20170809_Bolivia_1606 Coqueza sRGB
Andean flamingos feed in a briny pool at the edge of the Uyuni Salt Flat in front of the town of Coqueza below the eroded caldera of dormant Tunupa Volcano.
The foothills in front of the volcano are broken up into fields delineated by mortarless stone fences erected by a little-known ancient culture. The reason for the fields remains a mystery.
Tunupa Volcano (5,321m/17,457ft) sits on a peninsula in the northern end of the Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni). One legend holds that Tunupa is a female volcano whose child was stolen and her tears created the salt flat.
The Uyuni Salt Flat is the world’s largest salt flat covering 10,582 sq km/4,086 sq mi (100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States). Part of the Bolivian Altiplano (high plateau), the Uyuni Salt Flat sits at an elevation of 3,656m/11,995ft surrounded by the Andes mountains. It is the bed of a series of vast lakes that once covered the area starting around 40,000 years ago, the last of which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. In November, three species of South American flamingos breed here. The crust, which varies in thickness from tens of centimeters to a few meters, is a source of salt. Underneath is a pool of brine rich in lithium which Bolivia is just starting to extract. (Bolivia is the holder of the world’s largest known lithium reserves.)
On Google Earth:
Coqueza 19°54'4.50"S, 67°37'31.25"W
Volcán Tunupa 19°50'26.30"S, 67°38'30.01"W
20170809_Bolivia_1606 Coqueza sRGB
Andean flamingos feed in a briny pool at the edge of the Uyuni Salt Flat in front of the town of Coqueza below the eroded caldera of dormant Tunupa Volcano.
The foothills in front of the volcano are broken up into fields delineated by mortarless stone fences erected by a little-known ancient culture. The reason for the fields remains a mystery.
Tunupa Volcano (5,321m/17,457ft) sits on a peninsula in the northern end of the Uyuni Salt Flat (Salar de Uyuni). One legend holds that Tunupa is a female volcano whose child was stolen and her tears created the salt flat.
The Uyuni Salt Flat is the world’s largest salt flat covering 10,582 sq km/4,086 sq mi (100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States). Part of the Bolivian Altiplano (high plateau), the Uyuni Salt Flat sits at an elevation of 3,656m/11,995ft surrounded by the Andes mountains. It is the bed of a series of vast lakes that once covered the area starting around 40,000 years ago, the last of which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. In November, three species of South American flamingos breed here. The crust, which varies in thickness from tens of centimeters to a few meters, is a source of salt. Underneath is a pool of brine rich in lithium which Bolivia is just starting to extract. (Bolivia is the holder of the world’s largest known lithium reserves.)
On Google Earth:
Coqueza 19°54'4.50"S, 67°37'31.25"W
Volcán Tunupa 19°50'26.30"S, 67°38'30.01"W