- Salar de Atacama
Salar de Atacama is the largest
salt flat inChile .cite web| title = The Optical/Infrared Astronomical Quality of High Atacama Sites. | url=http://www.astro.cornell.edu/research/projects/atacama/J_Darling.pdf| accessdate = 2007-04-24] It is located 55 km south ofSan Pedro de Atacama , is surrounded by mountains and has no drainage outlets. To the east is enclosed by the main chain of theAndes , while to the west lies a secondary mountain range of the Andes calledCordillera de Domeyko . Large volcanoes dominate the landscape, including theLicancabur ,Acamarachi , Aguas Calientes and theLáscar . The latter is one of the most active volcanoes in Chile. All of them are located along the eastern side of the Salar de Atacama, forming a generally north-south trending line of volcanoes that separate it from smallerendorheic basin s.Es icon [http://www.sinia.cl/1292/articles-31018_Atacama.pdf Cuenca del Salar de Atacama] ]Features
The salt flat encompasses 3,000 km², is about 100 km long and 80 km wide, which makes it the
Americas ' second largest and is also the second in the world, afterSalar de Uyuni inBolivia (10,582 km²).Fact|date=March 2007 Its average elevation is about 2,300 m asl. The topography of the core portion of the salar exhibits a high level of roughness, which is due to that the surface of this area is permanently free of water,cite journal| last =Kampf| first =Stephanie| authorlink =| coauthors = Tyler S.; Ortiz C.; Muñoz J.F.; Adkins P.| title =Evaporation and land surface energy budget at the Salar de Atacama, Northern Chile| journal =Journal of Hydrology| volume =310| issue =1-4| pages =236–252| date =2005| url =| doi =10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.01.005| id =| accessdate =2008-02-07] unlike the most of the other salt flats, as for example the Salar de Uyuni, which is periodically covered with shallow water.It contains 40% of the world's
lithium reserves.Fact|date=March 2007Some areas of the salt flat form part of
Los Flamencos National Reserve .References
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