Laguna Verde is a salt lake in an endorheic basin, in the southwestern Altiplano in Bolivia. It is located in the Sur Lípez Province of the Potosí Department. It is close to the Chilean border, at the foot of the volcano Licancabur.
Cerro Bayo is a complex volcano on the northern part border between Argentina and Chile. It consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes along a north–south line. The main volcano face is located on the Argentine side, thought the summit of the complex is just west of the border, in Chile. The volcano is about 800,000 years old, but it is associated with ongoing ground uplift encompassing also the more northerly Lastarria and Cordón del Azufre volcanoes. The 5,401-metre (17,720 ft) high summit is the source of two viscous dacitic lava flows with prominent levees that traveled to the north.
Lascar is a stratovolcano in Chile within the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a volcanic arc that spans Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. It is the most active volcano in the region, with records of eruptions going back to 1848. It is composed of two separate cones with several summit craters. The westernmost crater of the eastern cone is presently active. Volcanic activity is characterized by constant release of volcanic gas and occasional vulcanian eruptions.
Salar de Atacama, located 55 km (34 mi) south of San Pedro de Atacama, is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is surrounded by mountains and lacks drainage outlets. To the east, it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range called Cordillera de Domeyko. The landscape is dominated by imposing volcanoes such as Licancabur, Acamarachi, Aguas Calientes, and Láscar, the latter being one of Chile's most active volcanoes. These volcanoes are situated along the eastern side of the Salar de Atacama, forming a north–south trending line that separates it from smaller endorheic basins.
Aguas Calientes Volcano or Cerro Aguas Calientes, also called Simba, is a cone-shaped stratovolcano located 5 kilometres (3 mi) east of the Lascar volcano and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Laguna Lejía, Chile. It is located within a 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) area where the Cordón de Puntas Negras and the Cordón Chalviri volcanic chains intersect. The volcano is constructed from andesite and dacite containing hornblende and also anhydrite and its pyroclastics are all older than Lascar. It has a diameter of about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi). Some xenoliths of calc-alkaline material are found in Aguas Calientes lavas, and magma mixing has generated lavas containing andesite inclusions in dacites. One eruption of Aguas Calientes postdates the first centre of Lascar and was originally linked to the Lascar Piedras Grandes eruption, before sampling on the deposits of this eruption indicated a relationship with the Lascar volcano itself. Effusion of lava ceased after the cone was built. One summit lava flow may be of Holocene age, but no evidence of historical activity is found.
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.
The Atacama Desert is a desert plateau located on the Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of 105,000 km2 (41,000 sq mi), which increases to 128,000 km2 (49,000 sq mi) if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included.
Licancabur Lake is a crater lake in Chile located on the volcano Licancabur. It is close to the city San Pedro de Atacama and also very close to the border of Chile with Bolivia.
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 Hornitos Formation is a Campanian geologic formation of the Algarrobal Basin in the Atacama Region of northern Chile. The formation comprises limestones, sandstones, conglomerates, marls and tuff. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including the sauropod Arackar licanantay.
Pukintika is a volcano in the Andes, about 5,407 m (17,740 ft) high, situated in the Cordillera Occidental on the border of Bolivia and Chile. It is located in the Arica and Parinacota Region of Chile and the Oruro Department of Bolivia. Pukintika lies to the north of the Salar de Surire, east beside Arintika volcano which is younger than Pukintika. Pukintika also features a crater lake with a surface area of 2,500 square metres (27,000 sq ft). Deposits of elemental sulfur have been found on Pukintika.
Tuyajto Lake is a salt lake located in the Antofagasta Region, northern Chile. Located at an elevation of about 4,010 metres (13,160 ft), its surface area presently fluctuates between 1.7–2.7 square kilometres (0.66–1.04 sq mi) but in the past it was considerably larger; this led to humans going to the lake and creating archeological sites there. Presently, the lake is groundwater-fed and has no surface outlet but water might seep out underground. It is part of the Los Flamencos Natural Reserve.
El Negrillar is a volcanic field in the Andes. Located south of the Salar de Atacama and west of the Cordón de Púlar, it generated cinder cones and lava flows. Covering a surface area of 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi), it is the largest volcanic field in northern Chile, with almost a hundred vents that produced mainly lava flows. Owing to the arid climate, landforms are well preserved. Radiometric dating has yielded ages of less than 1.5 million years, with the most recent eruption occurring about 141,000 years ago. Parts of the Holocene Socompa debris avalanche overlie the field. A groundwater system underlies the volcanic field and some cones formed through phreatomagmatic eruptions. El Negrillar is located in a complex tectonic regime, characterized by numerous faults. The town of Tilomonte and various power lines, mines and water wells are in the area.
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.
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.
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.
Monturaqui is an impact crater in Chile. It lies south of the Salar de Atacama and was formed 663,000 ± 90,000 years ago by the impact of an IAB meteorite. It is 350 m × 370 m wide and 34 m (112 ft) deep and contains a salt pan. Only a few remnants of the meteorite that formed the crater have been collected, with most of the rocks being of local origin. The crater was discovered in 1962 and identified as an impact crater in 1966.
Salar Ignorado is a salar in the Andes of Chile's Atacama Region at 4,250 metres (13,940 ft) elevation. Located just south of Cerro Bayo volcano, it comprises 0.7 square kilometres (0.27 sq mi) of salt flats, sand dunes and numerous pools of open water. The waters of Salar Ignorado, unlike these of other salt flats in the central Andes, are acidic owing to the input of sulfuric acid from hydrothermal water and the weathering of volcanic rocks.
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.
