Salar de Pastos Grandes, Salt flat in Salta Province, Argentina
Salar de Pastos Grandes is a vast salt flat sitting high in the Andes at approximately 3,800 meters elevation. The basin is ringed by mountain peaks and holds substantial deposits of salt, borates, gypsum, and lithium-rich minerals.
This salt basin formed over hundreds of thousands of years when the area was filled with a large lake shaped by ice age cycles. The terraced layers visible along the basin edges are remnants from those periods of water coverage.
The salt deposits here have shaped how people used and valued this remote landscape for centuries. Walking across the flats, you can sense how the mineral wealth influenced settlement patterns and trade connections across the region.
The location sits at high altitude and is only easily accessible during drier seasons, so planning ahead is important. Visitors need time to adjust to the elevation and should bring proper gear for extreme temperature swings and intense sun exposure.
The western ridge of the nearby mountains holds red-colored rocks containing fossilized remains of crocodiles, turtles, and mammals from an ancient sea. These fossils are roughly 37 million years old, revealing a time when tropical waters covered this area.
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