File:Salar de Atacama, Chile - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg
![File:Salar de Atacama, Chile - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Salar_de_Atacama%2C_Chile_-_NASA_Earth_Observatory.jpg/600px-Salar_de_Atacama%2C_Chile_-_NASA_Earth_Observatory.jpg)
Original file (4,007 × 4,007 pixels, file size: 5.15 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
![]() | This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help. |
Summary
DescriptionSalar de Atacama, Chile - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg |
To download the full resolution and other files go to: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76518&src=... Chile’s Atacama Desert may be the driest place on Earth. Large stretches of the Atacama have gone without moisture for as long as people have been keeping track. Yet some precipitation does fall in the region, and that water helps shape the landscape. Within this arid environment lies a salt flat, or playa, named Salar de Atacama. The Landsat 7 satellite acquired this false-color image on March 21, 2002. Red indicates vegetation, the most abundant of which occurs around springs that dot the northern edge of the saltpan. Nearby soils that support some vegetation appear tan and brown. Although it sits at a much higher elevation, the Salar de Atacama resembles California’s Death Valley as a flat area in between mountain ranges. The little precipitation that has fallen has usually drained off the mountains and flowed into nearby valleys, creating alluvial fans. The salt flat is a geologically young, dynamic system. Occasional floods do reach the saltpan, and flood waters carry gravel, sand, clay, and salt. Heavier materials such as gravel and sand tend to drop out of the water sooner, coming to rest outside the saltpan. Clays and salts can hitch a ride all the way to the playa. Floods initially stir the sediments inside Salar de Atacama, but material eventually settles into layers of clay and salty water. Because the playa lacks drainage, water only leaves by evaporation. As it evaporates, salts remain behind and form crusts. Inside the saltpan, mottled light blue indicates surface salt crusts. The white color around the perimeter of the saltpan indicates a zone of clay and carbonate-rich material that alternately forms a crust on the surface and re-dissolves with rising and falling groundwater. Northeast of the playa, white indicates something else: snow and ice on the volcanic peaks. Volcanic rocks and soils range in color from burnt orange to tan. Around the playa, the false-color green indicates rocks that would appear red to human eyes. Blue indicates older sedimentary rocks (deposited by wind and water) and igneous rocks (formed from cooling lava or magma) that support no vegetation. Not surprisingly, Salar de Atacama is now mined for salt, and evaporation ponds appear in the middle of the saltpan—rectangular shapes of bright turquoise and white. The salt flat also holds the potential for lithium production from its subsurface brine-bearing waters. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Caption by Michon Scott, based on image interpretation by Eric Livo and Dan Knepper, U.S. Geological Survey. The Earth Observatory's mission is to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and climate models. |
Date | |
Source | Salar de Atacama, Chile |
Author | NASA's Earth Observatory |
Camera location | 23° 31′ 04.92″ S, 68° 18′ 41.81″ W ![]() | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap | ![]() |
---|
Licensing
![w:en:Creative Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/CC_some_rights_reserved.svg/90px-CC_some_rights_reserved.svg.png)
![attribution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Cc-by_new_white.svg/24px-Cc-by_new_white.svg.png)
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
![]() |
This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Earth Observatory at https://www.flickr.com/photos/68824346@N02/6425749327. It was reviewed on 2 July 2012 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
2 July 2012
Annotations InfoField | This image is annotated: View the annotations at Commons |
Captions
Items portrayed in this file
depicts
some value
23°31'4.919"S, 68°18'41.810"W
21 March 2002
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 20:28, 13 January 2021 | ![]() | 4,007 × 4,007 (5.15 MB) | wikimediacommons>Juan Villalobos | https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/76518/salar-de-atacama-chile https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/76000/76518/atacama_etm_2002080_lrg.jpg |
File usage
Metadata
This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.
If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.
Image title |
|
---|---|
Width | 7,931 px |
Height | 7,081 px |
Bits per component |
|
Compression scheme | LZW |
Pixel composition | RGB |
Orientation | Normal |
Number of components | 3 |
Horizontal resolution | 100 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 100 dpi |
Data arrangement | chunky format |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh |
File change date and time | 11:19, 23 November 2011 |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
Image width | 4,007 px |
Image height | 4,007 px |
Date and time of digitizing | 13:22, 25 October 2011 |
Date metadata was last modified | 06:19, 23 November 2011 |
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:74117FD9200711689B47C822FF2C024A |