Arica is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only 18 km (11 mi) south of the border with Peru. The city is the capital of both the Arica Province and the Arica and Parinacota Region. Arica is located at the bend of South America's western coast known as the Arica Bend or Arica Elbow. At the location of the city are two valleys that dissect the Atacama Desert converge: Azapa and Lluta. These valleys provide citrus and olives for export.
Parinacota, Parina Quta or Parinaquta is a dormant stratovolcano on the border of Bolivia and Chile. Together with Pomerape it forms the Nevados de Payachata volcanic chain. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, its summit reaches an elevation of 6,380 metres (20,930 ft) above sea level. The symmetrical cone is capped by a summit crater with widths of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) or 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). Farther down on the southern slopes lie three parasitic centres known as the Ajata cones. These cones have generated lava flows. The volcano overlies a platform formed by lava domes and andesitic lava flows.
Payachata or Paya Chata is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex contains two peaks, Pomerape to the north and Parinacota to the south. On the Bolivian side the volcanoes are located in the Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality, and on the Chilean side they lie in the Arica y Parinacota Region, Parinacota Province.
The Arica y Parinacota Region is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Arica and Parinacota. It borders Peru's Department of Tacna to the north, Bolivia's La Paz and Oruro departments to the east and Chile's Tarapacá Region to the south. Arica y Parinacota is the 5th smallest, the 3rd least populous and the 6th least densely populated of the regions of Chile. Arica is the region's capital and largest city.
Lauca National Park is in Chile's far north, in the Andean range. It encompasses an area of 1,379 km2 of altiplano and mountains, the latter consisting mainly of enormous volcanoes. Las Vicuñas National Reserve is its neighbour to the south. Both protected areas, along with Salar de Surire Natural Monument, form Lauca Biosphere Reserve. The park borders Sajama National Park in Bolivia.
The Norte Grande is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It borders Peru to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Altiplano, Bolivia and Argentina to the east, and the Copiapó River to the south, beyond which lies the Norte Chico natural region.
The Lauca River is a binational river. It originates in the Chilean Altiplano of the Arica and Parinacota Region, crosses the Andes and empties into Coipasa Lake in Bolivia.
Arintica is a stratovolcano located in Arica y Parinacota Region of Chile, near the border with Bolivia. It lies north of the Salar de Surire.
Laguna de Cotacotani or Quta Qutani is a lake located in the Andean Altiplano of the Parinacota Province, Arica-Parinacota Region, Chile. It lies 4 km northwest of Chungará Lake, which is one of the highest lakes in the world and is surrounded by several volcanoes, such as the Payachata volcanic group, Sajama volcano and Wallatiri.
The Chilean Inca trail is a local and popular term among local tourism initiatives and Chilean anthropologists and archaeologists for the various branches of the Qhapak Ñan in Chile and its associated Inca archaeological sites.
Kunturiri is a volcano in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Chile which rises up to 5,762 metres (18,904 ft). On the Chilean side it is located in the Arica and Parinacota Region and on the Bolivian side in the Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality, Sajama Canton as well as in the La Paz Department, Pacajes Province, Calacoto Municipality, Ulloma Canton.
The Caldera Lauca is a caldera in the Arica y Parinacota Region of Chile. It is located in the Cordillera Occidental, in the valley of the Lauca River. The elliptic caldera has an east-west extension of 23 kilometres (14 mi) and 50 kilometres (31 mi) in north-south direction, buried beneath the late Miocene Vilañuñumani-Tejene volcanic complex in the north and ending at Chucal in the south. The 21 mya Oxaya Ignimbrite originates in the caldera. The eastern border of the caldera is buried beneath younger ignimbrites and deposits but is located east of the Guallatiri volcano. An Oligocene fault marks the western edge of the caldera.
Lauca is a 5,140 metres (16,860 ft) high andesitic stratovolcano in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes on the Altiplano in northern Chile. Administratively it is located in Putre, Arica y Parinacota Region. The volcano was active during the Late Miocene from 10.5 million years ago onwards. A major ignimbrite collapsed the volcano in the Late Pliocene.
The Chinchorro culture of South America was a preceramic culture that lasted from 9,100 to 3,500 years BP. The people forming the Chinchorro culture were sedentary fishermen inhabiting the Pacific coastal region of current northern Chile and southern Peru. Presence of fresh water in the arid region on the coast facilitated human settlement in this area. The Chinchorro were famous for their detailed mummification and funerary practices. The area of the Chinchorro culture started to receive influences from the Andean Plateau around 4,000 BP, which led to the adoption of agriculture. Much later, it came under the influence of the Tiwanaku Empire.
Isluga River is a river in Chile and Bolivia, and is also known as Sitani or Arabilla. It starts at the confluence of the rivers Chaguane and Huinchuta and flows for 54 kilometres (34 mi) before reaching the Laguna Mucalliri of the Salar de Coipasa. It receives water from the volcanoes Isluga, Cabaray and Quimsachata as well as the Sierra Uscana.
Canal Mauri is a canal in Peru and Chile. It transfers water from the Mauri River watershed and transfers it into the Caplina River for irrigation purposes. An earlier canal Canal Uchusuma was constructed in the early 19th century and was replaced by the Canal Mauri. This canal collects water from several tributaries of the Mauri River and diverts it through Chilean territory into the Quebrada Vilavilani, a tributary of the Caplina River; from there it is later diverted for irrigation purposes in the Tacna region.
Chungará is a lake situated in the extreme north of Chile at an elevation of 4,517 metres (14,820 ft), in the Altiplano of Arica y Parinacota Region in the Lauca National Park. It has a surface area of about 21.5–22.5 square kilometres (8.3–8.7 sq mi) and has a maximum depth of about 26–40 metres (85–131 ft). It receives inflow through the Río Chungara with some minor additional inflows, and loses most of its water to evaporation; seepage into the Laguna Quta Qutani plays a minor role.
Chapiquiña power plant is a hydroelectric power plant in northern Chile. It takes water from the Canal Lauca and produces electrical power through a Pelton turbine.
Guallatiri is a volcano in Chile with an elevation of 6,060 to 6,071 m. It is located southwest of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcanic group; some sources classify Guallatiri as a member. Guallatiri is a stratovolcano with numerous fumaroles around the summit. The summit may be a lava dome or volcanic plug, while the lower flanks of the volcano are covered by lava flows and lava domes. The volcano's eruptions have produced mostly dacite along with andesite and rhyolite. Past glaciation has left moraines on Guallatiri.
Lupica Formation is a volcano-sedimentary geological formation in the Andes of Arica y Parinacota Region in northernmost Chile. There have been differing views on the relative age and stratigraphy of Lupica Formation, to some authors, it is an eastern equivalent of the Miocene Oxaya Formation, yet others consider it is an older formation that underlies part of the Oxaya Formation. According to Wotzlaw and co-workers the lower part of the formation originated from a nearby volcanic arc that existed in the Eocene.
