Laguna de Cotacotani

The Laguna de Cotacotani is a Lac located in the Andean Altiplano of the Province of Parinacota, Región de Tarapacá with the Chile. It is with four kilometers in the North-East of the lake Chungará.

Situation

This lake is very close to the road n° 11 which connects Arica and La Paz by the international passage border of Tambo Quemado. It belongs to National park Lauca, and is located at 54 km in the east of the town of Putre and to nine kilometers of the Bolivian border.

Description

With an altitude of 4.517 meters, it is one of the highest lakes of the world. Its average depth is about 10 meters.

It is surrounded by several Volcan S, like the whole of the Nevados de Payachatas (volcanos Parinacota there Pomerape), the Nevado Sajama and the Guallatiri.

The laguna of Cotacotani is separated from the lake Chungará by volcanic rocks, but it receives water of this lake in an underground way. It is however fed mainly by the río Desaguadero. Its principal characteristic is the great number of islands and small islands which are there. Those are protuberances of Lave created by the active volcanicity of the area. With a surface of 6 km ², the laguna of Cotacotani has a volume of water stored of 30 to 40 million m ³, which run out in its emissary the Río Lauca for then passing to Bolivia and throwing themselves in the lake endorrheic Coipasa.

Associated with the lake, are a series of marshes (bofedals). The surface of the whole of this Wetland is 21,5 km ².

Fauna

The lagoon of Cotacotani has a single and varied fauna including/understanding more than 130 species autochtones, among which Flamingo S and the Canard S are very noticed.

Random links: