Topographic map of Bolivia showing (east to west) plains of Sub-Andean_Zone_in_red,_Cordillera_Oriental_(Bolivia).html" ;"title="Geology of Bolivia#Lowlands and Sub-Andean zone">Sub-Andean Zone in red, Eastern_Cordillera_in_white,_Altiplano.html" ;"title="Cordillera Oriental (Bolivia)">Eastern Cordillera in white, Altiplano">Cordillera Oriental (Bolivia)">Eastern Cordillera in white, Altiplano in gray, and Western Cordillera in white The Cordillera Occidental or Western Cordillera of Bolivia is part of the Andes (that is also part of the American Cordillera), a mountain range characterized by volcanic activity, making up the natural border with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and starting in the north with

Juqhuri Juqhuri (Aymara ''jughu'' muddy place, ''-ri'' a suffix, Hispanicized spelling ''Jucure, Jucuri'') is a mountain in the Andes of southern Peru, about high. It lies in the Tacna Region, Tarata Province, Tarata District. Juqhuri is situated ne ...

and ending in the south at the

Licancabur Licancabur () is a stratovolcano on the border between Bolivia and Chile, south of the Sairecabur volcano and west of Juriques. Part of the Andean Central Volcanic Zone, it has a prominent, -high cone. A summit crater containing Licancabur L ...

volcano, which is on the southern limit of Bolivia with Chile. The border goes through the innominated point located at two-thirds of elevation of Licancabur's northeastern slope at the southwestermost point of Bolivia at 22° 49' 41" south and 67° 52' 35" west. The climate of the region is cold and inadequate for animal and plant life. Its main feature is its ground, in which are large quantities of metallic minerals including

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

, and others. The range consists of three sections: * The northern section, in which you can find the highest peaks in Bolivia, the tallest of which is the volcano Sajama at 6,542 meters. Sajama is perennially covered in snow. It contains the volcanoes

Pomerape Pomerape is a stratovolcano lying on the border of northern Chile and Bolivia (Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality). It is part of the Payachata complex of volcanoes, together with Parinacota Volcano to the sout ...

and Parinacota (called

Payachata Payachata or Paya Chata (Aymara ''pä, paya'' two, Pukina ''chata'' mountain, "two mountains") is a north–south trending complex of potentially active volcanos on the border of Bolivia and Chile, directly north of Chungará Lake. The complex con ...

collectively) the latter being a dormant volcano with a cone of snow similar to

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. * The central section, situated between Uyuni and Coipasa. Its most prominent summit is the Ollagüe (Ullawi) volcano on the border with Chile. * The southern section, characterized by volcanic activity and by having sandstorms and fog, taking into account

, which is 5,920 meters high (but only two-thirds of the northeastern slope of the volcano belong to Bolivia up to 5415 meters). The lakes

Laguna Colorada __NOTOC__ Laguna Colorada (''Red Lagoon'') is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile. Contents The lake contains borax islands, w ...

and Laguna Verde can be found on Licancabur, so named because of their respective colors.

See also