Salar de Uyuni: Difference between revisions

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'''Salar de Uyuni''' (or "Salar de Tunupa")<ref>{{cite web|title=Salar de Tunupa|url=http://www.irisentoreopreis.nl/tunupa_map.shtml|website=Iris en Tore op reis|access-date=26 February 2016|date=29 July 2011|archive-date=19 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119054358/http://www.irisentoreopreis.nl/tunupa_map.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> is the world's largest [[Salt pan (geology)|salt flat]], or [[Dry lake|playa]], at over {{convert|10,000|km2|mi2}} in area.<ref name="NASA2019">{{cite web |title=Lithium Harvesting at Salar de Uyuni |url=https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144976/lithium-harvesting-at-salar-de-uyuni |website=Earth Observatory | publisher=[[NASA]] |language=en |date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> It is in the [[Daniel Campos Province]] in [[Potosí Department|Potosí]] in southwest [[Bolivia]], near the crest of the [[Andes]] at an elevation of {{convert|3,656|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.<ref name=britannica>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Uyuni Salt Flat |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-90745/88?query=Salar%20de%20Uyuni&ct= |access-date=1 December 2007}}{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes that existed around forty thousand years ago but had all evaporated over time.{{r|NASA2019}} It is now covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average elevation variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of [[brine]], which is exceptionally rich in [[lithium]]. The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar ideal for calibrating the [[altimeter]]s of Earth observation satellites.<ref name=nature2/><ref name=geo/><ref name=refl/><ref>{{cite news |bibcode=2002AGUFMOS52A0193B |title=GPS Survey of the salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, for Satellite Altimeter Calibration |last=Borsa |first=A. A |publisher=American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting |year=2002 |display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name=ieee>{{cite journal