Río Grande de Lípez
| Río Grande de Lípez | ||
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| Data | ||
| location | Bolivia | |
| River system | Río Grande de Lípez | |
| origin | Confluence of the Río Salado and Río Guadalupe 21 ° 40 ′ 17 ″ S , 67 ° 3 ′ 5 ″ W |
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| Source height | 3900 m | |
| muzzle |
Salar de Uyuni Coordinates: 20 ° 38 ′ 44 ″ S , 67 ° 17 ′ 30 ″ W 20 ° 38 ′ 44 ″ S , 67 ° 17 ′ 30 ″ W. |
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| Mouth height | 3663 m | |
| Height difference | 237 m | |
| Bottom slope | 1.5 ‰ | |
| length | 153 km | |
| Navigable | No | |
The Río Grande de Lípez is an endorheic river in the Potosí department in the Andes high mountains of southern Bolivia .
The river has a total length of 153 kilometers and has its origin at the confluence of the two rivers Río Salado and Río Guadalupe in the canton of San Antonio de Lípez in the district ( Bolivian : Municipio ) of San Pablo de Lípez in the province of Sur Lípez . The source region of the river is located at an altitude of 3,900 m in the mountainous region of the Cordillera de Lípez .
The Río Grande de Lípez flows from south to north through the municipality of Colcha "K" in the province of Nor Lípez past the villages of San Cristóbal and Río Grande , but otherwise through largely unpopulated area. After 153 kilometers it flows into a funnel up to twenty kilometers wide in the Salar de Uyuni (also Salar de Tunupa ), with more than 10,000 km² the largest salt pan on earth.
The region suffers from great drought for much of the year, the annual precipitation is very low at 150 mm (see climate diagram San Antonio de Lípez): it has less than 5 mm monthly average from April to October, only falling in the southern summer months of November to March significant rainfall, so that the Río Grande de Lípez and its tributaries only carry water periodically. Despite the low annual average temperature just above freezing point, due to the proximity to the equator, there is a high level of solar radiation during the day, so that the average daily maximum temperature during the year is between 6 and 11 ° C; this results in an above-average level of evaporation in the midday hours and the proportion of mineral salts dissolved in the water increases, which explains the name of the source river Río Salado ( salt river ) , for example .
In addition, scientific studies over the past few decades show that a significant part of the surface water does not come from the scant rainfall in the region, but is deep water from aquiferous rock layers that have accumulated over the past decades. A study by I. Chaffaut assumes that more than 90 percent of the surface water comes from these deep water reservoirs and is irretrievably lost through the superficial runoff.