Cerro de Pasco facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cerro de Pasco
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Sunset at Cerro de Pasco.
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 Cerro de Pasco
Location in Peru
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| Country |  Peru |
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| Region | Pasco | |
| Province | Pasco | |
| Founded | 20 October 1578 | |
| Elevation | 4,330 m (14,210 ft) | |
| Population
(2017)
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| • Total | 58,899 | |
| • Estimate
(2015)
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66,272 | |
| Demonym(s) | Cerreño (a) | |
Cerro de Pasco is a city in central Peru, located at the top of the Andean Mountains. It is the capital of both the Pasco Province and the Department of Pasco, and an important mining center of silver, copper, zinc and lead. At an elevation of 4,330 metres (14,210 ft), it is one of the highest cities in the world, and with a population of 58,899, it is the highest or the second highest city with over 50,000 inhabitants. The elevation reaches up to 4,380 metres or 14,370 feet in the Yanacancha area. The city has a very intense cold climate and it is connected by road and by rail (via Ferrocarril Central Andino) to the capital Lima, 300 kilometres or 190 miles away. Its urban area is formed by the districts of Chaupimarca, Yanacancha and Simón Bolívar.
Mining center
Originally known as Villa de Pasco, the settlement's origins were as a mining town dating from 1578.
Cerro de Pasco became one of the world's richest silver producing areas after silver was discovered there in 1630. It is still an active mining center. The Spanish mined the rich Cerro de Pasco silver-bearing oxide ore deposits since colonial times. Sulfide minerals are more common in the Atacocha district however.
Francisco Uville arranged for steam engines made by Richard Trevithick of Cornwall, England, to be installed in Cerro de Pasco in 1816 to pump water from the mines and allow lower levels to be reached. However, fighting in the Peruvian War of Independence brought production to a halt from 1820 to 1825.
Three major mines in the area include the Machcan, Atacocha, and Milpo. Silver ore occurs in hydrothermal veins or as sulfides and clay minerals replacing the Jurassic Pucara limestone. Porphyry dacite stocks are found intruded near the Atacocha and Milpo mines along the Atacocha Fault. Compania Minera Atacocha started operations at the Atacocha Mine in 1936. Ore minerals include galena and sphalerite.
The ore bodies that were deposited through the hydrothermal veins came from late-stage volcanism of a caldera system. The volcanic activity reoccurred periodically, leading to dykes, increased fracturing, and subsidence. With the subsidence came increased accommodation for sedimentation. The fractures within the rock allowed for hydrothermal activity to flow within the strata. This in turn left behind the veins of galena and sphalerite found within the Pucara limestone. Further evidence of this hydrothermal activity can be found in the massive pyrite veins within the carbonate rock. Within the faulted areas of the limestone can be found black chert. This chert, while not a primary ore body still contains some low grade Pb-Zn-Ag ore.
Contamination of the environment by lead, cadmium and other heavy metals has precipitated a public health crisis in the city, but a 2006 law proposing to evacuate all inhabitants and relocate the city has not yet culminated in concrete action.
Geography
Climate
At 4,330 metres (14,210 ft) above sea level, Cerro de Pasco has an alpine tundra climate (Köppen ET) with the average temperature of the warmest month below the 10 °C or 50 °F threshold that would allow for tree growth, giving the countryside its barren appearance. The city is the largest in the world with this classification. Cerro de Pasco has humid, damp and cloudy summers with frequent rainfall and dry, sunny winters with cool to cold temperatures throughout the year. Snowfall occurs sporadically during any season, most commonly around dawn.
The average annual temperature in Cerro de Pasco is 5.5 °C or 41.9 °F and the average annual rainfall is 916 millimetres or 36 inches.
| Climate data for Cerro de Pasco, elevation 4,357 m (14,295 ft), (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 10.6 (51.1) |
10.4 (50.7) |
10.2 (50.4) |
10.7 (51.3) |
11.3 (52.3) |
10.9 (51.6) |
10.9 (51.6) |
11.4 (52.5) |
11.1 (52.0) |
11.2 (52.2) |
11.5 (52.7) |
10.6 (51.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) |
2.0 (35.6) |
1.9 (35.4) |
1.1 (34.0) |
0.0 (32.0) |
−1.3 (29.7) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
0.8 (33.4) |
1.5 (34.7) |
0.3 (32.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 112.0 (4.41) |
117.2 (4.61) |
106.2 (4.18) |
57.1 (2.25) |
27.9 (1.10) |
11.6 (0.46) |
12.4 (0.49) |
12.6 (0.50) |
36.0 (1.42) |
71.9 (2.83) |
74.0 (2.91) |
92.6 (3.65) |
731.5 (28.81) |
| Source: National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru | |||||||||||||
Places of Interest
The local football field, Daniel Alcides Carrión Stadium, is one of the highest altitude sports stadiums in the world.
Notable people
