Cuicocha is a 3 km (2 mile) wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes, in the southern end of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, South America. The crater lake within the Cuicocha caldera contains four dacitic lava domes which form two steep forested islands: Yerovi, the smaller, and Teodoro Wolf, the larger. Cuicocha in Kichwa language means Guinea Pig Laguna in English or "Lago del Cuye" in Spanish, due to the shape of its largest Island resembling a Guinea Pig. The caldera was created by a massive phreatic eruption about 3100 years ago that generated about 5 cubic kilometers of pyroclastic flow and covered the surrounding area in volcanic ash up to 20 cm (8 inches) deep. The volcano has since been dormant. Panorama was stitched from 2 overlapping photos.
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