The Cerro Aconcagua is a mountain located in Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest in the Southern Hemisphere, and the highest peak outside of Asia. It is one of the Seven Summits.
This member of the Andes Range is bounded by the Valle de las Vacas to the north and east and the Valle de los Horcones Inferior to the West and South. The mountain and its surroundings are part of the Aconcagua Provincial Park. The mountain has a number of glaciers. The most substantial are the north-eastern or Polish Glacier and the eastern or English Glacier.
The Aconcagua River rises on the southern slope and flows west, meeting the Pacific Ocean 20 km north of Valparaíso, Chile.
The mountain was created by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American plate during the geologically recent Andean orogeny, however it is not a volcano. The origin of the name is contested, it is either from the Arauca Aconca-Hue, which refers to the Aconcagua River and means 'comes from the other side' or the Quechua Ackon Cahuak, meaning 'Stone Sentinel'.
