The Lluta River is a river located in the northern portion of the Arica y Parinacota Region of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Its headwaters are on the western flanks of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

of the Parinacota Province, just a few kilometers south of the border with

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and empties into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

at the village of Villa Frontera, about 4 km north of the city of Arica.

Course

The Lluta originates at the confluence of the ''Quebrada Caracarani'' (which rises from the slopes of the Tacora volcano) and the ''Azufre River'', at an elevation about 3,900 m asl. Along its first 36 km, the river flows southeast and then slowly begins to turn towards the west. In its descent to the lower elevations of the valley, the river starts to run through a canyon carved by the same river in rhyolite tuffs and other sediments scarcely joined. In the vicinity of ''Socoroma'', the river turns directly west and just past the canyon terminus, the river begins to widen. In ''Chironta'', about 70 km from the sea, appear the first farms, whose foods are of a great importance for the consume of local people. Finally, the river empties into Pacific Ocean at an extensive beach, just a few kilometers north of Arica. The hydrologic regime of the river basin is rain-dominated. The increase of its water volume occurs mainly in January and February, as a consequence of the phenomenon known as Bolivian Winter. Under the Chilean proposal of 1975 to resolve the Atacama border dispute, the Lluta River would have become the northern border of Chile, and Bolivia would control the narrow strip between the river and the southern border of Peru.

Water quality

Apart from its problems of salinity and acidity, the river has very elevated levels of

boron Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

, and sulfate, among other pollutants, which restricts the agricultural activities that can be developed along the river banks. The river water is used only for irrigation of pastureland and crops which tolerate poor water quality, such as onions and potatoes.

References

*This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, accessed March 31, 2007. * {{coord, 18, 24, 55, S, 70, 19, 35, W, region:CL_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Rivers of Arica y Parinacota Region Lluta