Current Date: 29 Aug, 2025
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The world's largest salt flat, can be seen in space

At 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), the Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the largest salt flat in the world. It is located in the Potosi and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above the mean sea level.

Salar de Uyuni, located in Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat, covering 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 square miles).

Salar de Uyuni is located at the southern end of the Altiplano, a high plain with inland drainage in the central Andes. Salar derives from the Spanish word for salt, and Uyuni comes from the Aymara language (spoken in the Andes) and means a pen (enclosure).

This area was once a large prehistoric lake known as Lago Michin, which dried up around 15,000 to 10,000 years ago, leaving the enormous salt flat with the dissolved minerals in its waters.  The Uyuni salt plain’s surface is composed of gypsum (calcium sulfate) and halite (sodium chloride).

Salar de Uyuni as seen from the International Space Station on March 17, 2019. Image: NASA, public domain.

Uyuni Salar’s topography

A surface elevation variation of less than one meter characterizes the extremely flat Salar de Uyuni.  The surrounding landscape, in contrast, is incredibly mountainous, with the Andes mountains’ volcanoes making up a portion of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Tourists and a tour bus parked on the salt flat. The picture gives an idea of how flat Salar de Uyuni is. Photo: NASA, public domain. 

Salar de Uyuni as seen by radar

On April 20, 2014, the Sentinel-1A satellite took a picture of Salar de Uyuni. 

Different rates of absorption from the radar cause the image in the salt plain area to have a wavy pattern; areas where the radar signal is absorbed appear darker, while areas where it is reflected back to the satellite appear lighter.

Radar image of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. Source: ESA.

Mining for lithium on the salt flat

Salar de Uyuni’s surface layer is covered in a brine that is rich in minerals. The world’s largest reservoir of lithium, a valuable metal used in everything from batteries to oven-safe glass and ceramics, can be found in this brine.

January 7, 2019 satellite imagery of lithium mini operations at Salar de Uyuni. Photo: Landsat 8, NASA, public domain.

Bolivia has created evaporation pools where pumped brine is funneled. Lithium chloride is found there. The elements of the brine crystallize outside in the sun. Following the removal of magnesium, postassium, and sulfate from the evaporated brine, lithium chloride can be converted into lithium carbonate, which can subsequently be sold for a profit.

According to a 2011 source, Salar de Uyuni may contain 100 million tons of lithium.

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