Salar de Coipasa
| Salar de Coipasa | ||
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| Aerial view of the Salar de Coipasa | ||
| Geographical location | Bolivia | |
| Tributaries | Río Laca Jahuira , Río Lauca , Río Sabaya | |
| Islands | Pucarani | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 19 ° 23 ′ S , 68 ° 10 ′ W | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 3680 m | |
| surface | 2 218 km² | |
| length | 70 km | |
| width | 50 km | |
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particularities |
salt lake |
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The Salar de Coipasa (Salt Lake of Coipasa) is a high mountain lake in the Andes highlands of South America .
The lake is located at an altitude of 3,680 m above sea level, about 160 km as the crow flies from the city of Oruro in the Oruro department of the same name and, with an area of 2,218 km², is the second largest salt lake in Bolivia . To the south of the Salar de Coipasa is the Salar de Uyuni , Bolivia's largest salt lake, and in the northeast is the Poopó Lake , with which the Salar de Coipasa is connected by the Río Laca Jahuira .
In years of heavy rainfall, Lake Poopó floods the Coipasa salt basin over the Río Laca Jahuira, which then drains further south to the Lauca National Park in Chile . In the dry season, the water evaporates, leaving behind mighty salt crusts that are easy to drive over long stretches. These salt crusts are mined by hand in so-called salinas , salt mining sites.
The Salar de Coipasa as well as the Salar de Uyuni are remnants of much larger lakes that covered the Altiplano highlands here 25,000–40,000 years ago . Due to the changing climatic conditions, these waters slowly dried out and the minerals dissolved in the lake water precipitated . Hardly soluble minerals such as lime and gypsum were the first to deposit and are now found in the subsoil of the two salt lakes. The easily soluble mineral salts, on the other hand, remained in the water of the lakes until the end and now form the subsoil of the salars .
The Coipasa Salt Lake is surrounded by several mountains of volcanic origin, the highest of which is Cerro Pucarani with a height of 4,910 m, which is located in the northwestern part of the salt lake. On the banks of Cerro Pucarani in the middle of the lake is the place Coipasa , other notable settlements are Sabaya and Chipaya .
Large deposits of lithium and potassium are suspected in the Coipasa salt lake, and the Bolivian state is hoping for high profits from their future extraction.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica - Copaisa Salt Flat.
- ↑ China starts exploring the Salar de Coipasa in Bolivia in latina press, December 7, 2011