San Pedro de Inacaliri River, or called simply San Pedro River, is a river of Chile located in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It begins at the confluence of the rivers Silala and Cajón, at an elevation over 4,000 m asl.
San Pedro de Inacaliri River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Chile |
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | |
• location | Loa River |
Length | 76 km (47 mi) |
Basin size | 9,850 km2 (3,800 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• average | 0.2 m3/s (7.1 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Silala River |
A part of its flow is diverted (between 50 and 60 L/s) and conducted across the desert to Chuquicamata for domestic water supply. About 8 km south, the waters of the river disappear in a floodplain area to reappear 15 km downstream at the so-called Ojos del San Pedro in the form of a partially overground stream, at the eastern border of a salt flat with a surface of 5 km2.
Before discharging into Loa River, the river skirts the San Pedro volcano, where it has carved a 100-m-deep canyon through a rhyolite lava flow.
References
edit- This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, accessed August 31, 2007.
- Niemeyer, Hans; Cereceda, Pilar (1983). Geografía de Chile — Tomo VIII: Hidrografía (1º edición, Santiago de Chile: Instituto Geográfico Militar ed.).