The salar of Uyuni

The salar of Uyuni
country : Bolivia
place : south-west of the country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

볼리비아 유우니 소금사막

La lluvia( The Rain)/ Alpamayo

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km².

It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia,

near the crest of the Andes, 3,650 meters high.

The major minerals found in the salar are halite and gypsum.

Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake.

When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake,

and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni.

Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.

Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt,

of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.

All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani's cooperative.

Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species

of South American flamingos: the Chilean, James's and Andean flamingos.

It is also a significant tourist destination; highlights include a salt hotel

and several so-called islands.

As it is so flat it serves as a major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano.

Also, Salar de Uyuni holds half of the world's reserves of lithium,

a metal which is used in high energy density batteries (see Lithium battery).

There is currently no mining plant at the site and the Bolivian government doesn't want

to allow exploitation by foreign corporations,

but instead it intends to build its own pilot plant.