Laguna Lejía 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 litre). ...

located in the

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

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered t ...

of northern

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 ...

. The landscape of the area is dominated by the volcanoes

Chiliques Chiliques is a stratovolcano located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. Chiliques is capped off by a wide summit crater, which contains two crater lakes. One of these lakes is found in the northern part and the other east-southeastern part ...

Lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the 2 ...

Aguas Calientes Agua Caliente, Aguas Calientes or Aguascalientes (Spanish for 'hot/warm water(s)' or 'hot spring(s)') may refer to: Places Central America * Agua Caliente, El Salvador * San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Guatemala Mexico * Aguascalientes, a state in M ...

and

Acamarachi __NOTOC__ Acamarachi (also known as ''Pili'') is a high volcano in northern Chile. In this part of Chile, it is the highest volcano. Its name means "black moon". It is a volcano in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a zone of strong volcani ...

. It is shallow and has no outlet, covering a surface area of about in the present-day. During glacial times, the lake was considerably larger owing to decreased evaporation and increased precipitation rates. It is populated by flamingos and a number of microorganisms.

Geography and geology

Lejía Lake lies in the

Puna de Atacama The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau''Atacama Plateau''
article at the ''

, close to the border with

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The city of

San Pedro de Atacama San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km (60 mi) southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano. ...

lies northwest of Lejía Lake. The lake basin is surrounded by volcanoes, such as

Tumisa Tumisa (also known as ) is a Pleistocene stratovolcano in the Andes. Located east of the Salar de Atacama, it is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, which since the Miocene has been subject to extensive andesitic/dacitic effusive activity and ignimb ...

, Lejía,

and

Cordon de Puntas Negras Cordon may refer to: Basic meanings * Cordon (fashion), a cord (sewing) or braid used as a fastening or ornament * Cordon (plant), the descriptive term for a particular style of pruning woody plants * a strip of clay added around the outside of a ...

, and smaller centres like

Cerro Overo Cerro Overo is a volcanic crater in Chile. It lies at the foot of Chiliques volcano and close to Laguna Lejía, over ignimbrites of Pliocene age erupted by the La Pacana volcano. It is wide and deep and formed through combined explosive-effusiv ...

and La Albòndiga. The lake is

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

and has a large

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

, and a

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...

forms its southern shore. Farther south lie two other lakes,

Laguna Miscanti Miscanti Lake (Spanish: ''Laguna Miscanti'') is a brackish water lake located in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Cerro Miñiques volcano and Cerro Miscanti tower over this lake. This large heart-shaped lake has a deep ...

and Laguna Miniques.

Hydrology

Lejía Lake is a circular, shallow lake at an elevation of with a surface area of or . It is a

polymictic lake Polymictic lakes are holomictic lakes that are too shallow to develop thermal stratification; thus, their waters can mix from top to bottom throughout the ice-free period. Polymictic lakes can be divided into cold polymictic lakes (i.e., those tha ...

which freezes over occasionally and whose waters are turned over quickly, mainly through evaporation. Winds sometimes create

foam Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the reg ...

on the lake surface and blow them onto the shores. Water temperatures have been measured to range between , and the lake is about deep. The waters of the lake are oligohaline and salinity is often different in one part of the lake from the rest.

Sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

and

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

are the principal salts in the lake water, with

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

and

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

secondary and

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

and

strontium Strontium is the chemical element with the symbol Sr and atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white yellowish metallic element that is highly chemically reactive. The metal forms a dark oxide layer when it is ex ...

subordinate. The lake is nourished from the north through two creeks, one originates on Aguas Calientes and the other from two tributaries on Lascar and Cerro del Abra. From Chiliques and Lejia in the south other creeks run north and enter the southern part of the lake. A

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 ...

outlet appears to exist, considering that there is no

halite Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, p ...

accumulating in the lake, and Cerro Overo is a

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

that formed through groundwater-magma interaction.

Lake history

The lake lies in a tectonic depression, which is geologically related to the fault system Miscanti-Callejón de Varela; once it was thought that the lake was in a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

. The Altos de Toro Blanco mountains separate Lejía Lake's drainage basin from the Salar de Aguas Calientes catchment. A lineament known as the Tumisa line runs along the southern shore of the lake, and appears to have been the site of three

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s in post-glacial time. The lake is influenced by volcanic activity from the neighbouring

; ash and pyroclastic material entered Lejía Lake in 1993, and the large Soncor eruption from this volcano 26,450 years before present filled the lake. During

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

times, the lake was considerably larger, reaching a surface area of with water levels rising to about above present-day level; the lake was filled with freshwater at that time. A volcanic marker dated to 16,700 ± 2,000 years before present pre-dates the lake highstand; this volcanic marker is a

tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they rem ...

erupted by the Cerro Corona

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

south of Lascar. Lake levels stayed high until the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

and then decreased; the timing of Holocene changes is unknown. These earlier larger lakes have left terraces around Lejía Lake which contain

bioherm A reef knoll is a land-based landform that comprises an immense pile of calcareous material that accumulated on a previously existing ancient sea floor. At the time of its accumulation it may have had enough structure from organisms such as sponges ...

s and

stromatolith Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). The ...

leftovers. Even older deposits associated with the

Lake Minchin Lake Minchin is a name of an ancient lake in the Altiplano of South America. It existed where today the Salar de Uyuni, Salar de Coipasa and Lake Poopó lie. It was formerly considered the highest lake in the Altiplano but research indicated that ...

wet period are not present at Lejía Lake unlike other Altiplanic lakes, probably owing to volcanic activity that disrupted the sediments. Weathered sediments at Laguna Lejía have been used as analogues for sediments left by ancient lakes on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

. The increase in surface area was a consequence of increased precipitation and increased cloud cover which decreased its evaporation rate.

Sediment core A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The ...

s have shown evidence of separate lake stages with water levels mostly higher than today; higher moisture levels owing to a displacement of the tropical circulation during the

Lake Tauca 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 Cordi ...

stage have been invoked to explain higher lake levels in Lejía and other regional waterbodies.

Glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s developed in the region as well but did not reach the lake.

Climate

Precipitation around the lake is about mostly during the summer months, considerably less than the annual evaporation rate. Temperatures range with an average temperature of ; night temperatures can drop to . There is strong daily and interannual variability of the weather. During glacial highstands, precipitation was about double that of today.

Biology

Lejía Lake is colonized by

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s, including '' Amphora coffeaeformis'', '' Cyclotella michiganiana'', '' Cyclotella stelligera'', '' Cymbella pusilla'', '' Navicula halophila'', '' Navicula radiosa''.

Algal Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and bacterial mats also occur in the lake.

Ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...

s in the lake include '' Limnocythere'' species. The occurrence of their shells in lake sediments has been used to reconstruct the history of the lake, including its salinity.

Crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s are also found, such as '' Alona'' species, '' Diacyclops andinus'',

Harpacticoida Harpacticoida is an order of copepods, in the subphylum Crustacea. This order comprises 463 genera and about 3,000 species; its members are benthic copepods found throughout the world in the marine environment (most families) and in fresh water ...

and '' Macrothrix palearis''. Finally,

chironomid The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species ...

flies have been encountered at Lejía Lake.

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

phalarope __NOTOC__ A phalarope is any of three living species of slender-necked shorebirds in the genus ''Phalaropus'' of the bird family Scolopacidae. Phalaropes are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the ''Actitis'' and Terek sandpipers, a ...

s and their parasites exist at the lake. High altitude Andean lakes such as Lejía Lake are studied as potential analogues to waterbodies on

, given similarities between their present-day environment and the environments of early Mars. Shoreline vegetation consists of ''

Calandrinia ''Calandrinia'' is a large genus of flowering plants known as purslanes and redmaids. It includes over 100 species of annual and perennial herbs which bear colorful flowers in shades of red to purple and white. Plants of this genus are native to ...

'', ''

Deyeuxia ''Deyeuxia'' is a genus of plants allied to the Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the gras ...

'', ''

Puccinellia ''Puccinellia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family, known as alkali grass or salt grass. These grasses grow in wet environments, often in saline or alkaline conditions. They are native to temperate to Arctic regions of the Northern and S ...

'' and ''

Stipa ''Stipa'' is a genus of around 300 large perennial hermaphroditic grasses collectively known as feather grass, needle grass, and spear grass. They are placed in the subfamily Pooideae and the tribe Stipeae, which also contains many species form ...

'' species, which occur close to waterbodies and

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 ...

Grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

and

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 ...

vegetation of the Puna occurs in the lake basin at elevations of less than ; at higher elevation

bunch grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

cushion plant A cushion plant is a compact, low-growing, mat-forming plant that is found in alpine, subalpine, arctic, or subarctic environments around the world. The term "cushion" is usually applied to woody plants that grow as spreading mats, are limited in ...

s and

rosette plant In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves or of structures resembling leaves. In flowering plants, rosettes usually sit near the soil. Their structure is an example of a modified stem in which the internode gaps between the lea ...

s form a distinct and sparse vegetation. Humans have

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

s at the lake.

Archeology

Archeological artifacts from the archaic period have been found on an upper terrace of the lake, indicating that ancient hunters did head to Lejía Lake at that time.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lejia Lake Lakes of Chile Lakes of Antofagasta Region Saline lakes of South America