanic Boilers of Mexico's Volcanic Axis Retrieved from: geo-mexico.com).
Although"Transverse Volcanic System"is perhaps the most commonly used name today, other denominations with which it is also known, and is in the bibliography, are: Volcanic Axis, Neo-Volcanic Axis, Cordillera (or Sierra) Neo-Volcanic, Belt / Volcanic Belt (a) Transmexicano (a), Tarasco-Nahoa System, and more colloquially, Volcanic Sierra.
Some of the commented denominations were assigned in pioneering studies of the region in century XX. Frequently the word"transversal"accompanies some of these names, because of the location of the system with respect to Mexican territory.
The system is composed of several of the largest and best known volcanoes in the country, for example: Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba), Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl, Nevado de Toluca, Paricutín, Nevado de Colima, and Volcano de Fuego, among others.
In the system there are volcanoes of diverse categories, from active, passing through asleep, until extinct. You may also be interested in viewing 10 characteristics of the Andes mountain range .
Geographical location of the Transverse Volcanic System
The Transverse Volcanic System crosses Mexico between latitudes 19 ° and 21 ° North. It separates the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental from the Sierra Madre del Sur.
From east to west, the system crosses part of the following thirteen federal entities of central Mexico: Veracruz, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Mexico, Federal District, Morelos, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Jalisco, Nayarit and Colima, including in this Last state the Revillagigedo Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.
It has an approximate length of 920 km from Punta Delgada in the state of Veracruz, to Bahía Banderas in the state of Jalisco. Its width, in its central part is about 400 km, while at its western end, in the state of Veracruz, it has about 100 km.
Importance of the System
The mountain range that forms the Transverse Volcanic System is of great importance for the region from different points of view. The most visible is that it conditions the topography of the area and therefore, terrestrial communications.
In addition, in the vicinity of Popocatepetl, live more than 25 million people, so the potential danger in case of a violent eruption, is quite large.
The altitude of the system allows the existence of several ecosystems, which in turn affects the biodiversity and the type of crops that can be harvested.
These can be irrigated with water from the numerous rivers and streams that are born in the Cordillera, such as the Lerma (which is the 4th longest river in Mexico), the Panuco, and the Balsas, among others. All this makes the mountain chain an important water reserve for the most populated area of the country.
In fact, the presence of rivers, lakes and arable land contributed, from pre-Hispanic times - and until now - to the establishment of important human settlements, such as Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire And predecessor of the modern City of Mexico.
Even today, 25% of the water consumed in the nation's capital comes from the Lerma and Cutzamala river basins.
The highest mountains in the country are also here, for example, Citlaltépetl volcano, or Pico de Orizaba is the highest summit in Mexico, and the highest volcano in North America, with 5675m.s.n.m. (meters above sea level).
These geographical features provide the conditions for tourism to be an important element in the regional economy, since more than 30 natural protected areas at federal level (National Parks and Biological Reserves, among others) are visited by more than 5 million people each year.
Pioneer System Studies
Among the many pioneers in the study of volcanoes in Mexico, and in particular the Transverse Volcanic System, we can mention the following.
He Baron Alejandro de Humboldt Mentions that some soldiers of the army of Hernán Cortez climbed to the top of Popocatepetl. Humboldt ascended to the summit of Pico de Orizaba, making there and throughout Mexico during 1803 and 1804, copious scientific observations that he collected in his work Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain .
Pedro C. Sánchez, one of the founders of the Pan American Institute of Geography, in 1929, was the one who first called the"Volcanic Axis"to the System.
José Luis Osorio Mondragón was one of the founders of the Department of Geographical Sciences. Then, in 1942, he was director of the Institute of Geographical Research. As part of his geological studies studied the System, which he named Tarasco-Nohoa, in honor of the ethnic groups that inhabited the region.
Ramiro Robles Ramos called it the Neo-Volcanic Cordillera. He published in Irrigation of Mexico, Vol. 23, No. 3, of May-June of 1942 his work Orogénesis of the Mexican Republic in relation to its present relief .
The latter was a broad-spectrum work covering several issues, including the geomorphology and structural geology of the country, including the System. I had already exhibited this work in the First Congress of Geography and Geographical Explorations, organized by the Secretary of Public Education in July 1939.
It was not his only contribution to the study of the System, since in 1944 he published Glaciology and Morphology of Iztaccíhuatl , In the Geographic Magazine of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History, Volume IV, numbers 10, 11, 12.
To this day, it is the most detailed study of a Mexican glacier. Finally, in 1957 he published Agony of a Volcano. The Sierra de San Andrés, Michoacán .
The Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics published in 1948 the first edition of the work Volcanoes of Mexico , By Esperanza Yarza de De la Torre. Of this book have been made later editions, the most recent, the fourth, by the Institute of Geography of UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), in 1992.
Types of volcanoes present in the System
Much of Mexico's volcanic activity, and definitely the Transverse Volcanic System, is directly related to the subduction zone formed by the Rivera and Cocos plates as it sinks below the North American plate.
It is considered that the emergence of the system is a consequence of the subduction along the Trench of Acapulco, during the Middle Miocene.
The main types of volcano in the mountain range are: pyroclastic cone, stratovolcano, shield volcano and boiler. Next, ready the names of some volcanoes with their corresponding type:
- Amealco . Type: boiler.
- The Azufres .Type: boiler.
- Bárcena . Type: pyroclastic cone (s).
- Ceboruco . Type: stratovolcano.
- Perote Chest . Type: shield volcano.
- Colima . Type: stratovolcano (s).
- The hills . Type: boiler.
- Huichapan . Type: boiler.
- The Humeros .Type: boiler.
- Iztaccíhuatl . Type: stratovolcano.
- The Malinche . Type: stratovolcano.
- Mazahua . Type: boiler.
- Michoacán-Guanajuato . Type: pyroclastic cone (s).
- The Navajas .Type: shield volcano.
- Pico de Orizaba . Type: stratovolcano.
- Popocatepetl . Type: stratovolcano (s).
- Sierra Spring . Type: boiler.
- San Juan . Type: stratovolcano (s).
- Sanganguey . Type: stratovolcano.
- Tepetiltic . Type: stratovolcano.
- Tequila . Type: stratovolcano.
- Toulca's snowy . Type: stratovolcano.
Source: With information from"The volcanic calderas of Mexico's Volcanic Axis"[19], and the Global Volcanism Program .
Current volcanic risks, What can be expected from the Mexican Volcanic Transverse System?
In the System are several of the most active volcanoes in the country, including the Colima whose neighborhood has had to be evacuated periodically in recent years. In addition, the Popocatépetl has been recently (from 1997 to present) erupting, causing even suspension of flights at the Mexico City airport.
Other System volcanoes that have been active in recent history are: Bárcena, Ceboruco, Michoacán-Guanajuato, Pico de Orizaba, San Martin and Everman, on the islands of Revillagigedo.
For Popocatépetl, in particular, a"Volcanic Warning Semaphore"system has been adopted. CENAPRED (National Center for Disaster Prevention), jointly with the UNAM, and with support from the U.S. Geological Survey, monitor and inform the population daily about the status of the volcano.
This system is a basic communication protocol and relates the volcanic threat with 7 levels of preparation for the authorities, but only three levels of alert for the public.
References
- Guzmán, Eduardo; Zoltan, Cserna. "Tectonic History of Mexico". Memoir 2: Backbone of the Americas: Tectonic History from Pole to Pole. AAPG Special Volumes, 1963. Pags113-129.
- Yarza of the Tower, Hope. The Volcanoes of the Transverse Volcanic System. Geographical Research. No. 50. Mexico. April 2003. Page 1 of 12.
- Rhoda, Richard; Burton, Tony. The volcanic calderas of Mexico's Volcanic Axis. Recovered from: geo-mexico.com.
- Volcanes de México, retrieved from: portalweb.sgm.gob.mx.
- Aguayo, Joaquín Eduardo; Trápaga, Roberto. Geodynamics Of Mexico And Minerals Of The Sea. First Edition, 1996, FUND OF ECONOMIC CULTURE. Mexico DF. Recovered from: bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx.
- National Center for Disaster Prevention. "History of the Activity of the Popocatepetl Volcano, 17 years of eruptions". 1st edition: April 2012. Electronic Version 2014. Retrieved from: cenapred.gob.mx.
- The 10 longest rivers in Mexico. Recovered from: zocalo.com.mx.
- Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Infobase Publishing, Jan 1, 2006. Page 60-61. Retrieved from: books.google.com.
- National Commission of Protected Natural Areas. Poster: PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS. CENTRO REGION AND NEOVOLCÁNICO AXIS. Date of publication March 23, 2017. Retrieved from: gob.mx.
- Sheridan, M.F., Hubbard, B., Carrasco-Núñez, G. et al. Pyroclastic Flow Hazard at Citlaltépetl Volcano. Natural Hazards (2004) 33: 209.
- Von Humboldt, Alexander. Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain, Volume 4. Casa de Rosa, Paris. 1822. Retrieved from: goo.gl.
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- EBC. José Luis Osorio Mondragón: Founder of the EBC. Retrieved from: museoebc.org.
- National Commission of Protected Natural Areas. Poster: PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS. CENTRO REGION AND NEOVOLCÁNICO AXIS. Date of publication March 23, 2017. Retrieved from: gob.mx.
- Vivó Escoto, Jorge A. The Geographical and Geological Work of Ramiro Robles Ramos. Retrieved from: Information System of the Faculty of Sciences, UNAM, in repositorio.fciencias.unam.mx.
- Volcanes de México, retrieved from: portalweb.sgm.gob.mx.
- Ferrari, L., Pasquarè, G., Venegas-Salgado, S., and Romero-Rios, F., 1999, Geology of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt and adjacent Sierra Madre Occidental and Jalisco block, in Delgado-Granados, H. , Aguirre-Díaz, G., and Stock, JM, eds., Cenozoic Tectonics and Volcanism of Mexico: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Special Paper 334 Pages 65-83. Retrieved from: geociencias.unam.mx.
- Rhoda, Richard; Burton, Tony. The volcanic calderas of Mexico's Volcanic Axis. Retrieved from: http://geo-mexico.com/?m=201307R
- Global Volcanism Program, Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Washington DC, USA. Retrieved from: volcano.si.edu.
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- De la Cruz-Reyna, Servando; Tilling, Robert I. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Volume 170, Issues 1-2, February 20, 2008, Pages 121-134.