Laguna Conococha
Laguna Conococha | ||
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Geographical location | Ancash region , Peru | |
Tributaries | Río Tuco et al | |
Drain | Río Santa | |
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Coordinates | 10 ° 7 ′ 40 ″ S , 77 ° 17 ′ 2 ″ W | |
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Altitude above sea level | 4050 m |
The Laguna Conococha ( Quechua coñi cocha "hot water") is a lake in the Andes high mountains of South America in northwestern Peru .
The Laguna Conococha is located in the Ancash region at an altitude of 4,050 m above sea level on the road connecting the Callejón de Huaylas and Chiquián.
The Laguna is seen as the source lake of the Río Santa , which flows from here around 200 km between the Cordillera Negra and the snow-covered Cordillera Blanca in a northerly direction.
The lake itself is fed by small tributaries from the Cordillera Negra in the west and the Cordillera Blanca in the east. The main tributary of the Laguna Conococha is the Río Tuco , whose source is in the Laguna Tuco at 9 ° 56 ′ 40 ″ S , 77 ° 11 ′ 44 ″ W , about 5,000 m above sea level in front of one of the glacier tongues of the Nevado de Tuco .
Despite its height, the lake is rich in fish, including salmon and trout . In 1996, in the Quñuqqucha the researchers Antonio W. Salas und Ulrich Sinsch on behalf of the discovered Museo de Historia Natural , Lima a new subspecies of Telmatobius - frog that is different from all other Peruvian Telmatobius different styles.
On the western shore of the lake is the village of Conococha , where roads to Lima , Pativilca , Huaraz and Chiquián intersect.
The copper and zinc mining company Antamina is accused of having lowered the water level of the Laguna and disrupted the ecological balance of the lake since its operation in 2001, as well as contaminating the region with mineral residues.