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| Photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3HorcXoGI8XZfjaDSqYsHGfBPpf8uBxiLC3oozMnyzj4bV4zUW0gEVFBgu7Iw87J7t8YIQfJZl251ozC3lzul3f9xhAVPhJDUh-NbX50aH0xfbKbscXKZHyfRz2ZFTlIJuC70j3JL77MQ/s1600/Uyuni_Panorama_resize.jpg |
The Salar de Uyuni is located in the Andean Altiplano, a high plateau formed by the uplift of the Andean Mountains. The Andean mountains were formed from the convergence of the Nazca oceanic plate with the South American continental plate. Scientists hypothesis that overtime, “parts of the dense lower crust and upper mantle might have periodically detached, which would have allowed the lighter upper crust to rise rapidly”, creating one of the world’s highest plateau in the world (http://earthsky.org/earth/rapid-growth-spurts-formed-vast-and-beautiful-altiplano-plateau). Salar de Uyuni sits in this plateau, at approximately 4,000 miles above sea level and stretches for 3,100 square miles (http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/155833/).
Through radiocarbon dating, the Salar de Uyuni can be traced back to a series of prehistoric lakes. The youngest “palaeolake”, Coipasa, dates back between 11,500 and 13, 400 years ago. And the oldest, Minchin, to about 32,000 years before present. These prehistoric lakes eventually dried up over thousands of years and left behind the great expanse of salt seen today (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v409/n6821/full/409698a0.html). This process may have been helped by the uplift of the Altiplano plateau over time, allowing for less runoff as it was enclosed by the surrounding mountains and greater evaporation.
The salt flat is estimated to contain ten billion metric tons of salt. Salt, better known as halite, is a chemical sedimentary rock. But the salt flat is surprisingly made up of more minerals than simply salt, containing contains large amounts of, potassium chloride, lithium cholride and magnesium chloride (http://www.traveltilldie.com/salar-de-uyuni-the-salty-beauty/).
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| Photo credit: http://intactnature.com/salar-de-uyuni-bolivia |
Who knows what other surprises this landscape holds.
Sources:
- http://earthsky.org/earth/rapid-growth-spurts-formed-vast-and-beautiful-altiplano-plateau
