Episode 3425
Misti
Sun, 2026-Sep-20 01:09 UTC
Length - 3:02
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.
The featured article for Sunday, 20 September 2026, is Misti.
Misti is a volcano in the southern Peruvian Andes, rising above Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city. It has a steep conical profile and two nested summit craters. The inner crater contains an active lava plug or dome, pierced by vents that emit volcanic gases. The summit reaches 5822 m above sea level, on the rim of the outer crater. Snow covers the summit but does not persist, and there are no glaciers. The upper slopes are largely barren, while lower elevations support scrub and other bushy vegetation.
The volcano grew in four stages. Each stage built the mountain with lava flows and domes, then ended with a summit collapse that formed a bowl-shaped depression. Misti forms a local volcanic group with Chachani to the northwest and Pichu Pichu to the southeast, built on debris from older volcanoes. Over the past 50,000 years, numerous intense explosive eruptions have covered the surrounding terrain with tephra (rocks fragmented by volcanic eruptions). The last two significant eruptions were 2,000 years ago and in 1440–1470 AD; since then, periods of increased gas release have sometimes been mistaken for eruptions.
Misti is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, as it lies only 12 km from Arequipa. The city's population exceeds one million people and its northeastern suburbs have expanded onto the slopes of the volcano. Narrow valleys on its western and southern flanks pose particular threats, as mudflows and fast-moving flows of hot volcanic debris could be channelled into the urban area and into important infrastructure, like hydropower plants. Even moderate eruptions can deposit volcanic ash and tephra over most of the city. Until 2005, there was little awareness or monitoring of the volcano. Since then, the Peruvian Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) has established a volcano observatory in Arequipa, runs public-awareness campaigns, and has published hazard maps. The Inca viewed the volcano as a threat and during the 1440–1470 eruption offered human sacrifices (capacocha) on Misti and neighbouring mountains to placate the volcano; the mummies on Misti form the largest known Inca human sacrifice.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:09 UTC on Sunday, 20 September 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Misti on Wikipedia.
This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.
Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.
Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.
Until next time, I'm neural Joanna.
|
|
