AREA 32,592ha
LAND TENURE Private
ownership (property of four main "predios":
Mandorpampa, Q'ente, Torontoy and Santa Rita de
Q'ente).
ALTITUDE Ranges from
1,800m to 3,800m
PHYSICAL FEATURES The
site lies in the Selva Alta zone, and includes
part of a highly dissected mountain massif of
the high Andes plateau, which rises steeply from
the Urubamba River valley. The area around the
ruins of Macchu Picchu consists of many rocky
pinnacles with exposures supporting thin soils,
although the area also includes sites with
complex systems of old Inca terraced land
constructed to conserve the soils. The Urubamba
alluvial basin is an almost continuous zone of
arable and pastoral farming land. Geologically
the area is very complex, being a combination of
marine sedimentary rocks of the Cretaceous-Tertiary
period and intrusive volcanic material,
including lavas and granites. The sedimentary
deposits include Ordovician schists, slates and
quartzite. Streams and rivers feed the major Rio
Urubamba valley system as well as a number of
smaller valleys in the north such as that of
Quillabamba (MAA, 1986).
CLIMATE The annual
temperature averages 16°C and annual rainfall is
between 1500mm and 3000mm at low altitudes. At
2,500m altitude the average temperature drops to
10.2°C, and annual rainfall is 2170mm. The dry
season lasts from May to September and the wet
season from October to April.
