Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain
Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain 20221125
There are different reasons why the Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain is striped with colors ranging from turquoise to lavender to maroon and gold. However, they are largely due to weathering and mineralogy.
The subduction of the Nazca plate underneath the South American plate initiated mountain building and uplift of the Andes mountain range. This produced significant volcanism and the introduction of rare and varied mineralogy to the Andes Mountains. Different layers of sediment rocks, like sandstone, halite, gravel, clay and other minerals were compacted one above the other to form different layers.
As time passes, movement and collision of tectonic plates gave rise to new mountains and also new colors. This is because sediments will change of color when exposed to environmental conditions, like snow, wind and water. For example, red coloration of sedimentary layers often indicates iron oxide rust as a trace mineral. In addition, the bright yellow coloration could be due to iron sulphide as trace minerals within the pore cement.
Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain
Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain 20221125
There are different reasons why the Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain is striped with colors ranging from turquoise to lavender to maroon and gold. However, they are largely due to weathering and mineralogy.
The subduction of the Nazca plate underneath the South American plate initiated mountain building and uplift of the Andes mountain range. This produced significant volcanism and the introduction of rare and varied mineralogy to the Andes Mountains. Different layers of sediment rocks, like sandstone, halite, gravel, clay and other minerals were compacted one above the other to form different layers.
As time passes, movement and collision of tectonic plates gave rise to new mountains and also new colors. This is because sediments will change of color when exposed to environmental conditions, like snow, wind and water. For example, red coloration of sedimentary layers often indicates iron oxide rust as a trace mineral. In addition, the bright yellow coloration could be due to iron sulphide as trace minerals within the pore cement.