Asana River (Río Asana) is a

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

in the

Moquegua Region Moquegua () is a department and region in southern Peru that extends from the coast to the highlands. Its capital is the city of Moquegua, which is among the main Peruvian cities for its high rates of GDP and national education. Geography The ...

of southern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. It is one of the tributaries of the

Osmore River Osmore River (also Moquegua, Ilo, or Tumilaca) system flows northeast to southwest in the Moquegua Region of southern coastal Peru. The river has its origin in the snow peaks of the Chuqi Ananta and Arundane mountains, at an elevation of above s ...

(also known as Moquegua or Tumilaca). The

Asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

archaeological site, occupied over the course of 8,000 years, is situated in a basin on the river's north bank. The Quellaveco mining project sought to divert the Asana for extractive waste material placement in its copper mining operations.

Geography

The Asana River is one of the four major tributaries of the Moquegua. It is situated in the south central

Andes mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...

. The main Asana has its primary source at an elevation of . This is within the

pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

in the peripheral region of the high puna, defined as an area (''Pampa Tinajones'' and

Apachita Limani Apacheta Limani (possibly from Aymara ''apachita'' the place of transit of an important pass in the principal routes of the Andes; name in the Andes for a stone cairn, a little pile of rocks built along the trail in the high mountains, ''-ni'' a ...

) above elevation. The river's

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

source is seasonal precipitation including snow melt from the western

cordillera A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly us ...

of the Andes. One of the Asana's tributaries is the Charaque. After their confluence, the stream becomes known as Coscori. The Capillune is a tributary of the Asana. Below the elevation of , the many tributaries to Asana are generally dry and seasonal but the streams above this elevation demonstrate perennial flows from rainfall and snow melt. Stream discharge during the rainy season averages /second while in the dry season, the average was /second.

Ecologically Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their biophysical environment, physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosy ...

the entire Asana River valley is fragile and subject to

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 ...

s. The river flows through two environmental regions. One is the puna region above elevation where the climate is colder and the rainfall is also higher compared to the lower elevation areas. Vegetation and animal species found in the region are similar up to puna rim region in elevation range of . The valleys in this range are narrow. In the flat valley where the Asana archaeological site is located, the geological and

geomorphological Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

features are causative factors for its existence.

Flora

The lower sierra region () of the Asana river valley has four plant communities; evergreen

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 sparsely distributed

molle MOLLE (pronounced ,, homophonic with the name Molly) is an acronym for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. It is used to define the current generation of load-bearing equipment and backpacks used by a number of NATO armed forces, espe ...

trees (''schinus molle''); perennial shrubs of '' Franseria meyeniana''; grasses and herbs such as ''

Chenopodium petiolare ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifica ...

'' and grain quinoa (''

Chenopodium quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...

''). Growth and yield of these plants are dependent on the rainfall. The upper high sierra zone () has 14 plant communities. Some of the species are '' Fabiana weberbauerii'', '' Balbisia-Verbena Diplostephium'', '' Cherodesma'' and tola ('' Parastrephia lepidophyllum'')

pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

, ''

stipa ichu ''Jarava ichu'', commonly known as Peruvian feathergrass, ''ichhu'', ''paja brava'', ''paja ichu'', or simply ''ichu'' (Quechua for straw), is a grass species in the family Poaceae native to the Americas. It is found growing in a vast area: Mexic ...

'', quenua ('' Polylepis besseri''), and in the High Sierra – Bofedales (''Distchia moor''). In the puna rim (elevation ), the plant species are in the pampa dryland consisting of pampa and bunch grasses, and wetlands of bofedal and puna desert which is barren land. In the puna rim area, 32 species have been recorded in the dry and wetland areas. The dryland species are bunch grass species of Calamagrostits amonea, Calamagrostits bereifolia,

, and shrub species of '' Parastrephia lepidopyhylum'', '' Parastrephia lucida'', '' Baccharis macrophylla'', '' Chersodoma iodopappa'', cactus ('' Opuntia atacamenis'') at high altitudes, two woody plants of ''

Azorella compacta __NOTOC__ Yareta or llareta (''Azorella compacta'', known historically as ''Azorella yareta'', from ''yarita'' in the Quechua language) is a velvety, chartreuse cushion plant in the family Apiaceae which is native to South America. It grows in th ...

'' (yareta), '' Polylepis besseri''. The wetland species are mats of '' Distichia muscoides'', '' Oxychloe andinum'' (khuli) over which the grasses that flourish are '' Calamagrostis crysantha'' and '' Calamagrostis rigescens''.

Fauna

There are several herbivores in the Asana valley. Recorded from the pre-historic period, are guanaco (

Lama guanicoe Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hig ...

) in an elevation range of feeding on grasses, forbs and shrubs, and subsisting in arid conditions. Taruca (Hippocamelus antisensis) is found in elevation up to in scattered forest environment of groves (quenua); they still exist in the valley. Vicuna (''

Vicugna vicugna ' is a genus containing four South American camelids, the wild guanaco and vicuña, and the domesticated llama and alpaca. Before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, llamas and alpacas were the only domesticated ungulates of the continent. ...

'') and ''Lama vicugna'' are Andean camelids found in the elevation range of ) which forage on vegetation of bofedal in this region. Smaller species found are

vizcacha Viscacha or vizcacha (, ) are rodents of two genera (''Lagidium'' and ''Lagostomus'') in the family Chinchillidae. They are native to South America and convergently resemble rabbits. The five extant species of viscacha are: *The plains vis ...

(''Lagidium viscacia)''.

Mining

In the 1960s, when the

Southern Peru Copper Corporation Southern Copper Corporation is a mining company that was founded in 1952. The current incarnation of Southern Copper can be traced to the 2005 acquisition of Southern Peru Copper Corporation by the Mexican copper producer Minera México. 88.9 pe ...

began copper mining in the region, the Asana River valley was tapped for mining operations. The Quellaveco Company (a consortium of Anglo-American Company of South Africa and

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of t ...

of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

) operated here since 1992. Quellaveco proposed a river diversion project on the Asana River in 2000 which involved the building of a canal which would use per second of water for

open pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

to extract about 64,000 tons of copper, and other minerals, over a forty-year period. However, the

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

(EIA) carried out by Quellaveco confirmed the negative impact of this diversion. The EIA suggested that an unacceptable level of water resource exploitation would occur. Other issues noted were resettlement of local population as well as the pollution of

aquifers An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

and land area caused by discharge of tailing

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...

s. During 2002–03, the local population held protests against the diversion project in view of its large negative impacts. As of 2007, no license had been issued for this project.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Coord, -17.1067, -70.6936, display=title Rivers of Peru Rivers of Moquegua Region