Portal:Latin America/Featured picture/Week 33, 2006

Photo credit: User:Aurbina

Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island, Chile. It is the quarry in which about 95% of the island's known monolithic sculpture (Moai) were carved.

The sides of Rano Raraku crater are high and steep except on the north and northwest, where they are much lower and gently sloping. The interior contains a freshwater lake bordered by reeds called tortora (Scripus sp.). The reeds, once believed to have been carried to the island by explorers from the South American mainland, are now known to have been naturally introduced some 30,000 years ago.