Mass Wasting, Soils, and Hydrology

MASS WASTING
Because the Andes Mountains are swarmed by steep valleys,volcanoes,high peaks,glaciers, and earthquakes they can be very vulnerable to rock movement and debris which consists of loose and fragmented rocks. There are many mass wasting disasters that have occurred in the Andes. In May 1970, an earthquake occurred in Peru, the earthquake took a slab of glacial ice that eventually came down the mountains breaking off rocks and sweeping up debris, covering the whole town of Yungay, Peru in broken rocks and debris. Another example is in the Nevada Del Ruiz in Colombia. An eruption of the Nevado Del Ruiz volcano triggered lahars, gigantic mudflows made of water, volcanic ash and debris.

The Nevado Del Ruiz volcano erupted on November 13th, 1985. The lahar that the eruption created went down the mountain into the city of Armero, killing over 20,000 people.

SOILS
Since the Andes Mountains are very high in altitude, soil conditions are deeply affected. One of the processes of soils in the Andes Mountains is Podzolization. Podzolization makes soil types like spodosols which is a soil rich in aluminum oxide and organic matter. This type of soil process happens because of the very high altitude. In other areas of the Andes, one common soil classification is Andisols. Andisols are volcanic soils formed in volcanic ash and containing high proportions of glass and amorphous. Another type of common soil in the Andes is histosol, which consists of organic materials, and is very good for storing organic carbon


Andisol is generally a young soil. Because of this, it is a fertile soil that can support productive forests.
HYDROLOGY
Ground water, is contained in both the saturation and aeration zones, and in all types of rocks and sediments below the Earth's surface. This type of water is scarce in the Andes. Water use in the Andes is completely dependent on surface water which is water that flows into lakes and ponds, and streams. As of right now, the water scarcity in the Andes is affecting the residents living close to the mountains because the amount of fresh water available to them keeps decreasing.