San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km (60 mi) southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano. It features a significant archeological museum, the R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum, with a large collection of relics and artifacts from the region. Native ruins nearby attract increasing numbers of tourists interested in learning about pre-Columbian cultures.
Nevado Tres Cruces National Park is a national park in the Atacama Region of Chile, east of Copiapó. It includes Laguna Santa Rosa, Laguna del Negro Francisco, and a part of the Salar de Maricunga. The park is divided into two zones, the northern zone encompassing the southern portion of Salar de Maricunga and Laguna Santa Rosa, and the southern area the Laguna del Negro Francisco. The park is named after Nevado Tres Cruces, which dominates the landscape of the area. The park is managed by the Corporación Nacional Forestal, which offers two refuges in the area: one at the south of Negro Francisco Lagoon and other at the west of Santa Rosa Lagoon. The park is open from October to April.
Miñiques is a massive volcanic complex containing a large number of craters, lava domes and flows, located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. Located 21 km (13 mi) south of Volcán Chiliques and 26 km (16 mi) west of Cordón Puntas Negras, it is part of a frequently visited attraction conformed by the high plain lagoons Laguna Miscanti, Laguna Miñiques and the Cerro Miscanti volcano.
Salar de Atacama, located 55 km (34 mi) south of San Pedro de Atacama, is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is surrounded by mountains and lacks drainage outlets. To the east, it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range called Cordillera de Domeyko. The landscape is dominated by imposing volcanoes such as Licancabur, Acamarachi, Aguas Calientes, and Láscar, the latter being one of Chile's most active volcanoes. These volcanoes are situated along the eastern side of the Salar de Atacama, forming a north–south trending line that separates it from smaller endorheic basins.
Laguna Lejía is a salt lake located in the Altiplano of the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile. The landscape of the area is dominated by the volcanoes Chiliques, Lascar, Aguas Calientes and Acamarachi. It is shallow and has no outlet, covering a surface area of about 1.9 square kilometres (0.73 sq mi) in the present-day.
Zapaleri is a volcano whose summit is the tripoint of the borders of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. A number of railways are in the area. It is part of Potosí Department (Bolivia), Jujuy Province (Argentina), and Antofagasta Region (Chile). The volcano formed on top of the 2.89 mya Tara Ignimbrite from the Guacha caldera and the basement beneath the volcano is formed from Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks affected by tectonic deformation. Volcanic rocks are andesite, basalt, dacite and rhyolite. Late Cretaceous rocks are also found in the area, as are Pleistocene shoshonite volcanic rocks.
Laguna Colorada is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile.
The Central Andean dry puna (NT1001) is an ecoregion in the montane grasslands and shrublands biome, located in the Andean Altiplano in South America. It is a part of the Puna grassland.
Salar de Talar is a 46 square kilometres salt flat located in the high puna of northern Chilean Andes, at an altitude of 3,950 m. It is part of a series of salt lakes and salt flats located at the foothills of a chain of volcanoes stretching along the eastern side of the much greater Salar de Atacama.
Socaire is a village located 100 km (62 mi) southeast of the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in the San Pedro de Atacama province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. It offers views overlooking the Salar de Atacama.
The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve is located in Sur Lípez Province. Situated in the far southwestern region of Bolivia, it is the country's most visited protected area. It is considered the most important protected area in terms of tourist influx in the Potosí Department.
Salar de Pedernales is a large salt flat in the Atacama Region of Chile. It lies east of the Cordillera Domeyko at an elevation of 3,370 metres (11,060 ft). The salt flat has an irregular shape and consists mostly of gypsum and rock salt, with an area of 0.6 square kilometres (0.23 sq mi)-1.1 square kilometres (0.42 sq mi) covered by open water. During the late Pleistocene, the climate was wetter and thus open water covered a much larger area of Salar de Pedernales.
Alto Loa National Reserve is a Protected Area located in the province of El Loa, Antofagasta region, Chile. Announced in 2002 and created in 2005, it is Chile's largest natural reserve.
Chile Route 27 is a main road in the northern portion of Chile. It runs 156.19 km (97.05 mi) from San Pedro de Atacama to Paso de Jama. A short road off Route 27 heads north to Portezuelo del Cajón. Another adjacent road leads to Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, reaching maximum altitude of 5,064 metres (16,614 ft). The Chile Route 27 reaches an altitude according to OpenStreetMap of 4,831 metres (15,850 ft) at 23°04′21″S67°30′17″W at a road distance of 57.6 kilometres (35.8 mi) west of the border, making it one of the highest highways in South America.
Tuyajto Lake is a salt lake located in the Antofagasta Region, northern Chile. Located at an elevation of about 4,010 metres (13,160 ft), its surface area presently fluctuates between 1.7–2.7 square kilometres (0.66–1.04 sq mi) but in the past it was considerably larger; this led to humans going to the lake and creating archeological sites there. Presently, the lake is groundwater-fed and has no surface outlet but water might seep out underground. It is part of the Los Flamencos Natural Reserve.
Puritama Hot Springs is a series of eight large pools of geothermal spring water located at the bottom of a canyon in the Atacama Desert, in the Antofagasta Region in the north of Chile. It is located at an altitude of 3,475 meters above sea level, 30 km northeast of the town and commune of San Pedro de Atacama and 348 km northeast of Antofagasta, and is a popular tourist attraction.
Laguna Miscanti is a brackish water lake located in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region in northern Chile. Cerro Miñiques volcano and Cerro Miscanti tower over this lake. This 13.5 square kilometres (5.2 sq mi) large heart-shaped lake has a deep blue colour and developed in a basin formed by a fault. South of Miscanti lies Laguna Miñiques, another lake which is separated from Miscanti by a lava flow that was emplaced there during the Pleistocene.
Miñiques is the name of a lake and a volcano in Chile. It lies south of Laguna Miscanti and at the foot of the Cerro Miscanti volcano. The lake is fed from Laguna Miscanti by seepage and its waters are brackish.
Salar Ignorado is a salar in the Andes of Chile's Atacama Region at 4,250 metres (13,940 ft) elevation. Located just south of Cerro Bayo volcano, it comprises 0.7 square kilometres (0.27 sq mi) of salt flats, sand dunes and numerous pools of open water. The waters of Salar Ignorado, unlike these of other salt flats in the central Andes, are acidic owing to the input of sulfuric acid from hydrothermal water and the weathering of volcanic rocks.
Salar del Huasco is a salt flat dotted with ponds and salt marshes, and seasonally partially covered with water, in northern Chile. It is part of Ramsar Site 874, and was for a decade a national park. The area has a significant population of flamingos.
