USGS

Present Snowfields and Glacier Distribution

Work by Thouret and others (1996) examined glacial stades in the Ruiz-Tolima massif and possibly equivalent stades in other glacierized areas (table 1). Thouret and others (1996) noted that the late neoglacial stade (approximately 1600's to 1900's), named the "Little Ice Age," is well documented on the basis of terminal moraines near present glacier termini. Evidence for earlier neoglacial stades is more problematical (Thouret and others, 1992, 1996).

Table 1.-- Estimate of the glaciated areas in the Colombian and Ecuadorean Andes during the last ("Fuquene") glaciation

[Modified from Thouret and others, 1996. Abbreviations: yrs B.P., years before present; ca., circa; MIS, marine isotope stage]


 

 

Approximate extent of glacierized areas (square kilometers)

 

 

 

 

Massif

Total area

 

 

Glacial stade number

Age
(yrs B.P.)

Nevado del Ruiz, Nevado del Tolima1

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy1

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta1

Nevada del Huila

Colombian Andes2

Ecuadorean Andes2

Eastern Africa2

Average elevation of ice fronts Ruiz-Tolima (meters above mean sea level)

Average elevation of valley glacier fronts Ruiz-Tolima

 

Present

34-36

28-30

14-18

25-28

100-112

220

9.5

4,750-4,700

4,500-4,400

1b

Late neoglacial, late Holocene (?)

Inner Ruiz
100

150

107

30(?)

350-400

255

31

4,600-4,300

4,300-4,200

1a

Early neoglacial, late Holocene (?)

Outer
Ruiz

Corralitos

Bolívar

 

 

 

 

 

 

2b

Late Santa Isabel- early Holocene [ca. 6,200 (?)]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,300-4,150

4,300-4,200

2a

Early Santa Isabel (7,400- 7,200)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4,200-4,100

3b

Late Otun, late late-glacial (ca. 11,000- 10,000)

 

Bocatoma

Naboba

 

2,600

460

190

4,000-3,800

3,800-3,600

3a

Early Otun, early late-glacial (MIS 2; ca. 13,000- 12,400)

800

1,000
Late
Lagunilla

850

250(?)

3,500

2,050

 

3,800-3,600

3,400-3,300

4b

Late Murillo- late late full-glacial (ca. 18,000- 14,000)

 

Early Lagunilla

Mamancanaca

 

 

 

 

3,600-3,400

3,300-3,100

4a

Early Murillo- early late full-glacial (MIS 3-2; ca. 27,000- 24,000)

1,500(?)

2,000(?)
Concavo

1,500(?)
Aduria-meina

(?)

12,000-
15,000

(?)

800

3,400-3,300

3,300-3,100

5b

Late "Río Recio" early to middle full-glacial (MIS 3; ca. 40,000?)

 

Río Negro

 

 

 

 

 

3,300-3,200

3,100-2,900

5a

Early "Río Recio" early full-glacial or early glacial(?) (MIS 4; >53,000?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,300-3,200

3,100-2,900


1 Glacial stades in the Ruiz-Tolima massif are given along with possible equivalents in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (Van der Hammen and others, 1980/81) and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Raasveldt, 1957; Van der Hammen, 1984).
2 Compare the total glacierized area in the Colombian Andes with that in the Ecuadorean Andes (Hastenrath, 1981) and eastern Africa (Hastenrath, 1984). During the full-glacial period, the glaciers of the Colombian and Ecuadorean Andes were probably the most extensive ice fields among the equatorial high-mountains.

Herd (1973) estimated the extension of the Ruiz-Tolima glaciers to have been 100 km2 during the "Little Ice Age," and Raasveldt (1957) calculated the extent of the last ice advance during the Bolívar stade to have covered 105 km2 on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

Four different areas in Colombia are glacierized at the present: the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (Cordillera Oriental), the Ruiz-Tolima massif (Cordillera Central), and the Nevado del Huila (Cordillera Central). Glaciers in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy are classified as either mountain or alpine; the Ruiz-Tolima massif and Nevado del Huila are large stratovolcanoes that have shieldlike summit ice caps and a few outlet glaciers.

Various figures have been given for the total extent of glacierized areas in recent years. The variation depends on the technique of measurement and the date of the source materials. Work by Jordan and others (1989) gave the total number of glaciers at 246 or 247 on 9 mountains, with a total area of approximately 109 km2. His work was based on fieldwork and aerial photography dating from 1957 to 1978 (table 2). This author has measured the extent of ice-and-snow areas on Landsat 1-3 multispectral scanner (MSS) images from the early 1970's and determined a total area of 104 km2 (see table 3). Although the Landsat imagery does not supply the spatial resolution of vertical aerial photography, it offers the opportunity to look at all the glaciers at the same time by the use of a uniform method. Thouret and others (1996) gave a range from 100 to 112 km2 for the presently glacierized areas of Colombia.

 

Table 2.-- Glaciers of Colombia

[Modified from Jordan and others, 1989]


Area

Flight years of plotted aerial photographs

Number of glaciers

Position (lat-long)

Size of total glacier area (square kilometers)

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

1957, 1974

 

88

 

10°34'N., 73°43'W.

16.26

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy

1959, 1978

 

88

 

06°27'N., 72°18'W.

39.12

       Ruiz

 

 

15

(16)

 

21.4

       El Cisne

 

 

4

 

 

.11

       Santa Isabel

 

 

16

 

 

9.78

       Quindio

 

 

7

 

 

.44

       Tolima

 

 

11

 

 

2.22

Parque Nacional de los Nevados

1959

Subtotal

53

(54)

04°50'N., 75°20'W.

33.95

Nevado del Huila

1965

 

17

 

02°55'N., 76°05'W.

19.77

 

 

Total

246

(247)

 

108.49


 

Table 3.-- Glaciers and snowfields of Colombia measured from Landsat images


Glacierized area

Date of image

Size (square kilometers)

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

01 Jan 73

14.1

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy

18 Jan 73

28.0

Ruiz-Tolima massif (Parque Nacional de los Nevados)

01 Feb 76

 

    Ruiz

 

21.3

    Santa Isabel

 

10.8

    Tolima

 

3.8

Nevado del Huila

01 Feb 76

26.0

 

 

 

 

Total

104.0


 

Home Next

 

U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.Department of the Interior
This page is https://pubs.usgs.gov/prof/p1386i/colombia/snow.html
Contact: Richard S. Williams, Jr., and Jane G. Ferrigno
Last modified 01.24.99