Laguna de Cotacotani (Hispanicized expression) or Quta Qutani ( Aymara ''quta'' lake, the

reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...

signifies there is a group or complex of something, ''-ni'' is a suffix to indicate ownership, "the one with a group of lakes" ) is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

It is considered as one or several lakes, depending on sources. located in the Andean

Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

of the

Parinacota Province Parinacota Province ( es, Provincia de Parinacota) is one of two Provinces of Chile, provinces of the Chilean Regions of Chile, region of Arica y Parinacota Region, Arica y Parinacota. Its capital is Putre. It is named after the Parinacota Volcano ...

Arica-Parinacota Region The Arica y Parinacota Region ( es, link=no, Región de Arica y Parinacota ) 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, Boliv ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. 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 Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex con ...

volcanic group A volcanic group is a stratigraphic group consisting of volcanic strata. They can be in the form of volcanic fields, volcanic complexes and cone A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequ ...

(

Parinacota Parinacota (in hispanicized spelling), Parina Quta or Parinaquta (Aymara, ''parina'' flamingo, ''quta'' lake, "flamingo lake", other hispanicized spellings ''Parinaccota, Parinajota'') may refer to: Lakes * Parinaquta (Carabaya), in Peru, Puno R ...

and

Pomerape Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the south ...

), Sajama volcano and

Wallatiri Guallatiri is a high volcano in Chile. It is located southwest of the Nevados de Quimsachata volcanic group and is sometimes considered to be part of that group. It is a stratovolcano with numerous fumaroles around the summit. The summit may be ...

. Cotacotani is separated from the lake Chungará by a strip of volcanic rock and receives groundwater inflow from that lake, however its major sources are ''Benedicto Morales River'' and ''El Encuentro Creek''. Cotacotani Lake's main feature is the considerable number of islands and islets that it holds, which are really lava hummocks generated by a past volcanic event. With a surface of 6 km², the Cotacotani holds a volume of water between 30 and 40 million of m³, which empty through

Lauca River 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. The upper reach of the river lies within the boundaries of Lauca Nation ...

into

Coipasa Lake __NOTOC__ Lago Coipasa or Salar de Coipasa is a lake in Sabaya Province, Oruro Department, Bolivia. At an elevation of 3657 m, its surface area is 806 km². It is on the western part of Altiplano, 20 km north of Salar de Uyuni and south o ...

, in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Although much of its present hummocky topography is related to a large volcanic debris avalanche occurred in the zone, this lacustrine area was not originated by such event. Recent investigations suggests that Cotacotani originated as a series of kettle hole ponds. Cotacotani lies close to the Route CH-11 which connects Arica and

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

via Tambo Quemado International Pass. The lake is located about 54 km east of

Putre Putre is a Chilean town and commune, capital of the Parinacota Province in the Arica-Parinacota Region. It is located east of Arica, at an altitude of . The town is backdropped by Taapaca volcanic complex. Putre is on the edge of the Lauca Nati ...

and 9 km west of the border with Bolivia, within

Lauca National Park Lauca National Park is located 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 ...

. File:Arica032.jpg, Bad weather File:SRTM-W70.50E68.80S19.00N17.40.Arica.png, Topographic map of the Arica and Parinacota Region Cotacotani Lake lies in the Tarapaca Region of Chile and within the

. The region has been volcanically active since the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

, the volcanoes

Guane Guane Guane is a municipality and town in the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. It was founded in 1602. Geography The municipality is divided into the barrios of Cabo de San Antonio y La Fe, Catalina, Cortés, Hato de Guane, Isabel Rubio (Paso Real ...

and Ajoya rise northwest, northeast and south of the lake. Of these Parinacota has been recently active and deposits from a huge

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

are found on its southwestern foot; Cotacotani Lake has formed on these deposits which are about 18,000 years

before present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...

old. The lake is technically a compound structure consisting of many disconnected water bodies with an average surface height of between rocky blocks of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...

and

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

that were formed by the Parinacota huge landslide. The largest water body has a surface area that fluctuates between and a maximum depth of ; some of the water bodies merge during lake level highstands. The volume of the lake is about . The Benedicto Morales River is the principal tributary and is fed by

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

s on the foot of Parinacota, another tributary is called El Encuentro and there is

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

inflow from

Lake Chungara A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

. The Cotacotani Lakes also have an outlet in a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

that in turn gives rise to the

. There have been projects in the past to pump water from

into the Cotacotani Lakes which are active since 1983 but were then halted by a ruling of the

Supreme Court of Chile The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court in Chile. It also administers the lower courts in the nation. It is located in the capital Santiago. In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review—it cannot set bindin ...

in 1985. Precipitation at

close to Cotacotani is about owing to the effects of the Southeast Pacific High and the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

and occurs mainly during December–March in the so-called "Bolivian Winter" when

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

moisture arrives. The average temperature is about but varies greatly by hour and season. Vegetation consists of

s, tussock,

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s and ''

Polylepis ''Polylepis'' is a genus comprising 28 recognised shrub and tree species, that are endemic to the mid- and high-elevation regions of the tropical Andes. This group is unique in the rose family in that it is predominantly wind-pollinated. They are ...

'' trees. ''

Orestias Orestias ( el, Ὀρεστιάς) was an ancient Greek settlement next to the Maritsa (or Evros) river, near or at the site of present-day Edirne, and close to the current border between Turkey and Greece. Legends claim that Orestias was founded ...

'' fish and ''

Biomphalaria ''Biomphalaria'' is a genus of air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic animal, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Planorbidae, the sheep, ram's horn snails and their allies.MolluscaBase (2018). Biomphalaria Pre ...

'' snails live in the waters of Cotacotani Lake.

References

*This article draws partially on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, accessed August 7, 2007. {{Arica and Parinacota Region rivers and lakes Lakes of Chile Lakes of Arica y Parinacota Region

See also

References