What is "lauca"

Lauca is a Biosphere Reserve, located in northern Chile, in Arica y Parinacota Region. The reserve comprises three protected areas: Lauca National Park, Las Vicuñas National Reserve and Salar de Surire Natural Monument. This zone was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1981.

Lauca may refer to:

• Lauca, a biosphere reserve in Chile
• Lauca National Park, a national park in Chile
• Lauca River, a river flowing from Chile into Bolivia
• Lauca Dam, a dam currently being built on the Cuanza River in Angola

Lauca volcano is a high andesitic stratovolcano in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes in the Altiplano in northern Chile. It was active 10.5 million years ago. Amphibole rich lava flows formed a uniform volcanic cone. A later major ignimbrite eruption caused the collapse of the centre and formed the Lauca ignimbrite. A caldera is present, with a lava dome at the northeastern rim.

Andesites from the Lauca volcano exist in two groups, plagioclase rich ones which underwent alteration and fine grained silicic ones that are fresher. The territory is underpinned with a crust formed from rocks of Precambrian to Cretaceous age, with thicknesses up to .