Chungará is a lake situated in the extreme north of Chile at an elevation of 4,517 metres (14,820 ft), in the Altiplano of Arica y Parinacota Region in the Lauca National Park.

[15] The volcanoes Parinacota (6,342 metres (20,807 ft)[16]) of Pliocene to Holocene age and Ajoya (5,293 metres (17,365 ft)[16]) of Miocene age lie north and west of the lake, respectively;[7] the northern shore of the lake is formed by lava flows from Parinacota volcano.

While Parinacota is well preserved, Ajoya and Quisiquisini (5,516 metres (18,097 ft)[16]) on the eastern shore of the lake are moderately eroded.

[26] The role of this underground outflow has progressively decreased through the history of the lake as silt has accumulated in the breccia through which the groundwater seeps out.

[12] This collapse involved about 6 cubic kilometres (1.4 cu mi) and covered about 140 square kilometres (54 sq mi) with debris;[18] before the collapse took place the lake floor of Chungará Lake consisted of alluvial and river sediments left by the Rio Lauca[30] which drained the area.

[33] Volcanism in the area has been ongoing since the Paleozoic[1] and has continued until recent times, which has influenced Chungará Lake.

[36] This precipitation occurs during summer when moisture is transported into the region from the Amazon[12] and the Atlantic Ocean; this is known as the "Bolivian Winter".

The area of the lake is inhabited by Aymara people who engage in animal husbandry, using alpacas, cattle, llamas and sheep and live on farms and pastoral refuges.

[9] For this purpose, the Canal Chungará was built by the Chilean Ministry of Public Works to transfer water into the Laguna Cotacotani which is the headwater of the Lauca-Azapa system.

[40] Accumulation of rubbish in the area of Chungará Lake has become a major issue, as a lot of waste is discarded by for example drivers on the Chungara–Tambo Quemado road between Chile and Bolivia.

[12] The shoreline vegetation draws birds in such as Andean gull, Chilean flamingo, crested duck, giant coot and Puna plover.

[41][42] Aided by the highly transparent waters,[43] large amounts of aquatic plants live in Chungará Lake[19] and are particularly noticeable on the southern shores, where Myriophyllum elatinoides and Potamogeton filifolius occur.

The shores are inhabited by amphibians such as Rhinella, Pleurodema and Telmatobius, and by molluscs and turbellaria such as Ancylus, Pisidium and Taphius.

[14] Algae include both the large Cladophora and Nostoc genera and the small Botryococcus braunii, Cocconeis placentula, Cyclotella andina and Nephroclamys subsolitaria; the second and the third are diatoms.

[19] The most important and only native fish in Chungará Lake are two endemics; the pupfish Orestias chungarensis and catfish Trichomycterus chungaraensis.