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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.
Laguna Lejía is a salt lake located in the Altiplano of the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. The landscape of the area is dominated by the volcanoes Chiliques, Lascar, Aguas Calientes and Acamarachi. It is shallow and has no outlet, covering a surface area of about 1.9 square kilometres (0.73 sq mi) in the present-day.
Pastos Grandes Lake is a lake in the Pastos Grandes caldera in the Potosí Department, Bolivia. At an elevation of 4,430 metres (14,530 ft), its surface area is 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi).
Laguna Hedionda is a saline lake in the Nor Lípez Province, Potosí Department in Bolivia. It is notable for various migratory species of pink and white flamingos.
Salar de Pedernales is a large salt flat in the Atacama Region of Chile. It lies east of the Cordillera Domeyko at an elevation of 3,370 metres (11,060 ft). The salt flat has an irregular shape and consists mostly of gypsum and rock salt, with an area of 0.6 square kilometres (0.23 sq mi)-1.1 square kilometres (0.42 sq mi) covered by open water. During the late Pleistocene, the climate was wetter and thus open water covered a much larger area of Salar de Pedernales.
The geology of Bolivia comprises a variety of different lithologies as well as tectonic and sedimentary environments. On a synoptic scale, geological units coincide with topographical units. The country is divided into a mountainous western area affected by the subduction processes in the Pacific and an eastern lowlands of stable platforms and shields. The Bolivian Andes is divided into three main ranges; these are from west to east: the Cordillera Occidental that makes up the border to Chile and host several active volcanoes and geothermal areas, Cordillera Central once extensively mined for silver and tin and the relatively low Cordillera Oriental that rather than being a range by its own is the eastern continuation of the Central Cordillera as a fold and thrust belt. Between the Occidental and Central Cordillera the approximately 3,750-meter-high Altiplano high plateau extends. This basin hosts several freshwater lakes, including Lake Titicaca as well as salt-covered dry lakes that bring testimony of past climate changes and lake cycles. The eastern lowlands and sub-Andean zone in Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, and Tarija Departments was once an old Paleozoic sedimentary basin that hosts valuable hydrocarbon reserves. Further east close to the border with Brazil lies the Guaporé Shield, made up of stable Precambrian crystalline rock.
Tittivilla is an eroded volcano in the Andes of Bolivia, on the isthmus separating the Salar de Coipasa in the north from the Salar de Uyuni. The maximum slope in its summit area is 30°. The stratovolcano and neighbouring Tunupa formed 3.5-2.5 mya on NE-SW and NNE-SSW structures, it belongs to the Tungapujo-Guachacoyo volcanic chain. The volcanoes are formed from andesite and dacite belonging to potassium-rich calc-alkaline series.
Lake Tauca is a former lake in the Altiplano of Bolivia. It is also known as Lake Pocoyu for its constituent lakes: Lake Poopó, Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni. The lake covered large parts of the southern Altiplano between the Eastern Cordillera and the Western Cordillera, covering an estimated 48,000 to 80,000 square kilometres of the basins of present-day Lake Poopó and the Salars of Uyuni, Coipasa and adjacent basins. Water levels varied, possibly reaching 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) in altitude. The lake was saline. The lake received water from Lake Titicaca, but whether this contributed most of Tauca's water or only a small amount is controversial; the quantity was sufficient to influence the local climate and depress the underlying terrain with its weight. Diatoms, plants and animals developed in the lake, sometimes forming reef knolls.
Ouki was an ancient lake in the Bolivian Altiplano. Its existence was postulated in 2006 by a group of scientists who had subdivided the Lake Minchin lake cycle into several lake phases. The Lake Minchin cycle had been previously identified in 1904 as a now disappeared lake in the central Altiplano. Sediments attributed to Lake Minchin may rather be part of Ouki. The dating is uncertain, with radiocarbon and uranium-thorium dating yielding different dates spanning the time between 28,200 and 125,990 ± 9,580 years ago.
Sajsi is the name of an ancient lake in the Andes
Sairecabur is a volcano located on the frontier between Bolivia and Chile. It is part of the Andean Central Volcanic Zone. Sairecabur proper is 5,971 m (19,590 ft) high; other mountains in the range are 5,722 m (18,773 ft) high Curiquinca, 5,819 m (19,091 ft) high Escalante and 5,748 m (18,858 ft) high Cerro Colorado, all of which have erupted a number of lava flows. Also in close proximity to Sairecabur lie the volcanic centres Licancabur, Putana and Juriques.
Llullaillaco is a dormant stratovolcano on the border between Argentina and Chile. It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of tall volcanic peaks on a high plateau close to the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. Its maximum elevation is most commonly given as 6723 m, making it the second- or third-highest volcano in the world. Despite its height, it is not clear whether the volcano has any glaciers or merely patches of perennial snow and ice. Between 3700 m and 5000 m elevation there is a sparse plant cover, while at lower altitudes the climate is too dry for plants to grow. A species of mouse on Llullaillaco is the highest-living known vertebrate species.
Pastos Grandes is the name of a caldera and its crater lake in Bolivia. The caldera is part of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic complex, a large ignimbrite province that is part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. Pastos Grandes has erupted a number of ignimbrites through its history, some of which exceeded a volume of 1,000 cubic kilometres (240 cu mi). After the ignimbrite phase, the lava domes of the Cerro Chascon-Runtu Jarita complex were erupted close to the caldera and along faults.
Tata Sabaya is a 5,430-metre (17,810 ft) high volcano in Bolivia. It is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of several volcanic belts in the Andes which are separated by gaps without volcanic activity. This section of the Andes was volcanically active since the Jurassic, with an episode of strong ignimbritic volcanism occurring during the Miocene. Tata Sabaya lies in a thinly populated region north of the Salar de Coipasa salt pan.
Laguna Miscanti is a brackish water lake located in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Cerro Miñiques volcano and Cerro Miscanti tower over this lake. This 13.5 square kilometres (5.2 sq mi) large heart-shaped lake has a deep blue colour and developed in a basin formed by a fault. South of Miscanti lies Laguna Miñiques, another lake which is separated from Miscanti by a lava flow that was emplaced there during the Pleistocene.
Miñiques is the name of a lake and a volcano in Chile. It lies south of Laguna Miscanti and at the foot of the Cerro Miscanti volcano. The lake is fed from Laguna Miscanti by seepage and its waters are brackish.
Sillajhuay is a volcano on the border between Bolivia and Chile. It is part of a volcanic chain that stretches across the border between Bolivia and Chile and forms a mountain massif that is in part covered by ice; whether this ice should be considered a glacier is debatable but it has been retreating in recent decades.
Laguna del Negro Francisco is a lake in the Atacama Region of Chile and the southernmost closed lake in the country. It is situated 200 kilometres (120 mi) northeast of the city of Copiapó. The lake is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide with a surface area of about 20.7 square kilometres (8.0 sq mi) and a depth of about 1 metre. A peninsula, probably formed by a moraine and subsequently modified by wind-driven accumulation of sand, separates the lake into a north-northwesterly and a south-southeasterly half with different colour and water composition.
Salar de Punta Negra is a saltpan in the Antofagasta Region of Chile with a surface area of about 230 square kilometres (89 sq mi). It is surrounded by deposits left by dry valleys that descend the Western Cordillera. These dry valleys, from mountains such as the Llullaillaco volcano, carry water only occasionally. More permanent sources of water, in the form of springs, also exist at Salar de Punta Negra.
Salar de Gorbea is a salt flat just south of the border between the Antofagasta and Atacama regions, within Chile but close to the border with Argentina.
References
- ↑ Kamp, Ulrich; Bolch, Tobias; Olsenholler, Jeffrey (1 March 2005). "Geomorphometry of Cerro Sillajhuay (Andes, Chile/Bolivia): Comparison of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from ASTER Remote Sensing Data and Contour Maps". Geocarto International. 20 (1): 25. doi:10.1080/10106040508542333. ISSN 1010-6049.
- 1 2 Schröder, Bolch & Kröber 1999, p. 217.
- 1 2 Schreck 2007, p. 145.
- 1 2 Schreck 2007, p. 147.
- 1 2 Schreck 2007, p. 146.
- 1 2 Schreck 2007, p. 148.
- ↑ Schröder, Bolch & Kröber 1999, p. 223.
- 1 2 Schröder, Bolch & Kröber 1999, p. 226.
- ↑ Schröder, Bolch & Kröber 1999, p. 227.
- ↑ Schröder, Bolch & Kröber 1999, p. 219.
Bibliography
- Schreck, M. (2007). "Holocene sediments in the Cancosa Basin (Northern Chile): – First results of diatom analyses" (PDF). Proceedings of the 1st Central European Diatom Meeting: 145–149. doi: 10.3372/cediatom.130 . ISBN 9783921800638.
- Schröder, Hilmar; Bolch, Tobias; Kröber, Gunter (1999). "Limnische Sedimentationen des Holozäns im Becken von Cancosa (Provinz lquique, Chile)". Mitteilungen der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft (in German). 46: 217–230. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
Lakes on the Altiplano | |
|---|---|
| Present-day lakes and salt pans | |
| Lake expansions of Lake Titicaca | |
| Ancient lakes | |
| Other paleolakes and lake expansions in the region | |
