Miscanti Lake

Salt content 5 g / l

Laguna Miscanti is a salt lake in the Andes of northern Chile.

Description

The Laguna Miscanti belongs to the municipality of San Pedro de Atacama in the Región de Antofagasta in northern Chile. The lake is located at 4140 m altitude in the puna of the Andes at the foot of the volcano Miscanti ( 5622 m). It is located in the Valley of endorheic drainage basin. It gets its water mainly by groundwater inflows from the surrounding mountains. Some of the water seeps to the nearby Laguna Miñiques.

The lake is an important habitat for the National Reserve Los flamenco. On its shores nesting flamingos and the rare breeds of ducks Tagua Cornuda. Due to its scenic beauty it is destination for thousands of tourists every year.

Sediment studies showed that there was formed 22,000 years ago Paläosee. This dried under extremely dry conditions of the last Glacial Maximum of 18,000 years ago. 12000-8000 years ago formed a glacial lake. The climate was much wetter than today and it could be a relatively dense vegetation in the area to train. In Mittelholozän the climate was usually extremely dry. So the lake was shallow and hypersaline until about 3,600 years ago and wiped out several times. For about 3000 years, the current conditions prevail.

Volcano Meñiques. Links Laguna Miscanti. The white stripe on the right belongs to the shores of the neighboring Laguna Meñiques

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