Río San Pablo de Lípez
| Río San Pablo | ||
 Thorough washing in the Río San Pablo |
||
| Data | ||
| location | Bolivia | |
| River system | Río Grande de Lípez | |
| Drain over | Río Grande de Lípez → Salar de Uyuni | |
| origin |
Cerro Morokho 21 ° 49 ′ 46 ″ S , 66 ° 36 ′ 28 ″ W. |
|
| Source height | 5132 m | |
| muzzle |
Río Grande de Lípez Coordinates: 21 ° 17 ′ 38 ″ S , 67 ° 8 ′ 31 ″ W 21 ° 17 ′ 38 ″ S , 67 ° 8 ′ 31 ″ W. |
|
| Mouth height | 3749 m | |
| Height difference | 1383 m | |
| Bottom slope | 13 ‰ | |
| length | 107 km | |
| Navigable | No | |
The Río San Pablo 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 107 kilometers and has its origin at a secondary peak of Cerro Morokho in the canton of Guadalupe in the district ( Bolivian : Municipio ) San Antonio de Esmoruco in the province of Sur Lípez . The source region of the river is at an altitude of 5132 m in the mountainous region of the Cordillera de Lípez .
The Río San Pablo de Lípez flows from south to north through the Municipio San Pablo de Lípez past the villages of San Pablo de Lípez and Río San Pablo , but otherwise through largely unpopulated area. After 107 kilometers it flows into the Río Grande de Lípez , which flows here in a north-easterly direction and empties 63 kilometers further downstream into the Salar de Uyuni .
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 Pablo and the Río Grande de Lípez and their tributaries only carry water periodically. Despite a 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 maximum daily 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.
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.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Miocene Volcanic Centers in the Southern Altiplano of Bolivia ( English ; PDF; 378 kB)
- ↑ I. Chaffaut 1998. precipitations d'altitude, Eaux souterraines et changements de climatiques L'Altiplano North chilien. Université Paris, 1998 ( French )
- ↑ SERGEOMIN, “Estudio de las cuencas hidrograficas de la Cordillera Occidental y del Altiplano”. 2001 ( Spanish )