Lake Chungará

Coordinates: 18°15′S 69°09′W / 18.250°S 69.150°W / -18.250; -69.150
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Lake Chungará
LocationArica y Parinacota Region, Chile
Coordinates18°15′S 69°09′W / 18.250°S 69.150°W / -18.250; -69.150
TypeNatural
Primary inflowsChungará, Sopocalane
Basin countriesChile
Surface area21.5 km2 (8.3 sq mi)
Average depth33 m (108 ft)
Surface elevation4,517 m (14,820 ft)
Islandsnone
Settlementsnone

Lake Chungará (from Aymara: chunkara "moss on the stone") is a lake in the extreme north of Chile, in the Altiplano of the Arica y Parinacota region. It is the 29th highest lake in the world (and the 10th highest in South America).[1]

The lake is near the volcanos Parinacota (6,342 m [20,807 ft]) and Pomerape (6,222 m [20,413 ft]). It is part of the Lauca National Park, in the Putre comuna. The lake is at about 54 km (34 mi) to the east of the town of Putre and about 9 km (5.6 mi) to the west of the border with Bolivia.

In the lake and streams nearby, there are some small fish that are endemic to the lake basin: pencil catfish, Trichomycterus chungaraensis,[2] and Orestias chungarensis.[3]

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. Carl Drews. "The Highest Lake in the World". The Highest Lake. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  2. "Trichomycterus chungaraensis Arratia, 1983". FishBase. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  3. "Orestias chungarensis Vila & Pinto, 1987". FishBase. Retrieved 6 July 2016.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Lake Chungará at Wikimedia Commons