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 eas ...

. 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, ...

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 Salar de Carcote, also known as Salar de San Martín, is a salt flat in northern Chile. The salar is located southwest of Ollagüe. It covers an area of around 108 km2 and its surface elevation is 3,690 m.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 la ...

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 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 sing ...

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 ...

basin is marked by the summits of a chain of volcanoes culminating in Palpana. Salar de Ascotán has a surface area of and the train line of the FCAB 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 by a barrier at least high.

References

Ascotan Volcanoes of Antofagasta Region {{Antofagasta-geo-stub