Salar de Ascotán, also known as Salar de Cebollar, is a
salt flat in 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 ...
. Its
drainage basin
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, t ...
is and is shared with
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 ...
.
The basin is bordered on the north by the
Salar de Carcote basin, on the east by small
endorheic basin
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 ...
s, including those of
Laguna Cañapa and
Laguna Hedionda, from which is separated by the crest of the
Cerros de Cañapa,
Cerro Araral and others. To the south, the basin is bordered by the
San Pedro de Inacaliri River
San Pedro de Inacaliri River, or called simply San Pedro River, is a river of Chile located in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It begins at the confluence of the rivers Silala and ''Cajón'', at an elevation over 4,000 m asl.
A part of it ...
basin, while to the west the
drainage divide
A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...
between the salt flat and the Upper
Loa River
The Loa River (Spanish: Río Loa) is a U-shaped river in Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. At long, it is the country's longest river and the main watercourse in the Atacama Desert.
Course
The Loa's sources are located on Andean mountain sl ...
basin is marked by the summits of a chain of volcanoes culminating in
Palpana Palpana (from , ram) is a volcano in the Andes of Chile. It has a summit elevation of .
It is part of the dividing range between Upper Loa River basin and Salar de Ascotán basin. Together with Inacaliri and Cerro del Azufre, Azufre, it forms a lo ...
.
Salar de Ascotán has a surface area of
and the train line of the
FCAB
The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (British company name: Antofagasta (Chili) & Bolivia Railway or FCAB for short) is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest rail ...
runs on the west side of the salt flat for over .
The salt pan was formerly filled by a large lake that was separated from
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 ...
by a barrier at least high.
References
Ascotan
Volcanoes of Antofagasta Region
{{Antofagasta-geo-stub