The Potosí mountain range in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

is situated east and southeast of the city of

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...

. It is at least 25 km long stretching from north to south. Its highest mountain is Khunurana (Anaruyu) rising up to 5,071 m (16,637 ft). The features of the range are considered the product of volcanic activity known as the Khari Khari caldera (19º43'S; 65º38'W). The caldera is about 40 km long and 25 km at its widest point. The range was named ''Cordillera de Potosí'' by the German alpinist Henry Hoek in 1903. He collected information about the range like the local names and published several papers about it. The inhabitants of the area, however, use the names Khari Khari for the northern part and Anta Q'awa for the southern one. The two sections are separated by a depression, the Jach'a Molino Pampa.

Mountains

Khari Khari range

The Khari Khari range contains a number of mountains which are more than 4,900 m high, the highest elevation being Khari Khari (5,040 m). Other mountains are listed below:

Cerro Rico Cerro Rico (Spanish for "Rich Mountain"), Cerro Potosí ("Potosí Mountain") or Sumaq Urqu (Quechuan languages, Quechua ''sumaq'' "beautiful, good, pleasant", ''urqu'' "mountain", "beautiful (good or pleasant) mountain"), is a mountain in the A ...

() lies west of the main range.

Anta Q'awa range

South of Jach'a Molino Pampa, in the Anta Q'awa range, there are:

Lakes

During the colonial epoch artificial lakes were built in the Khari Khari range, finally up to 32 lakes. The main purpose was to produce hydroelectric power to run the

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

s of the mines. Some of these lakes are still used today for the water supply of the city. Today there are 22 lakes of the Khari Khari range belonging to six systems: * the Pati Pati system with 3 lakes: Atucha, Santa Lucía, Candelaria * the San José system with 7 lakes: Llama Mikhu, San José I, San José II, Buena Ventura, Llama Kunka, Wak'ani, Providencia * the Suras or Calderón system with 1 lake: Calderón * the San Ildefonso system with 3 lakes: Khari Khari Lakes (San Ildefonso, San Pablo, now integrated into San Ildefonso), San Fernando * the San Sebastián system with 6 lakes: Muñisa, Masuni, Criciza, San Lázaro, San Sebastián, Planilla (now integrated into San Sebastián) * the Challwiri system with 2 lakes: Illimani, Tawaqu Ñuñu or Challwiri. South of Jach'a Molino Pampa there are two more systems: * the Lakha Ch'akha system with one lake: Lakha Ch'akha * the Ch'alluma system with Ch'alluma (I and II) and Turina. Other notable lakes are T'ala Qucha and Q'umir Qucha.

Notes

* Names with a star (*) stand for mountain names by Evelio Echevarría used in a paper about his expeditions to the range because the original local names were not available

References

apemin.eu
Rene Joaquino Cabrera, Aporte al plan de desarollo municipal de Potosí 2007-2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Potosi mountain range Mountain ranges of Bolivia