Lake Titicaca
| Lake Titicaca | ||
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| Satellite image with national border | ||
| Geographical location |
Altiplano ; Peru , Bolivia 
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| Tributaries | Río Suches , Río Ramis , Río Coata , Río Ilave , Río Catari , Río Tiwanaku , Río Keka | |
| Drain | Río Desaguadero → Lake Poopó | |
| Places on the shore | Puno , Copacabana | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 15 ° 50 ′ S , 69 ° 20 ′ W | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 3812 m | |
| surface | 8th 372 km² | |
| length | 178 km | |
| width | 77 km | |
| volume | 893 km³ | |
| scope | 1125 km | |
| Maximum depth | 281 m | |
| Middle deep | 107 m | |
| Catchment area | 58,000 km² | |
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particularities |
largest mountain lake; 42 man-made islands |
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| Climate diagram Juliaca | ||
The Titicacasee ( Spanish Lago Titicaca ; Quechua Titiqaqa qucha ) is with an area of 8288 square kilometers, the largest freshwater South America . It is located on the Altiplano plateau in the Andes ; the western part with 4916 km² of the lake belongs to Peru , the eastern part with 3372 km² to Bolivia . Measured by its area, it is the eighteenth largest natural lake in the world ; its area is about 15.5 times as large as that of Lake Constance (including the Untersee) and almost as large as Corsica. He is very dirty.
geography
Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable body of water on earth. It lies at an altitude of 3812 m above sea level, is 178 km long and 67.4 km wide and has an average depth of 107 m. Several peninsulas protrude into the lake, with the Copacabana Peninsula only the narrow strait from Tiquina connects the southern part of the lake, Wiñaymarka , with the northern part, Lake Chucuito .
More than 25 rivers flow into Lake Titicaca. The only outflow is the Río Desaguadero , which carries around ten percent of the excess water. The rest of the water evaporates. There are a number of large and small islands, some of which are home to relics of the Inca culture, for example Isla del Sol .
origin of the name
The origin of the name Titicaca , originally a name for the sunny island , is not known for sure. It is said to be based on two Aymara words: titi means "big cat" or "puma" and kaka means "gray". According to legend, the first Inca, Manco Cápac , climbed to earth over a rock on the sunny island ("Titi-Karka" or "Puma rock"; "karka" = stone, rock). This rock (viewed with enough imagination) has the shape of a wildcat's head. A lying cat can also be recognized if the map with the lake is turned upside down. In Quechua, on the other hand, titi means “lead” or “lead-colored”, qaqa means “rock”, thus “leaden (lead-colored) rock”.
climate
Despite the very low annual average temperature of the water at 9 to 11 ° C , Lake Titicaca represents a large heat reservoir, so that potatoes , barley , corn and quinoa thrive around the lake . The region around Lake Titicaca is considered to be the origin of potato cultivation.
| Lake Titicaca | |||||||||||||
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| month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | year |
| Temperature ( ° C ) | 10.7 | 10.7 | 10.3 | 9.5 | 8.0 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 7.4 | 8.3 | 10.4 | 10.7 | 10.3 | 9.0 |
| Precipitation ( mm Puno 1973) | 238 | 132 | 159 | 98 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 6th | 33 | 16 | 30th | 71 | 797 |
| Source: | |||||||||||||
Life on Lake Titicaca
An important source of food for the population on Lake Titicaca has always been the abundance of fish.
Among the attractions of Lake Titicaca are the floating islands of the Urus . Originally, the Urus began to build floating islands , for example to protect or hide from the warlike Incas . The islands consist of layers of totora reeds applied crosswise . Whenever an attack threatened, they loosened their anchorages and withdrew with their islands onto the lake. The totora reed is an important source of life. The boats for fishing and the mats for building the simple huts are made of it. It also plays a role in nutrition.
In the meantime, only several hundred of the approximately 2000 Urus still live on the traditional islands. They discovered tourism as a source of income and today allow visitors to visit the indulgent-swaying islands.
About 1600 Quechua live on the island of Taquile ( Quechua : Intika ), which belongs to Peru . The people on the 5.5 km long and 1.6 km wide island were discovered late because they hid from strangers when they arrived. The islanders are famous today for their knitting men. The island is therefore also called the "island of the knitting men". Similar to Urus, an orientation towards day tourists can be observed on Taquile. However, since they largely left the island at 2 p.m., travelers who stay with a family on Taquile (hotels, running water or electricity do not exist) have an insight into the original life until the day tourists see the island in the morning change again.
Another island with a Quechua-speaking population on the Peruvian side is Amantaní , where 800 families live.
The Capachica peninsula protrudes into the lake from the Peruvian side .
On the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca are the sacred islands of Isla del Sol (island of the sun) and Isla de la Luna (island of the moon). According to legend, the white bearded god appeared on the Isla del Sol and created the first Incas, Manco Cápac and his sister wife Mama Oclla. On both islands there are many ancient ruins between small traditional villages.
Fauna of Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is the habitat of a number of rare and sometimes endemic animal species. Among the most unusual species that occur here are
- the Titicaca diver , a member of the grebe family . What is unusual about this bird is that it is unable to fly due to its small wings. In case of danger, he escapes with triple steps across the water, flapping his wings violently, but not being able to rise into the air.
- the endemic giant titicaca frog (or lake titicaca frog ). He breathes mainly through his skin, which is therefore very wrinkled to enlarge the surface.
Live endemic to Lake Titicaca too
- the Andean penguins ( Orestias ), to which the now probably extinct Amanto belongs, and
- the loach catfish Trichomycterus rivulatus .
Threat and protection of Lake Titicaca
The water quality of the lake has decreased significantly in recent years. Julián Barra, President of the Peruvian Autonomous Region of Titicaca, blames the more than 30,000 illegal mines on the lake and its tributaries. The toxic wastewater from the mines flows into the lake without being cleaned. In 2006 the foreign ministers of Peru and Bolivia signed a memorandum in which they promised to start activities to prevent further contamination. Barra called the division of labor of the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and Environment counterproductive, as it slowed down targeted activities through bureaucracy.
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The loss of the vegetation surrounding the lake through overgrazing and erosion , reduction of aquatic vegetation, declining fish populations and the contamination of the Bay of Puno by biogenic sewage are other environmental problems at the lake. The contamination is mainly the pollutants from sewage from the city of Puno and heavy metals from the nearby mines. The algae problem is still limited to the Bay of Puno. The European Union is trying to improve the living conditions of the local residents and to protect resources by supporting projects to regulate water through small dams on the Río Desaguadero .
In 1978 the Peruvian government established the Titicaca National Reserve in front of Puno . The entire lake falls under the Ramsar Convention for Protected Wetlands.
The water levels of Lake Titicaca have fallen constantly since 2000 and are well below the previous average water level. In the period from April to November 2009 alone, the water level fell by 81 cm - the lowest level since 1949. The reason for this decline is a shortened rainy season from six months to three months and the decline of the Andean glaciers in the area of the Altiplano , which are the tributaries of Lake Titicaca.
The lake was named Endangered Lake 2012 by the Global Nature Fund . In November 2016, the presidents of Peru and Bolivia decided to build 10 wastewater treatment plants on the tributaries to the lake and reaffirmed this intention in 2017.
Trivia
Discovered on September 23, 1952, the main belt asteroid (1801) Titicaca was named after the lake.
literature
- Benjamin S. Orlove: Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca. 2002, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-22959-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Lago Titicaca (Laka Titicaca) . International Lake Environment Committee. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
- ↑ Dirt hole in the Andes , zeit.de, 2012
- ↑ International Lake Environment Committee ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Petru Banaescu: Zoogeography of Fresh Waters , AULA, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89104-480-1 , p. 1234
- ↑ enperublog.com , August 22, 2009
- ↑ Lake Titicaca: Level at historic low , ORF , accessed November 28, 2009
- ↑ Carlos Valdez: Lake Titicaca at dangerously low level , Sydney Morning Herald, accessed November 28, 2009
- ↑ Lake Titicaca evaporating away (video) , al Jazeera, accessed November 28, 2009
- ↑ Not a great title: Lake Titicaca “Bedrohter See 2012” , n-tv.de, February 2, 2012
- ↑ Bolivia and Peru vow to clean Lake Titicaca , Telesurtv (English), accessed January 14, 2017
