Laguna Verde, Bolivia
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__NOTOC__ Laguna Verde (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
for "green lake") is a
salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...
in an
endorheic basin An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...
, in the southwestern
Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish language, Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechuan languages, Quechua and Aymara language, Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla people, Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extens ...
in
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
. It is located in the
Sur Lípez Province Sur Lípez or Sud Lípez is a province in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. The seat of the province is San Pablo de Lípez. Location Sur Lípez is one of sixteen provinces in the Potosí Department. Also, the southwesternmost point of Bolivia ...
of the
Potosí Department Potosí (; Southern Quechua, Quechua: ''P'utuqsi''; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi'') is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419 (2024 census). The capital is the ...
. It is close to the
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an border, at the foot of the volcano
Licancabur Licancabur () is a prominent, stratovolcano on the Bolivia–Chile border in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. It is capped by a wide summit crater which contains Licancabur Lake, a Volcanic crater lake, crater lake that is among the hig ...
.


Geography

The Laguna Verde is a lake at elevation. It covers an area of and has a depth of , and a narrow causeway divides it into two parts. It is at the southwestern extremity of the
Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve (''Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa''; Spanish acronym: REA) is located in Sur Lípez Province. Situated in the far southwestern region of Bolivia, it is the country's most visited ...
and Bolivia itself. It has mineral suspensions of
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
and other minerals which renders colour to the lake waters. Its color varies from
turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...
to dark emerald depending on the disturbance caused to sediments in the lake by winds. In the backdrop of the lake there is the inactive volcano
Licancabur Licancabur () is a prominent, stratovolcano on the Bolivia–Chile border in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. It is capped by a wide summit crater which contains Licancabur Lake, a Volcanic crater lake, crater lake that is among the hig ...
of in elevation, which is a nearly perfect cone. The shorelines west and east of the lake have different characteristics, with the western and southern shores eroded into volcanoes.
Geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...
heat warms waters that then emerge into Laguna Blanca through
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 he ...
s, the lakes are otherwise fed by
snowfall Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
. The catchment of the lake has an area of about . In the past, the lake was at least higher and larger than today, during the
last glacial maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. Ice sheets covered m ...
it merged with neighbouring Laguna Blanca. Former highstands have left 30 major and 12 minor
shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...
s. The lake extended far east of its present-day shore. A maximum water level was reached 13,240 years
before present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" 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. Because ...
. The two lakes today are only connected by a single channel and their properties are quite different. The lake is seldom ice-covered, water temperatures range between . Air temperatures range between , and
UV radiation Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of t ...
is 40% higher than at sea level. Environmental conditions have been compared to those on the planet
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, and Laguna Verde has been cited as an example of how a lake on Mars would have evolved. The lake is one of Bolivia's most important
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
targets.
Stromatolite Stromatolites ( ) or stromatoliths () are layered Sedimentary rock, sedimentary formation of rocks, formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by Photosynthesis, photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing micr ...
s of various shapes and sizes occur at Laguna Verde, they cover an area of over but are inactive today. Presumably, they grew around 20,000-10,000 years ago. Presently, smaller structures and
microbial mat A microbial mat is a multi-layered sheet or biofilm of microbial colonies, composed of mainly bacteria and/or archaea. Microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material, mostly on submerged or moist surfaces, but a few surviv ...
s formed by
cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...
still occur at Laguna Verde.
Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...
are found at its shores. The bacterial species '' Chromohalobacter sarecensis'' was discovered at Laguna Verde. Despite their connection, Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca have distinctly different biological and chemical traits.


See also

*
Laguna Blanca (Bolivia) __NOTOC__ Laguna Blanca is a salt lake in an endorheic basin, in the Sur Lípez Province of the Potosí Department, Bolivia. It is near the Licancabur volcano. Geography The lake is at an elevation of on the Altiplano. Its surface area is 10.9&n ...
— a salt lake also in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve * Altiplano region


References


External links

* Verde Verde Hot springs of South America {{Potosí-geo-stub