Documentation of soil samples - Bolivian Alto Plano

I am in need of some information.

I am looking for any information concerning soil samples/layers in the Bolivian Alto Plano region. Namely the area around the Tiwanaku complex and general area. What I am looking for is a possible date of the last eruption of Cerro Khapia.

So far I have found absolutey no information on this and most references I come across are in Bolivian or Peruvian


Any help would be greatly appreciated

Originally posted by miner49r
I am in need of some information.

I am looking for any information concerning soil samples/layers in the Bolivian Alto Plano region. Namely the area around the Tiwanaku complex and general area. What I am looking for is a possible date of the last eruption of Cerro Khapia.

So far I have found absolutey no information on this and most references I come across are in Bolivian or Peruvian

Any help would be greatly appreciated

maybe link the bolivian and peruvian results you found.

some ATS members are multi lingual... someone will help you translate it

Originally posted by miner49r
I am looking for any information concerning soil samples/layers in the Bolivian Alto Plano region. Namely the area around the Tiwanaku complex and general area. What I am looking for is a possible date of the last eruption of Cerro Khapia.

You may not be able to find when the last eruption was, but I guarantee you will find radiation from Fukushima there!

reply to post by okamitengu


I have mainly found information about tourist stuff. I was able to use Google translate and come up with an ok translation.

There just doesn't seem to be much out there on soil samples and geologic information for the area. Along with the soil/geologic data.... I am also looking for ancient lake levels as well. I know... Good luck!

Thanks for your advice... I am still looking if I find anything juicy I will post it here for translation.

Originally posted by Skywatcher2011

Originally posted by miner49r
I am looking for any information concerning soil samples/layers in the Bolivian Alto Plano region. Namely the area around the Tiwanaku complex and general area. What I am looking for is a possible date of the last eruption of Cerro Khapia.

You may not be able to find when the last eruption was, but I guarantee you will find radiation from Fukushima there!

edit on 29-10-2012 by Skywatcher2011 because: (no reason given)

....What is that strange glow off in the distance???

I see you have asked on many forums and no answers yet.

I trying.

You are right op this is a tough area to find info on. No luck in finding last eruption date. If you go to the
USGS Volcano Hazards page & scroll down & zoom in to that area of Peru you can get real good view of the volcano. volcanoes.usgs.gov...

A couple of other sites which I used Bing Translator for(Remember to give it a sec to translate):

www.microsofttranslator.com...
www.microsofttranslator.com...

Video of Cerro Khapia



In searching I found it called Cerro Khapia, Volcano Khapia, Apu Khapia,Qhapiya. The crater lake is Laguna Warawarani or Warawujarani
Hope this helps a little. Maybe someone who understands the language on the video can give us a quick translation.

Website where they did scientific drilling for core samples in Lake Titicaca may be what your looking for
www.icdp-online.org...

The core samples are in the LacCore Collection Facilities at the University of Minnesota
lrc.geo.umn.edu...

Also a little about the lake levels
earthobservatory.nasa.gov...

I guess it's no secret why I am interested...lol

I am curious to see when the last eruption was, and what possible lake levels were around that period in time. I know there was supposed to be a meteor that may have possibly caused a tsunami event that destroyed PumaPunku.

Just a theory but could it have been possible that with higher lake levels and an eruption or even a large lahar into the lake generating a tsunami event could be the possible destruction date of PumaPunku.

On G-Earth it is a straight shot from Cerro Khapia of about 30 miles and around 10 miles to the lake it's self from PumaPunku. With higher lake levels it is not too hard to imagine what the effect could be.

Looking at the side of Cerro Khapia pointing at PumaPunku, it is hard to tell if there is a visible scar or not, I guess one could read into the picture if they wanted to see one.

It seem mankind in the past has been drawn to build near volcanoes and even presently in modern day many of our cities are built on faults..go figure!

Originally posted by SeekingDepth
Website where they did scientific drilling for core samples in Lake Titicaca may be what your looking for
www.icdp-online.org...

The core samples are in the LacCore Collection Facilities at the University of Minnesota
lrc.geo.umn.edu...

Also a little about the lake levels
earthobservatory.nasa.gov...

edit on 31-10-2012 by SeekingDepth because: (no reason given)

edit on 31-10-2012 by SeekingDepth because: Added another good sound link.

Awesome!! Thank you!!

Now to go and look through the records to see if there is anything of reference or value in pertaining to this idea. Perhaps with a few good minds a date can be established. While there are many theories, there has to be a way to establish a possible date.

USGS Volcano Hazards page & scroll down & zoom in to that area of Peru you can get real good view of the volcano. volcanoes.usgs.gov...

reply to post by SeekingDepth



Interesting... on the USGS aerial shot, there is less weathering/erosion on the side in question. I am not sure if this is due to resolution or perhaps this flank of the volcano is younger in age.

Perhaps the lack of a scar could be a clue as well.

Still no eruption date info. Here is another link in English about the Levels of the lake.

www.thule.org...

reply to post by SeekingDepth


Thank you that is an interesting read. It almost seems to be a part of another document I found HERE

In the article they quote that the water level has receded nearly 800 feet over the ten to twelve mile distance to the current shores. Using Google Earth and the elevations I come up with about 100 feet over the same ten to twelve mile distance. While the accuracy of Google Earth may be question... one thing still remains.

Water levels... for the levels to have been high enough for Puma Punku to have been a lakeport, the lake would have stretched well into what is now Lake Poopo. The majority of Southern area of the Alto Plano would have been lake. Using Google Earth and elevations one can get an idea of where the lake front property would have been.

Timing...(High/Low)..Through an article I found HERE we can get a general sense of lake levels since the last glacial maximum. There is a possible time when the lake could have been low enough for an underwater city. I remain skeptical about underwater ruins until allot more documentation can be found. None the less the dates provided here can give some insight.

After analyzing all three core samples, the scientists concluded that the lake - and therefore the entire Altiplano - has undergone a series of dramatic changes since the Ice Age was at its peak between 26,000 and 15,000 years ago. ``Lake Titicaca was a deep, fresh and continuously overflowing lake during the last glacial stage,`` according to the Science study, ``signifying that the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and much of the Amazon basin were wetter than today.`` Then, about 15,000 years ago, the Altiplano underwent a significant change. A dry era was launched, which continued for the next 2,000 years, causing Lake Titicaca to drop significantly. Between 13,000 and 11,500 years ago, Titicaca began overflowing once again. This wet period was followed by 1,500 years of relative dryness, followed by another 2,500 years of heavy precipitation as the lake again rose to overflow levels. Then, about 8,500 years ago, the lake level fell sharply as the Altiplano again became dry. But heavy precipitation would return for another 1,000 years, only to be followed by an extremely dry period between 6,000 and 5,000 years ago, during which Titicaca fell some 250 feet below its present-day level - its lowest level in 25,000 years. Titicaca finally began rising again 4,500 years ago. Since then, the southern portion of the lake has overflowed its banks numerous times.

I was able to find one graph of a sediment core that showed a tephra layer in it, but it did not give any dates. That page since has become lost in my bookmarks. I will have to do some digging to find it again.

Edit: It is also possible that the Desaguadero River which is the outlet of the lake at some point in the past may have been much higher, allowing for higher lake levels. Over time the outlet could have eroded down with progressively lower lake levels, to it's present point.

reply to post by miner49r


Good report I found it most interesting

reply to post by Hanslune


Still working in it... just gathering information at this point. One day I hope to make sense enough of it all to post something substantial.

reply to post by miner49r


Looking forward to it

reply to post by Hanslune


Ok ... I may have just hit the jackpot here, and opened a whole new can of worms as well.

I have never really bought into the "mythical stories of Atlantis" but I found a site called Atlantisbolivia.org by a guy named Jim Allen. While He goes to great lengths to establish his case for Atlantis on the Bolivian Alto Plano, there is some really great information about prehistoric lake levels, geography of the Alto Plano.

I think it is pretty clear cut and dried what happened to Puma Punku. Earthquake/Tsunami ....bye bye.

The premise of his site and I guess his book as well is Atlantis was located to the South of present day Titicaca near Lake Poopo. Although he does not mention Puma Punku, .. the evidence he serves up to help support his case would totally substantiate what we know of Puma Punku being destroyed by water or a very large flood.

Now the possible can of worms... Could Puma Punku be an outlaying region and remnant of the fabled"Atlantis"? I may have to open mind a little more and change my though paradigm towards Atlantis.

reply to post by miner49r


The only information we have on 'Atlantis' is what Plato put out and what he described would be easy to find archaeologically, there should be the garbage from a society equal to or superior in the many arts than Athens of Plato's time. That said not a thing has been found to substatiate that. I'm aware of his theory, and it falls apart on from the simple fact that of the hundreds of places ID as 'Atlantis' no pottery has shown up, no stone tools, no mines, no slag, no manufactury relics, no modification of sediments, no habitation levels, no signs of trade, essentally no sign of anything or anyone but the people who DO show up in the archaeological record.

Hey but keep researching, your doing good

At this point I would have to agree with you. Atlantis is most likely more myth than fact, but who knows right?

Allot of the data which Jim Allen has on his site may be valuable in helping to determine what happened to Puma Punku. I was looking at the core data I think I will give up the idea of an eruption, the last tephral layer was around 191,000 years ago. I would safely think that predates everything.

One of the things that continues to bother me, Puma Punku sits within a naturally protected bay. No doubt the builders recognized this and it may be one of the reasons they chose to build there. Being a naturally protected bay It is difficult to say that a tsunami came inland and wiped them out.

It would be interesting to know what the debri field and/or the general directional lay of the stone monuments are. Perhaps this was not a lake born tsunami, but rather a glacial lake burst that came down the valley.

So many possibilities so little information to go on.

Originally posted by miner49r
I am in need of some information.

I am looking for any information concerning soil samples/layers in the Bolivian Alto Plano region. Namely the area around the Tiwanaku complex and general area. What I am looking for is a possible date of the last eruption of Cerro Khapia.

Kudos to for taking an idea and running with it instead of merely deciding to 'believe'. Star and flag for you!