SALAR DE UYUNI, BOLIVIA

Forty thousand years ago, the Altiplano (high plateau) of Bolivia was covered by a vast lake, Lake Minchin. When the lake dried up, it left behind two large salt deserts; Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Coipasa. SALAR DE UYUNI: ·         Flattest place on earth; no more than a meter’s (3 feet 3 inches) variation in altitude ·         World’s largest salt flat (4,086 square miles) ·         100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah ·         Contains 50% to 70% of the world’s known lithium deposits ·         Following a rain, a thin layer of dead calm water transforms the flats into the world’s largest mirror (80 miles across) ·         Flats are used for calibrating the distance measurement equipment of satellites ·         Estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt

Salar de Uyuni after rainfall