Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about 129 km (80 mi) west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano composed of many layers of lava alternating with hardened volcanic ash and other pyroclastic rocks. Volcanic activity at Nevado del Ruiz began about two million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene, with three major eruptive periods. The current volcanic cone formed during the present eruptive period, which began 150,000 years ago.
The volcano's summit and upper flanks are covered by several glaciers that appear as a white mass surrounding the Arenas crater.
The top of the 11,000 year-old ash fall deposits interstratified with paleosols overlying a channelized debris flow and a sequence of wet surges
Armero was located in the center of this photograph, taken late November 1985.
Nevado del Ruiz as seen from Manizales, 2006
Caldas is a department of Colombia named after Colombian patriotic figure Francisco José de Caldas. It is part of the Paisa Region and its capital is Manizales. The population of Caldas is 998,255, and its area is 7,291 km2. Caldas is also part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis region along with the Risaralda and Quindio departments, which were politically separated from Caldas in 1966.
Nevado del Ruiz
