Propiedades fisicoquímicas de agua y sedimento en las vertientes 1, 6 y 11 del Salar de Acostan (ll Región), hábitat del pez endémico Orestias ascotanensis

Abstract

The Salar de Ascotán was formed due to successive periods of drought that affected the Minchin paleolake 30,000 years ago. The salt flat is located at south latitude 21°27'01.9" and west longitude 68°15'8.5", it is also one of the 27 salt flats in the Antofagasta Region at 3,700 meters above sea level. On the east side, 12 springs have been found that make up the habitat of the endemic fish Orestias ascotanensis Parenti. In this work, significant differences and concentration ranges of the physicochemical characteristics of the water and the sediment are presented, in the springs called 1,6 and 11. For this, a sample was collected at 3 points of each spring, the variables analyzed were pH, electrical conductivity (EC), chloride, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, lithium, total hardness (D), total alkalinity (AT), total phosphorus (PT), total nitrogen (NT), silica, sulfate, total organic carbon ( TOC), oxidizable organic carbon (CO), reactive phosphorus (PD), and boron. The results were plotted on Piper and Stiff plots; they were also statistically analyzed through Cluster analysis, Boxplot, Kruskal-Wallis test and Tukey test. The physicochemical characteristics that presented significant differences (p<0.05) grouped the slopes as follows: in water, slope 1 different from slopes 11 and 6 for SO4-2, Mg, Ca, Cl- and PT; slope 11 different from slopes 1 and 6 for NT, finally each slope formed a group for CE, Na, K and B. In sediment, slope 1 and 1l were different in CI-, SOa-2 and CO, finally the slopes 6 and 11 were different in pH. In conclusion, it was found that the values ​​of most of the physicochemical characteristics differed in water, with slope I presenting the highest values, on the other hand, in the sediment, the analyzes in general did not present significant differences between the slopes