Atacama desert

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Atacama desert

Atacama desert (Desierto de Atacama) is a plateau in South America, covering a 600-mile (1,000 km) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is considered to be the driest desert in the world. The Atacama occupies 40,600 square miles (105,000 km2) in northern Chile, composed mostly of salt lakes (salares), sand, and felsic lava flows towards the Andes.
The average rainfall in the Chilean region of Antofagasta is just 1 millimetre (0.04 in) per year and some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. In a region about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south of Antofagasta, which averages 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) height, the soil has been compared to that of Mars.