Ocetá Páramo

The Ocetá Páramo is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes at altitudes between 2,950 metres (9,680 ft) and 3,950 metres (12,960 ft).[3][6] The páramo with an area of 5,771.1 hectares (14,261 acres) lies east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, southwest of the Pisba National Natural Park and north of Siscuinsí Lake.[7] Farther to the northeast are the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy and to the southwest Lake Tota. The climate varies between 0 °C (32 °F) in winter nights and 17 °C (63 °F) on sunny days.[8] Foggy blankets are common in the area.[9]

Páramos are "sponges"; sources of water for lower lying terrains and the Ocetá Páramo is no exception.[10] In the upper part of the páramo, marshes and small lakes exist. The biggest waterbody is the Laguna Negra and the Calicanto, Tejar and Morro Rivers as well as numerous creeks (quebradas) have their origin on the Páramo de Ocetá. The Penagos waterfall feeds the Laguna Negra.[11]

• 
  Topography of Boyacá
• 
  Fog at the Ocetá Páramo
• 
  Creeks on the páramo
• 
  Marshes in Ocetá
• 
  Laguna Negra
• 
  Penagos waterfall

The Ocetá Páramo is part of the El Cocuy sub-basin, an inverted basin in the Eastern Ranges.[12] During the Hauterivian, the El Cocuy and Tablazo sub-basins formed a continuous basin due to the flooding of the Santander-Floresta paleohigh.[13] The main uplift in the Eastern Ranges occurred between the late Oligocene and Pleistocene, with increased tectonic uplift in the Plio-Pleistocene.[14] The Neogene compression led to the formation of alluvial fans in the intermontane valleys of the Eastern Cordillera. Pollen analysis has shown the transition from lowland tropical forests to colder mountainous vegetation over the last 5 million years.[15] The youngest uplifted eastern chain of the Colombian Andes formed the provenance area for the Magdalena River.[16] In the vicinity of the area of Ocetá, to the southwest in Iza and Paipa for the Eastern Cordillera unique volcanic and magmatic activity is noted from 4.7 to 2.1 Ma.[17]

The stratigraphical units encountered on the Ocetá Páramo are Paleocene sandstones and shales of the Socha Formation in the Peña de Ortí, and the Late Cretaceous Guadalupe sandstone and shale formations, Guaduas Formation, and the organic shales of the Chipaque Formation.[18] The Guaduas Formation contains coal seams that are mined in the area.[19] The Cretaceous-Paleocene Guaduas Formation is the most important source for the rich coal deposits in the Andean interior of Colombia.[20]

During the Miocene, establishing the current ecosystem in the Pliocene, the vegetation became that of a páramo.[21]

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  Coal
  Guaduas Formation
• 
  Dark organic shale
  Chipaque Formation
• 
  Banded shales
  Chipaque Formation
• 
  Grey shale
  Chipaque Formation
• 
  Sandstone
  Guadalupe Group
• 
  Coal mining close to Monguí

The typical flora of a páramo are frailejones, that are plants of the genus Espeletia. The lower altitude parts of the páramo are characterised by Espeletia barclayana, Espeletia jaramilloi, Espeletia congestiflora and Espeletia argentea, while Espeletia grandiflora is growing in a wider altitude distribution. Chusquea tessellata is characteristic of the Eastern Ranges.[22] On the Ocetá Páramo, formerly written as Oseta, various species have been described by Thomas van der Hammen; Bryum argenteum, Breutelia polygastrica, Calamagrostis effusa, Ceratodon stenocarpus, Didymodon laevigatus, Leptodontium flexifolium and Sphagnum sancto-josephense.[23][24][25][26][27][28] Other flora occurring on the páramo are Pentacalia vernicosa, Ageratina tinifolia, Bidens andicola, Lupinus luisanae var. ocetensis, Viola sp., Arnica sp. and various types of mosses and lychen.[6][29][30]

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  Pentacalia vernicosa
• 
  Ageratina tinifolia
• 
  Calamagrostis effusa and Espeletia
• 
  Bidens andicola
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  L. luisanae
• 
  Viola sp.

Among the fauna that can be observed on the páramo are Andean condor, black agouti, eastern cottontail, frogs, mountain paca, spectacled bear, white-tailed deer.[6] The spectacled bear is very rare and possibly extinct.[31] The white tailed deer, the main ingredient of the diet of the Muisca and pre-Muisca, has been extensively hunted and captured over time.[9]

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  Andean condor
• 
  Black agouti
• 
  Eastern cottontail
• 
  Mountain paca
• 
  Spectacled bear
• 
  White-tailed deer

The Páramo de Ocetá was a sacred place for the Muisca, who inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and surrounding areas before the Spanish conquest.[32] The region of Monguí was populated by the Sanoa tribe.[33]

Along the route from Monguí to the highest point of the Ocetá Páramo, a series of sights are present. From most of the route, to the (south)west, a view of the Duitama-Sogamoso Valley, especially the settlements of Tibasosa, Nobsa and Duitama, is visible. From the Mirador de Cóndores and the Cerro de Águilas on clear days it is possible to see the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy and even the Llanos Orientales.[34]

Panorama of Tibasosa (left), Nobsa (centre) and Duitama (background)

The Tortolitas (English: "Sweethearts") are oval-shaped depressions that were made by the Muisca. They served as "baths" where the Muisca women bore their babies. Close to the Tortolitas, Muisca petroglyphs have been found.[9]

• 
  Rock formation where the Tortolitas are made
• 
  Tortolita
• 
  Tortolita
• 
  Muisca petroglyphs
• 
  Muisca petroglyph
• 
  Muisca petroglyphs

The Peña de Otí (English: "Rock of Otí") is an outcrop of alternating shales and sandstones of the Socha Formation.[18] It is observed to the southwest from the main trail leading to the Mirador de los Cóndores on the páramo. The rocks of the Peña de Otí were used to construct the churches and convent in Monguí. Legends about the Peña include tales of witches dancing with the devil on October 31, the origin of the scratches on the rock face from the devil who was riding a donkey on the hilltop and fell down, when the hoofs created the scratches and that the hill opened one day revealing the Calicanto Bridge and church made of gold. The end of the world would come when the hill closed again.[35]

Panorama of the Peña de Otí

The Caja del Rey (English: "The King's Box") is a monolith of about 8 metres (26 ft) high, 8 metres (26 ft) wide and 15 metres (49 ft) long. Legend says it is a box of rock with a lid on top where the cacique Sanoha hid a fifteen-year-old girl inside, who during a night in April exited naked.[9] The monolith contains an upper part where a natural fractured zone has been excavated more by humans. The rock is also a viewpoint for the western area.[3]

Panorama of the Caja del Rey and the Peña de Otí

Ciudad de Piedra or Ciudad Perdida (English: "The Stone or Lost City"), not to be confused with its famous counterpart in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is a series of rock formations of 15 metres (49 ft) high, 20 metres (66 ft) wide and 200 metres (660 ft) long.[1][3][36] In the Ciudad de Piedra, a tabular stone, thought to have served for human sacrifices, called Mesa de los Sacrificios is present.[37]

El Pulpito del Diablo (English: "The Devil's Pulpit") is a raised mesa-type hill to the south of the main hiking trail on the Páramo de Ocetá.[3]

• 
  Ciudad de Piedra
• 
  Ciudad de Piedra
• 
  Moss at the Ciudad de Piedra
• 
  Moss at the Ciudad de Piedra
• 
  Mesa de los Sacrificios
• 
  El Pulpito del Diablo

The Playa or Valle de Frailejones or Jardines de Ocetá (English: "Frailejon Beach or Valley" or "Ocetá Gardens") is a relatively flat portion on the páramo where a large quantity of frailejones are growing.[1][3] The frailejones grow 1 centimetre (0.39 in) a year.[6]

Panorama of the Playa de los Frailejones

The Cerro de Águilas (English: "Eagles Hill") is a hill on the páramo consisting of alternating shales and sandstone formations of the Guadalupe Group.[18]

Panorama of the Cerro de Águilas

The Mirador de Cóndores (English: "Condor Viewpoint") is the highest point of the páramo and offers a view on the Laguna Negra. Andean condors can be sighted from this viewpoint.

Panorama from the Mirador de Cóndores

Laguna Negra (English: "Black Lake") is a permanent lake on the páramo that can be viewed from the Cerro de Águilas or the Mirador de Cóndores.[3] The lake drains towards Mongua and it is possible to reach from that village. Legend tells that a young boy is living in the lake, whose singing can be heard close to the Penagos waterfall.[33]

Panorama of Laguna Negra and feeder creeks

• Amaya, Erika; Jorge Mariño, and Carlos Jaramillo. 2010. Litofacies y ambientes de acumulación de la Formación Guaduas en al parte central de la Cordillera Oriental - implicaciones paleogeográficas. Boletín de Geología, Universidad Industrial de Santander 32. _. Accessed 2016-11-17.
• Barney Duran, Victoria Eugenia. 2011. Biodiversidad y ecogeografía del género Lupinus (Leguminosae) en Colombia (MSc.), 1–81. Universidad Nacional. Accessed 2016-11-17.
• Hammen, Thomas van der. 2000. Aspectos de historia y ecología de la biodiversidad norandina y amazónica. Revista Academia Colombia de Ciencias 24. 231–245.
• Hoorn, Carina; Javier Guerrero; Gustavo A. Sarmiento, and Maria A. Lorente. 1995. Andean tectonics as a cause for changing drainage patterns in Miocene northern South America. Geology 23. 237–240.
• Hurtado Caro, José Próspero. 2012. Monguí - Boyacá - Colombia.
• Monsalve, Maria Luisa; Nadia R. Rojas; Francisco A. Velandia P.; Iraida Pintor, and Lina Fernanda Martínez. 2011. Caracterización geológica del cuerpo volcánico de Iza, Boyacá - Colombia. Boletín de Geología _. 117–130.
• Nieto Escalante, Juan Antonio; Claudia Inés Sepulveda Fajardo; Luis Fernando Sandoval Sáenz; Ricardo Fabian Siachoque Bernal; Jair Olando Fajardo Fajardo; William Alberto Martínez Díaz; Orlando Bustamante Méndez, and Diana Rocio Oviedo Calderón. 2010. Geografía de Colombia - Geography of Colombia, 1–367. Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi.
• Sarmiento Rojas, L.F.; J.D. Van Wees, and S. Cloetingh. 2006. Mesozoic transtensional basin history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes: Inferences from tectonic models. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 21. 383–411. Accessed 2016-11-17.
• Ulloa, Carlos E.; Álvaro Guerra, and Ricardo Escovar. 1998. Geología de la Plancha 172 - Paz de Río. Ingeominas.
• Wills, Fernando et al. 2001. Nuestro patrimonio - 100 tesoros de Colombia - Our heritage - 100 treasures of Colombia, 1–311. El Tiempo.
• N, N. s.a. Monguí - resumen esquema ordenamiento territorial, 1–23.
• N, N. s.a. Monguí - plan ambiental, 1–4. Accessed 2016-11-17.