Insights into an undescribed high‐elevation lake (6,170 m a.s.l.) on Volcán Llullaillaco: A physical and microbiological view

High elevation lakes are extreme ecosystems and serve as sentinels of various global changes. An expedition to Volcán Llullaillaco in 1996 discovered an unstudied high‐elevation lake (6,170 m a.s.l.) that probably was formed as a result of the past eruptive events or climatic processes such as glacial retreat in the lake basin. This article describes an initial physical characterization of the lake and its microbial communities derived from two...