Lake Chungará facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Lake Chungará
Lake and Parinacota Volcano
Location	Arica y Parinacota Region, Chile
Coordinates	18°15′S 69°09′W / 18.250°S 69.150°W / -18.250; -69.150
Type	Natural
Primary inflows	Chungará, Sopocalane
Basin countries	Chile

Surface area	21.5 km² (8.3 sq mi)
Average depth	33 m (108 ft)
Surface elevation	4,517 m (14,820 ft)

Islands	none
Settlements	none

Lake Chungará (from Aymara: chunkara "moss on the stone") is a lake in the extreme north of Chile, in the Altiplano of the Arica y Parinacota region. It is the 29th highest lake in the world (and the 10th highest in South America).

The lake is near the volcanos Parinacota (6,342 m [20,807 ft]) and Pomerape (6,222 m [20,413 ft]). It is part of the Lauca National Park, in the Putre comuna. The lake is at about 54 km (34 mi) to the east of the town of Putre and about 9 km (5.6 mi) to the west of the border with Bolivia.

In the lake and streams nearby, there are some small fish that are endemic to the lake basin: pencil catfish, Trichomycterus chungaraensis, and Orestias chungarensis.