Machu Picchu Granite

The machu picchu pluton along with numerous other areal plutons of this magmatic complex were intruded into an axial zone of a permo early jurassic rift system.

Machu picchu granite.

The underlying rocks are 246 million year old granite lancelot et al 1978 with local dykes of bright green serpentine that outcrops along the inca trail. The granitoid pluton of machu picchu is part of the larger quillabamba granite which is a magmatic complex now exposed in the eastern cordillera of central peru. In the southern part of the ruin is the sacred rock also known as the temple of the sun it was called the mausoleum by bingham. The report which appears in the book geology in the conservation of machu picchu states.

Scholars still have no clue how people who didn t have the technology of a wheel could have pushed these rocks up the steep andean mountainside. The inca citadel of machu picchu attracts thousands of tourists year after year. The well developed crystals within the granite derived from its slow cooling history as a magma makes it an ideal rock for carving hammer and making. Machu picchu is a city comprised of more than 200 buildings temples houses pathways fountains and altars all cut from grey granite from the mountain top.

The inca followed the faults digging up the already loosened debris. Along faults the hard granite of the 250 million year old machu picchu batholith was crushed by tectonic movements. The buildings of machu picchu. Granite cutting is a difficult operation even with modern equipment and can take hours to cut.

Machu picchu s most distinct and famous structures include the temple of the sun and the intihuatana stone a sculpted granite rock that is believed to have functioned as a solar clock or calendar. The temples terraces and living structures at machu picchu were built with granite a material abundant in the area. Inca builders chipped and chiseled stones to construct their citadel of machu picchu from a 250 million year old granite quarry. Most of the granite rocks used in machu picchu s construction weigh well over 50 pounds.

The reason is the amazing beauty of its landscapes the adventure of ascending the mountain huayna picchu and the mystery that surrounds its ancient stone buildings. Few of machu picchu s white granite structures have stonework as highly refined as that found in cuzco but several are worthy of note. Many of the stone blocks weigh more than 50 tons and all are cut and fitted together in such a precise. Among the 140 dwellings you will find mostly houses several temples food deposits water fountains a guard house and even a jail.

Is that the tour of the archaeological site is a visit that never ceases to amaze locals and strangers alike. The mainstream theory is however that hundreds of men must have worked together to push these rocks up the.