Evidence for high-elevation salar recharge and interbasin groundwater flow in the Western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes

Alvarez-Campos, Odiney; Olson, Elizabeth J.; Welp, Lisa R.; Frisbee, Marty D.; Zuñiga Medina, Sebastián A.; Díaz Rodríguez, José; Roque Quispe, Wendy R.; Salazar Mamani, Carol I.; Arenas Carrión, Midhuar R.; Jara, Juan Manuel; Ccanccapa-Cartagena, Alexander; Jafvert, Chad T.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-483-2022

Articles | Volume 26, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-483-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-483-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 2

Research article

|

31 Jan 2022

Research article |

| 31 Jan 2022

Evidence for high-elevation salar recharge and interbasin groundwater flow in the Western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes

Odiney Alvarez-Campos, Elizabeth J. Olson, Lisa R. Welp, Marty D. Frisbee, Sebastián A. Zuñiga Medina, José Díaz Rodríguez, Wendy R. Roque Quispe, Carol I. Salazar Mamani, Midhuar R. Arenas Carrión, Juan Manuel Jara, Alexander Ccanccapa-Cartagena, and Chad T. Jafvert

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-483-2022-supplement

Data sets

Groundwater chemistry within Arequipa, Peru in the Characato, Chiguata, and Lagunas Salinas study areas O. Alvarez Campos, E. Olson, L. R. Welp, and M. D. Frisbee https://doi.org/10.4231/PJRM-Q992

Short summary

We present results of a hydrologic study of groundwater recharge near the city of Arequipa, Peru. There are a number of springs below a high-elevation salar that show some chemical evidence of connectivity to the salar basin, possibly facilitated by faults in region. These results suggest that this salar basin is not a strictly terminal lake but that some interbasin groundwater flow exists. In addition, a high-elevation forest ecosystem seems important for groundwater recharge as well.