"Chungara" redirects here. For the journal see Chungara (journal)

Chungara (journal)

Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena, is a peer-reviewed academic journal on anthropology and archaeology with particular, but not exclusive, focus on the Andean region. The journal is published by the Universidad de Tarapacá and the editors-in-chief are Calogero M. Santoro and Vivien G...

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Chungará is a lake situated in the extreme north of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, in the Altiplano

Altiplano

The Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet...

 of Arica and Parinacota Region. It is the 29th highest lake in the world (and the 10th highest in South America)http://www.highestlake.com/highest-lake-world.html. It is near the volcanos Parinacota (20,827 feet or 6,348 metres) and Pomerape

Pomerape

Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of Chile and Bolivia . It is part of the Nevados de Payachata complex of volcanoes together with Parinacota Volcano to the south. It is of Pleistocene age.Climbing the volcano is alpine AD grade, sometimes on 50+ degree snow/rubble slope...

 (20,413 feet or 6,222 metres)http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/cgi-bin/pod/PhotoOfTheDay.cgi?day=21&month=03&year=06. It was formed 8000 years ago, when a major collapse of the edifice of Parinacota produced an avalanche

Avalanche

An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...

of 6km³ of debris which blocked drainage pattern, thus creating the lake.

The situation of this lake is not very stable due to environmental issues nowadays, especially concerning potable water supply to dense population. See the state on August 9, 2008, by this link:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/570624077WBPqhi?vhost=outdoors