Salar de Uyuni, Salt Flat: Bolivia

                                        Salar de Uyuni, Salt Flat: Bolivia

 

                               

Second on the list is the Salar de Uyuni. This is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 km² or 4,085 square miles. It is located in the southwest of Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,650 meters high. The major minerals found in the salar are halite and gypsum.
Due to its large size, smooth surface, high surface reflectivity when covered with shallow water, and minimal elevation deviation, Salar de Uyuni makes an ideal target for the testing and calibration of remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites used to study the Earth.

Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually. Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species of South American flamingoes: the Chilean, James’s and Andean flamingoes.
From South America let’s proceed to Asia, the continent with the largest population