Content deleted Content added
Citation bot (talk | contribs) Altered pages. Added bibcode. Formatted dashes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Headbomb | Linked from Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/Journals_cited_by_Wikipedia/Sandbox | #UCB_webform_linked 1075/1153 |
|||
Line 41:
[[File:Salar_de_Uyuni,_Bolivia,_2016-02-04,_DD_10-12_HDR.JPG|thumb|left|Mountains surrounding the Uyuni salt flat during sunrise, [[Daniel Campos Province]], [[Potosí Department]], southwestern [[Bolivia]], not far from the crest of the [[Andes]]]]
The geological history of the Salar is associated with a sequential transformation between several vast lakes. Some 30,000 to 42,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, [[Lake Tauca|Lake Minchin]]. Its age was estimated by [[radiocarbon dating]] shells from outcropping [[sediment]]s and [[Carbonate platform|carbonate reefs]] and varies between reported studies. Lake Minchin (named after Juan B. Minchin of Oruro)<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bowman, Isaiah |jstor=201641 |title=Results of an Expedition to the Central Andes |journal=Bulletin of the American Geographical Society |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=161–183 |year=1914 |doi=10.2307/201641}}</ref> later transformed into [[Lake Tauca|Paleo Lake Tauca]] having a maximal depth of {{convert|140|m|sp=us}}, and an estimated age of 13,000 to 18,000 or 14,900 to 26,100 years, depending on the source. The youngest prehistoric lake was Coipasa, which was radiocarbon dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, [[Lake Poopó|Poopó]] and [[Lago Uru Uru|Uru Uru]], and two major salt deserts, [[Lago Coipasa|Salar de Coipasa]] and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 km<sup>2</sup>, which is roughly 100 times the size of the [[Bonneville Salt Flats]] in the United States. Lake Poopó is a neighbor of the much larger [[Lake Titicaca]]. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, which in turn, floods Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni.<ref name=nature>{{cite journal |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |title=Tropical climate changes at millennial and orbital timescales on the Bolivian Altiplano |first1=P. A. |last1=Baker |volume=409 |year=2001 |pmid=11217855 |display-authors=1 |last2=Rigsby |first2=C. A. |last3=Seltzer |first3=G. O. |last4=Fritz |first4=S. C. |last5=Lowenstein |first5=T. K. |last6=Bacher |first6=N. P. |last7=Veliz |first7=C. |issue=6821 |pages=698–701 |doi=10.1038/35055524 |bibcode=2001Natur.409..698B |s2cid=4394703 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=geosciencefacpub}}</ref>
Lacustrine mud that is interbedded with salt and saturated with brine underlies the surface of Salar de Uyuni. The brine is a saturated solution of [[sodium chloride]], [[lithium chloride]], and [[magnesium chloride]] in water. It is covered with a solid salt crust varying in thickness between tens of centimeters and a few meters. The center of the Salar contains a few islands, which are the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes submerged during the era of Lake Minchin. They include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae.<ref name=trav1/>
| |||