Abra de Porculla

Last updated

The Abra de Porculla, also known as the Paso de Porculla [1] is an east-west pass through the Western Cordillera of the Andes Mountains in northern Peru. At 2145 m above sea level it is the lowest pass through the Andes throughout the entire length of the mountain chain from Colombia to Chile and lies at the point where the Huancabamba Depression also interrupts the Central and Eastern Cordilleras. [2]

The pass was discovered in 1902 by the Peruvian explorer Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro. It offers one of the shortest routes across South America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and carries the Carretera Interoceánica Norte (Northern Interoceanic Highway), linking Peru and Brazil. The route offers an alternative to the Panama Canal and Cape Horn for east-west transcontinental traffic. [1]

The Huancabamba Depression in which the Abra de Porculla pass is located separates the northern and southern Andes and serves as a biogeographic barrier to species movement. The pass, at latitude approximately 6° South, marks the southern limit of the Northern Andes Ecoregional Complex (NAEC). The NAEC is a complex of 14 distinct ecoregions in the highlands of the tropical Andes, each harbouring a unique set of species, climatic conditions, and geographical features but linked by common ecological processes. [3]

Related Research Articles

Andes Mountain range in South America

The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 7,000 km (4,300 mi) long, 200 to 700 km wide, and has an average height of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft). The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

Geography of Colombia

The Republic of Colombia is situated largely in the northwest of South America, with some territories falling within the boundaries of Central America. It is bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and it shares maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Geography of Bolivia geography

The geography of Bolivia includes the Eastern Andes Mountain Range which bisects Bolivia roughly from north to south. To the east of that mountain chain are lowland plains of the Amazon Basin, and to the west is the Altiplano which is a highland plateau where Lake Titicaca is located. Bolivia's geography has features similar to those of Peru which abuts Bolivia's northwest border; like Bolivia, Peru is bisected from north to south by the Eastern Andes Mountains, and these two countries share Lake Titicaca which is the highest navigable lake on Earth. Unlike Peru, however, Bolivia is one of the two landlocked countries in South America, the other being Paraguay which is located along Bolivia's southeast border.

Department of Ancash Departments of Peru

Ancash is a department of northern Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, and its largest city and port is Chimbote. The name of the region originates from the Quechua word anqash, from anqas (blue) or from anka (eagle).

Department of Amazonas, Peru Departments of Peru

Amazonas is a department of northern Peru bordered by Ecuador on the north and west, Cajamarca on the west, La Libertad on the south, and Loreto and San Martín on the east. Its capital is the city of Chachapoyas.

Department of Piura Departments of Peru

Piura is a coastal region in northwestern Peru. The region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru. The area is known for its tropical and dry beaches.

Cordillera Blanca mountain range

The Cordillera Blanca is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for 200 kilometres (124 mi) between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks over 6,000 metres (19,690 ft) high and 722 individual glaciers. The highest mountain in Peru, Huascarán, at 6,768 metres (22,205 ft) high, is located there.

A cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges. The term is borrowed from a Spanish word with the same meaning that itself comes from cordilla, a diminutive of "cuerda" ("rope").

Páramo high-altitude wet tundra in South America

Páramo can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A more narrow term classifies the páramo according to its regional placement in the northern Andes of South America and adjacent southern Central America. The páramo is the ecosystem of the regions above the continuous forest line, yet below the permanent snowline. It is a "Neotropical high mountain biome with a vegetation composed mainly of giant rosette plants, shrubs and grasses". According to scientists, páramos may be "evolutionary hot spots" and among the fastest evolving regions on Earth.

Cordillera de Mérida mountain range

The Cordillera de Mérida is a series of mountain ranges, or massif, in northwestern Venezuela. The Cordillera de Mérida is a northeastern extension of the Andes Mountains and the most important branch of the Venezuelan Andes. The ranges run southwest-northeast between the Venezuelan-Colombian border and the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges. The Táchira depression separates the Cordillera de Mérida from the Cordillera Oriental, which forms the Colombia-Venezuela border.

Ferreñafe Province Province in Lambayeque, Peru

The Ferreñafe Province is the smallest of three provinces of the Lambayeque Region in Peru.

Puna grassland

The puna grassland ecoregion, of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome, is found in the central Andes Mountains of South America. It is considered one of the eight Natural Regions in Peru, but extends south, across Bolivia, as far as northern Argentina and Chile. The term puna encompasses diverse ecosystems of the high Central Andes above 3200–3400 m.

Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro Peruvian explorer

Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro was born in Ferreñafe in the Lambayeque Region of Peru. He was one of the pioneers of the exploration of north-eastern Peru and a scientist of many talents - a natural historian, geographer, historian, geologist, archeologist and linguist.

The Huancabamba Depression is an east-west depression through the Andes Mountains of northern Peru. The Huancabamba Depression interrupts the Central and Eastern Cordilleras of the Andes, and the Marañón River and its tributaries drain eastward through the depression into the Amazon basin. Western Cordillera has its lowest point, 2145 meters, at the Paso de Porculla.

Telmatobius ignavus is a species of frog in the family Telmatobiidae. It is endemic to the Cordillera de Huancabamba in the Department of Piura, Peru. Common name Piura water frog has been coined for it.

Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro District is one of six districts of the province Ferreñafe in Peru.

Tibitó

Tibitó is the second-oldest dated archaeological site on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia. The rock shelter is located in the municipality Tocancipá, Cundinamarca, Colombia, in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna. At Tibitó, bone and stone tools and carbon have been found. Bones from Haplomastodon, Cuvieronius, Cerdocyon and white tailed deer from the deepest human trace containing layer of the site is carbon dated to be 11,740 ± 110 years old. The oldest dated sediments are lacustrine clays from an ancient Pleistocene lake.

Cordillera Central páramo

The Cordillera Central páramo (NT1004) is an ecoregion containing páramo vegetation above the treeline in the Andes mountain range of northern Peru and southern Ecuador. Due to its isolation there are high levels of endemism. Despite many human settlements and some destruction of habitat by agriculture and mining, the ecoregion is relatively intact.

Táchira depression

The Táchira depression is a saddle of land connecting the Lake Maracaibo basin to the Orinoco basin in the state of Táchira, Venezuela. It forms a break in the eastern Andes, separating the Tamá Massif to the west from the Cordillera de Mérida to the east. The depression has been thought to present a barrier to the movement of species between the Colombian and Venezuelan Andes, but this effect may have been relatively low during the recent ice ages. The mountains of the region have potential for coffee farming and hydroelectric power generation, while the lower levels are suitable for farming.

Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests

The Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests (NT0121) is an ecoregion in the eastern range of the Andes of southern Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru. The ecoregion covers the eastern slopes of the Andes, and includes montane forest that rises from the Amazonian rain forest, with cloud forest and elfin forest at higher elevations. It is rich in species, including many endemics. It is threatened by logging and conversion for pasturage and subsistence agriculture.

References

  1. 1 2 "Congreso rendirá homenaje a Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro" [Congress will pay homage to Manuel Antonio Mesones Muro] (in Spanish). October 28, 2005. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  2. "sea_level.htm". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  3. "WWF Colombia office" . Retrieved 2 June 2016.

See also

Photograph of Abra de Porculla

Coordinates: 5°50′00″S79°30′00″W / 5.8333°S 79.5000°W / -5.8333; -79.5000