Region of Atacama, Chile: Andes and Salt Flats

Maricunga salt flat: p. 1 | p. 2

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The Maricunga salt flat or salt lake

The salt flat of Maricunga, which is a little over 15 km long, is the southernmost salt lake on the Chilean side. In good weather, the views of the Volcano Copiapó and the Tres Cruces chain are magnificent.

The seemingly infinite plain of the Salar de Maricunga is located at 3400 meters above sea level. The unique thing about this flat is the lack of raw effluent. However, the high rate of evaporation does not turn this enclosed basin into a vast lake. But the salts remain in this process. Slowly a salt lake with massive sequences of saltworks formed in the underground.

The Maricunga salt flat has a length of 29.6 km (northern shore to the Santa Rosa Lake), and the active area is only 15.3 km long. The maximum width of the salt lake is 9.8 km.

The plateau in which the Maricunga salt lake is located is much larger: the longitudinal stretch is almost 40 km, the transverse stretch over 15 km. The main axis of the salt lake is N22°E