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