Licancabur Lake

Lago Licancabur
Location	Licancabur volcano
Coordinates	22°49′52″S 67°52′50″W
Lake type	crater lake
Basin countries	Chile
Surface area	0.003 km²
Average depth	4m
Max. depth	5 - 6 m approx.
Surface elevation	5916 m
Frozen	most of the year

Lago Licancabur is a crater lake in Chile located in the Licancabur volcano in the Antofagasta region, of the Región de Antofagasta, Province of El Loa and close to San Pedro de Atacama as well as very close to the border of Chile with Bolivia. It is believed to be one of the highest lakes in the world at an elevation of 5916m.

While the volcano marks the limits of Chile with Bolivia, the lake is entirely located within the Chilean part of the volcano, since only the lower two thirds of the Northeastern slope of the volcano belong to Bolivia; 5,400 m (17,717 ft) from the foot of the slope at 4,360 m (14,304 ft); and the international borders are located slightly over 1 kilometer to the northeast from the lake. While undertaking archaeological research on the summit in 1981, Dr. Johan Reinhard free dove the lake and then returned in 1982 with Dr Charles Brush and three other divers and scuba dived in the lake, setting an unofficial world record for the highest ever altitude dive.

The volcanic crater lake is 100 meters long by 70 meters and has a depth of 8 meters..

References

Brush, Charles, "The Licancabur Expedition." Explorers Journal 62(1):4-13, 1984.

Reinhard, Johan, "Sacred Mountains: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of High Andean Ruins." Mountain Research and Development 5(4):299-317, 1985.

Reinhard, Johan, "High-Altitude Archaeology and Andean Mountain Gods." American Alpine Journal 25:54-67, 1983.

Barón, Ana Maria and Johan Reinhard, "Expedición Arqueológica al Volcán Licancabur." Revista de Corporación para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia 1(4):31-38, Santiago.