Ian
priscilla 1Salt Flats and Pans
November 6th 2006 00:55
If the amount of water flowing into a salt lake is less than the amount evaporated, the lake will eventually disappear and leave a salt flat, or playa.
In deserts a salt pan is formed where water pools and evaporates. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface.
The surface of a salt flat is generally very dry, hard and smooth in the summer months, but wet and very soft in the winter months.
The extremely flat, smooth, and hard surfaces of salt flats and pans make them ideal surfaces for motor vehicles. Large-sized flats are excellent spots for pursuing land speed records. The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are famous for this.
Salar de Uyuni is with its 4,085 square miles (10,582 square km) the world's largest salt flat. It is located in the Departmento of Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3650 meters high. The major minerals found in the salar are halite and gypsum.
Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
The photos below show Salar de Uyuni and the some of the salt mining that goes on there. You can see more pictures here.
*This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia articles Salar de Uyuni, Playa, Salt lake and Salt Pan.
**These pictures used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.
In deserts a salt pan is formed where water pools and evaporates. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface.
The surface of a salt flat is generally very dry, hard and smooth in the summer months, but wet and very soft in the winter months.
The extremely flat, smooth, and hard surfaces of salt flats and pans make them ideal surfaces for motor vehicles. Large-sized flats are excellent spots for pursuing land speed records. The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are famous for this.
Salar de Uyuni is with its 4,085 square miles (10,582 square km) the world's largest salt flat. It is located in the Departmento of Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3650 meters high. The major minerals found in the salar are halite and gypsum.
Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
The photos below show Salar de Uyuni and the some of the salt mining that goes on there. You can see more pictures here.
Piles of salt ready to be carted away in trucks.
Salt hotel.
Inside the salt hotel.
Workers and salt bricks.
Driving on the salt flats.
One of the 'islands' with salt tolerant plants.
*This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia articles Salar de Uyuni, Playa, Salt lake and Salt Pan.
**These pictures used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.
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