Salar de Carcote, also known as Salar de San Martín, is a salt flat in northern

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 ...

. The salar is located southwest of

Ollagüe Ollagüe () or Ullawi () is a massive andesite stratovolcano in the Andes on the Bolivia–Chile border, within the Antofagasta Region of Chile and the Potosí Department, Potosi Department of Bolivia. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the A ...

. It covers an area of around and its surface elevation is .IRD en Chile: Salar de Carcote
The landscape of the area is dominated by the volcanoes

to the east and

Aucanquilcha Aucanquilcha is a massive stratovolcano located in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile, just west of the border with Bolivia and within the Alto Loa National Reserve. Part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, the stratovolcano has the ...

to the north. Salar de Carcote basin is bordered by the

Loa River The Loa River (Spanish: Río Loa) is a U-shaped river in Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. At long, it is the country's longest river and the main watercourse in the Atacama Desert. Course The Loa's sources are located on Andean mountain sl ...

basin to the west and the

Salar de Ascotán Salar de Ascotán, also known as Salar de Cebollar, is a salt flat in northern Chile. Its drainage basin is and is shared with Bolivia. The basin is bordered on the north by the Salar de Carcote basin, on the east by small endorheic basins, inc ...

basin to the south. Salar de Carcote is a remnant of an ancient lake. Formerly, a connection existed to

Lake Minchin Lake Tauca is a former lake in the Altiplano of Bolivia. It is also known as Lake Pocoyu for its constituent lakes: Lake Poopó, Salar de Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni. The lake covered large parts of the southern Altiplano between the Eastern Co ...

. Nowadays, small lakes dot the shores of this salt flat. They are concentrated mainly along its western shore and comprise a surface of approximately between . The main one of those is ''Laguna Verde'' (Green Lagoon).

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Carcote Landforms of Antofagasta Region {{Antofagasta-geo-stub