Ampato (possibly from Quechua hamp'atu[1] or from Aymara jamp'atu,[2] both meaning "frog") is a dormant 6,288-metre (20,630 ft) stratovolcano in the Andes of southern Peru.

They were formed sequentially by extrusion of lava flows, but Ampato has also had explosive eruptions which have deposited ash, lapilli and pumice in the surrounding landscape.

[4] Clockwise from northeast the towns of Colihuiri, Cajamarcana, Sallalli, Japo, Baylillas, Corinta and Collpa surround the volcano;[3] the city of Arequipa lies 70–75 kilometres (43–47 mi) to the southeast.

[4] Ampato is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes,[5] which in Peru manifests itself as several dozen Pleistocene volcanoes, some of which erupted in historical time including El Misti, Huaynaputina, Sabancaya and Ubinas.

[4] Ampato has erupted different volcanic rocks at different stages, with the earliest ones generating andesite and dacite[17] and which define a potassium-rich suite.

[20] Estimating the rate of magma production at Ampato is difficult owing to the uncertainties in determining the volume of the edifice and the duration of repose times between eruptions; on average it appears to be 0.08–0.09 cubic kilometres per millennium (0.019–0.022 cu mi/ka).

The vegetation that occurs at high altitudes is dominated by pioneer plants, with wetlands constituting additional centres of biodiversity.

The first consists of lapilli, pumice and scoria and individual layers form thick sequences at large distances from the volcano, but are heavily eroded and thus difficult to measure in extent.

These contain dacitic pumice fragments in a matrix rich in ash and have thicknesses of more than 10 metres (33 ft) in the few outcrops; much of this unit was likely eroded away by glacial activity.

[31]The central cone grew in the gap between the northern and southern edifice and consists of lava flows again of andesitic to dacitic composition.

A dacitic summit lava dome is not affected by glacial erosion and appears to be the youngest eruption product of Ampato.

[30] Early Holocene (11,000 - 8,000 years before present) ash layers in peat bogs around the volcano may have originated either on Ampato or on Sabancaya.

Hazards mapped include both the fall of ash and the formation of lahars which can advance to distances of 20 kilometres (12 mi) in the southerly valleys of Ampato.

[37] Such sacrifices with children being the usual subjects are known as capacocha and the discoveries of their mummies on mountains in the Andes has gained them a lot of attention.