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Salar de Uyuni |
Salar de Uyuni, would deserve to be called an amazing natural wonder. How not, if in general the salt field is located near the sea, then this does not apply to the largest salt field in the world.
Salar de Uyuni is located at an altitude of 3,656 meters above sea level. This ancient salt lake is located in the Potosi area, Daniel Campos province, not far from the top of the Andes Mountains, Bolivia.
This 10,582 km² salt plain, with a depth of 130 m, is estimated to have a salt content of 10 billion tons.
Salar de Uyuni, also known as Salar de Tunupa, is actually the remains of an ancient lake that has dried up. Approximately 30,000 to 42,000 years ago, this area was a large ancient lake, named Lake Minchin.
This giant lake which is estimated to reach 120,000 km² in area, then gradually dried up, and finally split into Lake Poopo and Lake Uru uru. While the dry part, turned into a vast salt field, which is now known as Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Coipasa.
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Isla Incahuasi |
In the middle of the Salar de Uyuni salt field there are several mainland or small islands, which are remnants of the ancient volcanic peaks that sank when the area was still part of the ancient Minchin lake, about 40,000 years ago. Isla del Pescado or Fish Island, Isla Incahuasi, and Isla Pia pia, are three small islands in the middle of the Salar de Uyuni salt lake. These islands are land consisting of hills and fragile coral mounds.
The mainland of these islands is filled with giant cactus plants. Called the giant cactus, because of its extraordinary size. Some even reach 12 meters high. Apart from the giant cactus, you could say, there are no other plants, except for various types of shrubs that thrive here.
The area around Salar de Uyuni is a breeding ground for the Chilean flamingo, James flamingo, and Andean flamingo species. In addition to flamingos, in this area also live various types of birds, foxes, vicunas, and viscacha, which are similar to rabbits. These animals live on land around the Salar de Uyuni, as well as on small islands in the middle of this salt mainland.
Salar de Uyuni's salt content consists of large amounts of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, lithium chloride, magnesium chloride and borax.
The surface of this salt flat tends to be flat and smooth. Variations in surface height, on average less than 1 meter. Therefore the Salar de Uyuni salt flat has a giant mirror effect phenomenon, which can usually be found during the rainy season, between December and February.
The rainwater that inundates this salt flat, can reflect all objects around it. Andes mountains, blue skies, clouds, animals, and so on will be clearly visible above this salt flat, like in a mirror.