1.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
4.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
5.
Tolar Grande
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Tolar Grande is a village and rural municipality in Salta Province in northwestern Argentina. The village is located in the middle of the Puna de Atacama,357 km far from the city of Salta and it is served by the Salta–Antofagasta railway and is 170 km from Chilean borders at Socompa. With a municipal area of 13,785 km², it covers at almost half of the Los Andes Department territory, media related to Tolar Grande at Wikimedia Commons Tolar Grande on Salta Province website
6.
Dry lakebed
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A dry lake is an ephemeral lakebed, or a remnant of an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts, alternative names for the dry lake include alkali flat, alkali sink and playa. A playa lake may cover an area, but it is never deep. Most water in it evaporates, leaving a layer of salt on the surface and these salt covered stretches are called saltpans. The surface of a dry lake is dry, hard and rough during the dry season. Dry lakes are small, round depressions in the surface of the landscape. If its basin is primarily salt, then a dry lake is called a salt pan, pan, hardpan, another dry lake type is the mudflat. Hardpan is the dry terminus of an internally drained basin in a dry climate, the Spanish word playa literally means beach. Dry lakes are known by name in some parts of Mexico. This term is used on the Llano Estacado and other parts of the Southern High Plains. In South America, the term for a dry lake is salar or salina. Pan is the used in most of South Africa. These may include the small round pans, typical of the Chrissiesmeer area, to the extensive pans of the Northern Cape province. It is also used in Australia, distinguished are salt pans and clay pans. In Arabic, a flat is called a sabkha or shott. In Central Asia, a similar cracked mud salt flat is known as a takyr, in Iran salt flats are called kavir. A playa lake is formed when water from rain or other sources, like intersection with a table, flows into a dry depression in the landscape. If the total annual evaporation rate exceeds the annual inflow
7.
Yardangs
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Yardangs become elongated features typically three or more times longer than wide, and when viewed from above, resemble the hull of a boat. Facing the wind is a steep, blunt face that gradually lower and narrower toward the lee end. Yardangs are formed by erosion, typically of an originally flat surface formed from areas of harder and softer material. The soft material is eroded and removed by the wind, the resulting pattern of yardangs is therefore a combination of the original rock distribution, and the fluid mechanics of the air flow and resulting pattern of erosion. The word itself is of Turkic origin, meaning ‘steep bank’, a yardang is formed in cohesive material. Hedin first found the wind-sculptured clay terraces or yardangs in the dried up riverbed of the Kurruk-daria in Central Asia, however, yardangs can be found in most deserts across the globe. Yardangs come in a range of sizes, and are divided into three different categories, mega-yardangs, meso-yardangs, and micro-yardangs. A large concentration of mega-yardangs are found near the Tibesti Mountains in the central Sahara, there is a famous yardang at Hole in the Rock in Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona, a rock formation with a roughly circular hole in it. Another yardang in Arizona is Window Rock, near the town of Window Rock and it is a 60-meter sandstone hill with a very large circular hole in the middle of it. Some geologists have suggested that the Great Sphinx of Egypt is an augmented yardang, pictures from Mars show that the yardang ridges occur on a massive scale there, some individual ridges are tens of kilometers long with intervening valleys nearly 1 km wide. Yardangs on Mars are typically found in the Amazonis region but the best ones are found in the equatorial region, yardangs on Mars demonstrate that much of the eolian erosion is recent since they are sculpted in young geologic units. Yardangs form in environments where water is scarce and the winds are strong, uni-directional. The wind cuts down low-lying areas into parallel ridges which gradually erode into separate hills that take on the shape of a yardang. This process yields a field of yardangs of roughly the same size, alternatively, one can be formed by the migration of a dune that leaves behind a cemented core. As the process of formation continues, typically a trough will form around the base of the yardang, most yardang fields are in sand-poor areas, but the associated troughs, especially in grooved terrain, may be invaded by sand. Sometimes this sand will accumulate to build shallow moats around the bottom and they are more commonly created from softer rock types like siltstone, sandstone, shale and limestone, but have also been observed in crystalline rocks such as schist and gneiss. Other common names for them include mud-lions, sphinxlike hills, inselbergs, Koukour, kalut and cretes et couloirs
8.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
9.
Earth Observing-1
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Its Advanced Land Imager measures nine different wavelengths simultaneously, instead of the seven measured by the imager in Landsat 7. This permits a greater flexibility in false-color imagery, in order to compare the two imagers, EO-1 follows Landsat 7 in its orbit by exactly one minute. EO-1 has also used to test new software, like the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment. This allows the spacecraft to decide for itself how best to create a desired image and it is only limited by a priority list of different types of images, and by forecasts of cloud cover provided by the NOAA. It was expected to function for months and was designed to function for eighteen months. Those expectations were greatly exceeded however the fuel was mostly depleted in February 2011. Small maneuvers have been successful for debris avoidance but long duration burns for orbit maintenance are not being performed due to insufficient fuel, EO-1 was deactivated on 30 March 2017. At its current altitude, it is estimated that the satellite will remain in orbit until the 2050s, Earth observation satellite EO1 Mission Overview. Delta 2 Rocket Puts Three Satellites into Earth Orbit, Earth Observing-1 at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
10.
Salt weathering
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Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soil, and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with the Earths atmosphere, waters, and biological organisms. Two important classifications of weathering processes exist – physical and chemical weathering, mechanical or physical weathering involves the breakdown of rocks and soils through direct contact with atmospheric conditions, such as heat, water, ice and pressure. While physical weathering is accentuated in very cold or very dry environments, chemical reactions are most intense where the climate is wet, however, both types of weathering occur together, and each tends to accelerate the other. For example, physical abrasion decreases the size of particles and therefore increases their surface area, the various agents act in concert to convert primary minerals to secondary minerals and release plant nutrient elements in soluble forms. The materials left over after the rock breaks down combined with organic material creates soil, in addition, many of Earths landforms and landscapes are the result of weathering processes combined with erosion and re-deposition. Physical weathering, also recognized as mechanical weathering, is the class of processes that causes the disintegration of rocks without chemical change, the primary process in physical weathering is abrasion. However, chemical and physical weathering often go hand in hand, physical weathering can occur due to temperature, pressure, frost etc. For example, cracks exploited by physical weathering will increase the area exposed to chemical action. Abrasion by water, ice, and wind loaded with sediment can have tremendous cutting power, as is amply demonstrated by the gorges, ravines. In glacial areas, huge moving ice masses embedded with soil and rock fragments grind down rocks in their path, plant roots sometimes enter cracks in rocks and pry them apart, resulting in some disintegration, Burrowing animals may help disintegrate rock through their physical action. However, such influences are usually of importance in producing parent material when compared to the drastic physical effects of water, ice, wind. Physical weathering is called mechanical weathering or disaggregation. Thermal stress weathering results from the expansion and contraction of rock, for example, heating of rocks by sunlight or fires can cause expansion of their constituent minerals. As some minerals expand more than others, temperature changes set up differential stresses that cause the rock to crack apart. Because the outer surface of a rock is often warmer or colder than the more protected inner portions and this process may be sharply accelerated if ice forms in the surface cracks. When water freezes, it expands with a force of about 1465 Mg/m^2, disintegrating huge rock masses, thermal stress weathering comprises two main types, thermal shock and thermal fatigue. Thermal stress weathering is an important mechanism in deserts, where there is a diurnal temperature range, hot in the day. The repeated heating and cooling exerts stress on the layers of rocks
11.
Salt pan (geology)
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Natural salt pans or salt flats are flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the Sun. They are found in deserts, and are natural formations, a salt pan forms by evaporation of a water pool such as a lake or pond. This happens in climates where the rate of water exceeds the rate of precipitation. If the water drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates. Over thousands of years, the minerals accumulate on the surface and these minerals reflect the Suns rays and often appear as white areas. The crust of salt can conceal a quagmire of mud that can engulf a truck, the Qattara Depression in the eastern Sahara desert contains many such traps which served as strategic barriers during World War II. The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where land speed records have been set, is a well-known salt pan in the arid regions of the western United States. The Etosha pan, in the Etosha National Park in Namibia, is another prominent example of a salt pan, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt pan in the world. It contains 50%-70% of the worlds lithium reserves, dry lake Pan Sabkha Salt evaporation pond Salt lake Sink Solonchak Briere, Peter R. Playa, playa lake, sabkha, Proposed definitions for old terms. Lowenstein, Tim K. Lawrence A. Hardie, criteria for the recognition of salt-pan evaporites
12.
Andes
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The Andes or Andean Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world. They are a range of highlands along the western edge of South America. This range is about 7,000 km long, about 200 to 700 km wide, the Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Along their length, the Andes are split into several ranges, the Andes are the location of several high plateaus – some of which host major cities, such as Quito, Bogotá, Arequipa, Medellín, Sucre, Mérida and La Paz. The Altiplano plateau is the worlds second-highest after the Tibetan plateau and these ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate, the Tropical Andes, the Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. The Andes are the worlds highest mountain range outside of Asia, the highest mountain outside Asia, Mount Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is farther from the Earths center than any other location on the Earths surface, the worlds highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m. The etymology of the word Andes has been debated, the majority consensus is that it derives from the Quechua word anti, which means east as in Antisuyu, one of the four regions of the Inca Empire. In the northern part of the Andes, the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is considered to be part of the Andes. The term cordillera comes from the Spanish word cordel, meaning rope, the Andes range is about 200 km wide throughout its length, except in the Bolivian flexure where it is about 640 kilometres wide. The Andes are the result of plate tectonics processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American plate. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of the rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate. In the south, the Andes share a boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane. To the west, the Andes end at the Pacific Ocean, from a geographical approach, the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and a less rugged topography. The Andes Mountains also contain large quantities of iron ore located in mountains within the range. The Andean orogen has a series of bends or oroclines, the Bolivian Orocline is a seaward concave bending in the coast of South America and the Andes Mountains at about 18° S. At this point the orientation of the Andes turns from Northwest in Peru to South in Chile, the Andean segment north and south of the orocline have been rotated 15° to 20° counter clockwise and clockwise respectively. The Bolivian Orocline area overlaps with the area of maximum width of the Altiplano Plateau, the specific point at 18° S where the coastline bends is known as the Arica Elbow
13.
Chile
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Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres of Antarctica, the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes, the southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. Spain conquered and colonized Chile in the century, replacing Inca rule in northern and central Chile. After declaring its independence from Spain in 1818, Chile emerged in the 1830s as a relatively stable authoritarian republic, in the 1960s and 1970s the country experienced severe left-right political polarization and turmoil. The regime, headed by Augusto Pinochet, ended in 1990 after it lost a referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a coalition which ruled through four presidencies until 2010. Chile is today one of South Americas most stable and prosperous nations and it leads Latin American nations in rankings of human development, competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, state of peace, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. It also ranks high regionally in sustainability of the state, Chile is a founding member of the United Nations, the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. There are various theories about the origin of the word Chile, another theory points to the similarity of the valley of the Aconcagua with that of the Casma Valley in Peru, where there was a town and valley named Chili. Another origin attributed to chilli is the onomatopoeic cheele-cheele—the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a locally known as trile. The Spanish conquistadors heard about this name from the Incas, ultimately, Almagro is credited with the universalization of the name Chile, after naming the Mapocho valley as such. The older spelling Chili was in use in English until at least 1900 before switching over to Chile, stone tool evidence indicates humans sporadically frequented the Monte Verde valley area as long as 18,500 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, migrating Native Americans settled in fertile valleys, settlement sites from very early human habitation include Monte Verde, Cueva del Milodon and the Pali Aike Craters lava tube. They fought against the Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui and his army, the result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish encountered various cultures that supported themselves principally through slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarros lieutenants, who founded the city of Santiago on 12 February 1541. Although the Spanish did not find the gold and silver they sought, they recognized the agricultural potential of Chiles central valley
14.
Los Andes Department
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Los Andes is a department located in Salta Province, Argentina. It is the second largest by area in the province, after Rivadavia Department, the department is located in the western area of the province, on the eastern side of the Andes, and includes the Puna de Atacama. It borders with Antofagasta Region, the provinces of Jujuy and Catamarca, the territorial strip linking the northern and southern side of La Poma Department separes Los Andes from Rosario de Lerma Department
15.
Salta Province
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Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, to the north it borders Bolivia and Paraguay and to the west lies Chile. The Atacamas lived in the Puna, and the Wichís, in the Chaco region, the first conquistador to venture into the area was Diego de Almagro in 1535, he was followed by Diego de Rojas. Hernando de Lerma founded San Felipe de Lerma in 1582, following orders of the viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, by 1650, the city had around five hundred inhabitants. An intendency of Salta del Tucumán was created within the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in 1774, San Ramón de La Nueva Orán was founded between Salta and Tarija. In 1783, in recognition of the importance of the city. The battle of Salta in 1813 freed the territory from Spain, gervasio de Posadas created the Province of Salta in 1814, containing the current provinces of Salta, Jujuy, and parts of southern Bolivia and northern Chile. Exploiting internal Argentine conflicts that arose after the Argentine Declaration of Independence, in 1834, Jujuy withdrew from Salta and became a separate province. The borders of Salta were further reduced in 1900, with the loss of Yacuiba to Bolivia. The National Government of Los Andes, constituted from the province in 1902 with a capital at San Antonio de los Cobres, was returned to Salta Province in 1943 as the Department of Los Andes. Antonio Alices painting, La muerte de Güemes, which received a Gold Medal at the Centenary Exposition, is on display at the offices of the Salta Provincial Government. The province is located in the zone and has a warm climate in general. The orientation of the Andes influences the distribution of precipitation within the province, the easternmost parts of the province have a semi-arid climate with a dry winter season. The mean annual temperature and precipitation are 20 °C and 500 millimetres, temperatures can reach up to 47 °C during summers, while they can fall down to −5 °C during winters. The first slopes of the Andes force the moist, easterly winds to rise, provoking very high condensation leading to the formation of clouds that generate copious amounts of rain. The eastern slopes of the mountains receive between 1,000 to 1,500 mm of precipitation a year, although some places receive up to 2,500 mm of precipitation annually owing to orographic precipitation. Most of the precipitation is concentrated in the summer, with winters being dry, the high rainfall on these first slopes creates a thick jungle that extends in a narrow strip along these ranges, creating an area of great species diversity. At higher altitudes on these slopes, the climate is cooler and more humid, with the vegetation consisting of deciduous, between the high altitudes to the east and the low plains to the west lie the valleys
16.
Puna de Atacama
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The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau is an arid high plateau, in the Andes of northern Chile and Argentina. Geomorphologist Walther Penck based his Grossfalt landform association on Puna de Atacama, the plateaus elevation averages 4,500 metres above sea level, and it spans an area of 180,000 square kilometres. In Argentina, Punas territory is extended in the provinces of Salta, Jujuy, in Chile, it is included in the regions of Antofagasta and north-eastern Atacama. Before the War of the Pacific, the region belonged to Bolivia, in 1898 it was ceded to Argentina in exchange for recognition of Tarija as part of Bolivia. Chile, which had annexed the Litoral Province from Bolivia, declared the exchange illegal, the border was defined in 1899 after the Puna de Atacama dispute. Of the 75,000 km2 in dispute 64,000 were awarded to Argentina and 11,000 to Chile, Puna de Atacama dispute Atacama Desert Altiplano Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex Salar de Atacama Salar de Arizaro Puna grassland Tren a las Nubes Salta–Antofagasta railway
17.
Salt
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Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent. The open ocean has about 35 grams of solids per litre, Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. The tissues of animals contain larger quantities of salt than do plant tissues, Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and salting is an important method of food preservation. Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Hittites, Egyptians, and the Indians. Salt became an important article of trade and was transported by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, along specially built salt roads, the scarcity and universal need for salt has led nations to go to war over it and use it to raise tax revenues. Salt is used in ceremonies and has other cultural significance. Salt is processed from salt mines, or by the evaporation of seawater or mineral-rich spring water in shallow pools. Its major industrial products are caustic soda and chlorine, and is used in industrial processes including the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride, plastics, paper pulp. Of the annual production of around two hundred million tonnes of salt, only about 6% is used for human consumption. Other uses include water conditioning processes, de-icing highways, and agricultural use, edible salt is sold in forms such as sea salt and table salt which usually contains an anti-caking agent and may be iodised to prevent iodine deficiency. As well as its use in cooking and at the table, sodium is an essential nutrient for human health via its role as an electrolyte and osmotic solute. Excessive salt consumption can increase the risk of diseases, such as hypertension, in children. Such health effects of salt have long been studied, accordingly, numerous world health associations and experts in developed countries recommend reducing consumption of popular salty foods. The World Health Organization recommends that adults should consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium, humans have always tended to build communities either around sources of salt, or where they can trade for it. All through history the availability of salt has been pivotal to civilization, the word salary comes from the Latin word for salt because the Roman Legions were sometimes paid in salt. The Natron Valley was a key region that supported the Egyptian Empire to its north, because it supplied it with a kind of salt that came to be called by its name, natron. Even before this, what is now thought to have been the first city in Europe is Solnitsata, in Bulgaria, even the name Solnisata means salt works. A very ancient salt-works operation has been discovered at the Poiana Slatinei archaeological site next to a spring in Lunca, Neamț County
18.
Marble
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Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the marble to refer to metamorphosed limestone, however. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material and this stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning marble-like. In Hungarian it is called márvány, Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. Metamorphism causes variable recrystallization of the carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals. Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the carbonate rock have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure limestone or dolomite protolith, green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure, examples of historically notable marble varieties and locations, White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times. This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction, specifically the dimension stone trade, the marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone that geologists call the Holston Formation. Ashgabat, the city of Turkmenistan, was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings. According to the United States Geological Survey, U. S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production in 2006 was 11.8 million tons valued at $116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. For comparison,2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate, U. S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for Marble Index has shown a growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, the largest dimension marble application is tile. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of production of marble
19.
Iron
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Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series and it is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earths outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earths crust, like the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen, fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon. A certain proportion of carbon steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with metals are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties. Iron chemical compounds have many uses, Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens, among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Iron is also the metal at the site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body and this iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma. The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys can be evaluated using a variety of tests, including the Brinell test, Rockwell test, the data on iron is so consistent that it is often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. An increase in the content will cause a significant increase in the hardness. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0. 6% carbon content, because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium. Because of its significance for planetary cores, the properties of iron at high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively
20.
Copper
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Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of copper has a reddish-orange color. Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in directly usable metallic form as opposed to needing extraction from an ore and this led to very early human use, from c.8000 BC. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris, Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the hemoglobin in fish. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, the adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper, at the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice, such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form. The softness of copper partly explains its high conductivity and high thermal conductivity. The maximum permissible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3. 1×106 A/m2 of cross-sectional area, Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air, as with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur. A green layer of verdigris can often be seen on old structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings. Copper tarnishes when exposed to sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides. There are 29 isotopes of copper, 63Cu and 65Cu are stable, with 63Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper, both have a spin of 3⁄2
21.
Onyx
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Onyx is a banded variety of the oxide mineral chalcedony. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands, agate has curved bands, the colors of its bands range from white to almost every color. Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white, onyx comes through Latin, from the Greek ὄνυξ, meaning claw or fingernail. With its fleshtone color, onyx can be said to resemble a fingernail, the English word nail is cognate with the Greek word. Onyx is formed of bands of chalcedony in alternating colors and it is cryptocrystalline, consisting of fine intergrowths of the silica minerals quartz and moganite. Its bands are parallel to one another, as opposed to the more chaotic banding that often occurs in agates, sardonyx is a variant in which the colored bands are sard rather than black. Black onyx is perhaps the most famous variety, but is not as common as onyx with colored bands, artificial treatments have been used since ancient times to produce both the black color in black onyx and the reds and yellows in sardonyx. Most black onyx on the market is artificially colored, the name has sometimes been used, incorrectly, to label other banded lapidary materials, such as banded calcite found in Mexico, Pakistan, and other places, and often carved, polished and sold. This material is softer than true onyx, and much more readily available. The majority of carved items sold as onyx today are this carbonate material, artificial onyx types have also been produced from common chalcedony and plain agates. The first-century naturalist Pliny the Elder described these techniques being used in Roman times and these techniques are still used, as well as other dyeing treatments, and most so-called black onyx sold is artificially treated. In addition to dye treatments, heating and treatment with nitric acid have been used to lighten or eliminate undesirable colors and it has a long history of use for hardstone carving and jewelry, where it is usually cut as a cabochon or into beads. It has also used for intaglio and hardstone cameo engraved gems. Some onyx is natural but much of the material in commerce is produced by the staining of agate, onyx was used in Egypt as early as the Second Dynasty to make bowls and other pottery items. Use of sardonyx appears in the art of Minoan Crete, notably from the archaeological recoveries at Knossos, Brazilian green onyx was often used as plinths for art deco sculptures created in the 1920s and 1930s. The German sculptor Ferdinand Preiss used Brazilian green onyx for the base on the majority of his chryselephantine sculptures, green onyx was also used for trays and pin dishes – produced mainly in Austria – often with small bronze animals or figures attached. Onyx is mentioned in the Bible many times, sardonyx is mentioned in the Bible as well. Onyx was known to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the first-century naturalist Pliny the Elder described both type of onyx and various artificial treatment techniques in his Naturalis Historia
22.
Catamarca Province
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Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the 2001 census, neighbouring provinces are, Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja. To the west it borders Chile, the capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, usually shortened to Catamarca. Other important cities include Andalgalá, Tinogasta, and Belén, located in an arid and semi-arid climate zone, the scarce water resources determine the human settlement pattern. Agricultural activities are concentrated in the pockets and valleys between the mountains, in the east the population is concentrated around a number of water courses, water being distributed by canals and irrigation ditches. The province is located with the region of Argentina. Mean annual precipitation of the province is around 400 to 500 millimetres which decreases significantly to the west, the province is characterized by the presence of different microclimates based on variations in altitude. In general, there are three different climatic zones found within the province, the northeastern parts of the province has a subtropical highland climate that is characterized by abundant rainfall and high temperatures. Summers are hot while winters are mild with abundant humidity, at the highest peaks of Sierra del Aconquija, snow cover is permanment. Most of the province and its valleys have an arid climate. Within these valleys includes the provincial capital, the climate is characterized by its extreme aridity, large thermal amplitudes. The region is characterized by abundant sunshine with winds predominantly coming from the northeast and southeast, nonetheless, there is large variation between different locations owing to differences in altitude and differences in the relief and altitudes of the surrounding mountains that enclose the valleys. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 500 to 700 millimetres in the parts of the region to less than 150 millimetres in the west. In the arid valleys, mean precipitation is around 160 millimetres. Most of the precipitation occurs during summer, falling as short, mean annual temperatures range between 16 to 18 °C with eastern and central parts having mean annual temperatures of 20 °C. In summer, the temperature is 25 °C although they can reach up to 45 °C. Winters, with a temperature of 10 °C are characterized by frequent frosts. Locations in the west experience colder winters due to their higher altitudes with temperatures that can decrease to −30 °C, during winter, the Zonda Wind occasionally occurs, leading to very dry conditions that can lead to dust storms
23.
Jujuy Province
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Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south, pre-Columbian inhabitants known as the Omaguacas and Ocloyas, who were later conquered by the Incas during their expansion period, practiced agriculture and domesticated the guanaco. They had huts made of mud, and erected stone fortresses to protect their villages, an example of such fortresses is Pucará de Tilcara, Pucará meaning fortress. In 1593, a settlement was erected in the Jujuy valley by the effort of Francisco de Argañaraz y Murguía. In spite of the attacks of the Calchaquíes and Omaguacas aborigines, at the end of the 17th century, the customs to the Viceroyalty of Peru was transferred from Córdoba to Jujuy. With the separation from Peru and the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, Jujuy lost its importance and its population started to diminish. During the May Revolution and the battles for the independence of the United provinces of the South, the people of Jujuy had to endure the Jujuy Exodus, a massive evacuation with a scorched earth policy, led by General Manuel Belgrano. Finally the Spanish surrendered, but the war affected the economy of the area. After a series of conflicts, the province declared its autonomy from Tucumán. Jujuy started a process of economic and social improvement, and at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the century, the railway already connected the province with Buenos Aires. Heavy industry first arrived in Jujuy at the hand of General Manuel Savio, in 1969, Jujuy joined oil-rich neighboring Salta Province with the discovery of petroleum by the state-owned YPF. There are 3 main areas in Jujuy, the Altiplano, a 3,500 meters high plateau with peaks of 5,000 meters, covers most of the province. The Río Grande of Jujuy cuts through the Quebrada de Humahuaca canyon, to the Southeast, the sierras descends to the Gran Chaco region. The vast difference in height and climate produces desert areas such as the Salinas Grandes salt mines, in spite of the different areas, the terrain of the province is mainly arid and semi-desertic, except for the El Ramal valley of the San Francisco River. Temperature difference between day and night is wider in higher lands, and precipitations are scarce outside the area of the San Francisco River. The Grande River and the San Francisco River flow to the Bermejo River, the San Juan, La Quiaca, Yavi and Sansana flow to the Pilcomayo River. Jujuys economy is underdeveloped, yet very diversified
24.
Salta province
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Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, to the north it borders Bolivia and Paraguay and to the west lies Chile. The Atacamas lived in the Puna, and the Wichís, in the Chaco region, the first conquistador to venture into the area was Diego de Almagro in 1535, he was followed by Diego de Rojas. Hernando de Lerma founded San Felipe de Lerma in 1582, following orders of the viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, by 1650, the city had around five hundred inhabitants. An intendency of Salta del Tucumán was created within the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in 1774, San Ramón de La Nueva Orán was founded between Salta and Tarija. In 1783, in recognition of the importance of the city. The battle of Salta in 1813 freed the territory from Spain, gervasio de Posadas created the Province of Salta in 1814, containing the current provinces of Salta, Jujuy, and parts of southern Bolivia and northern Chile. Exploiting internal Argentine conflicts that arose after the Argentine Declaration of Independence, in 1834, Jujuy withdrew from Salta and became a separate province. The borders of Salta were further reduced in 1900, with the loss of Yacuiba to Bolivia. The National Government of Los Andes, constituted from the province in 1902 with a capital at San Antonio de los Cobres, was returned to Salta Province in 1943 as the Department of Los Andes. Antonio Alices painting, La muerte de Güemes, which received a Gold Medal at the Centenary Exposition, is on display at the offices of the Salta Provincial Government. The province is located in the zone and has a warm climate in general. The orientation of the Andes influences the distribution of precipitation within the province, the easternmost parts of the province have a semi-arid climate with a dry winter season. The mean annual temperature and precipitation are 20 °C and 500 millimetres, temperatures can reach up to 47 °C during summers, while they can fall down to −5 °C during winters. The first slopes of the Andes force the moist, easterly winds to rise, provoking very high condensation leading to the formation of clouds that generate copious amounts of rain. The eastern slopes of the mountains receive between 1,000 to 1,500 mm of precipitation a year, although some places receive up to 2,500 mm of precipitation annually owing to orographic precipitation. Most of the precipitation is concentrated in the summer, with winters being dry, the high rainfall on these first slopes creates a thick jungle that extends in a narrow strip along these ranges, creating an area of great species diversity. At higher altitudes on these slopes, the climate is cooler and more humid, with the vegetation consisting of deciduous, between the high altitudes to the east and the low plains to the west lie the valleys
25.
Sandstone
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Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earths crust, like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure, usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of a rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, grain sizes in sands are defined within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages, first, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air. Typically, sedimentation occurs by the settling out from suspension. The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow, a predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source for masonry, either as a building material or as a facing stone. These physical properties allow the grains to survive multiple recycling events. Quartz grains evolve from rock, which are felsic in origin. Feldspathic framework grains are commonly the second most abundant mineral in sandstones, Feldspar can be divided into two smaller subdivisions, alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The different types of feldspar can be distinguished under a petrographic microscope, below is a description of the different types of feldspar. Alkali feldspar is a group of minerals in which the composition of the mineral can range from KAlSi3O8 to NaAlSi3O8. Plagioclase feldspar is a group of solid solution minerals that range in composition from NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8. Lithic framework grains are pieces of ancient source rock that have yet to weather away to individual mineral grains, accessory minerals are all other mineral grains in a sandstone, commonly these minerals make up just a small percentage of the grains in a sandstone
26.
Atacama Desert
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The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a 1, 000-kilometre strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is the driest non-polar desert in the world, according to estimates, the Atacama Desert proper occupies 105,000 square kilometres, or 128,000 square kilometres if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included. Most of the desert is composed of terrain, salt lakes, sand. The National Geographic Society considers the area of southern Peru to be part of the Atacama Desert. Peru borders it on the north and the Chilean Matorral ecoregion borders it on the south, to the east lies the less arid Central Andean dry puna ecoregion. The drier portion of this ecoregion is located south of the Loa River between the parallel Sierra Vicuña Mackenna and Cordillera Domeyko, to the north of the Loa lies the Pampa del Tamarugal. The Coastal Cliff of northern Chile west of the Chilean Coast Range is the topographic feature of the coast. The geomorphology of the Atacama Desert has been characterized as a low-relief bench similar to a giant uplifted terrace by Armijo and co-workers. The intermediate depression forms a series of basins in much of Atacama Desert south of latitude 19°30’ S. North of this latitude the intermediate depression drains into the Pacific Ocean. Although the almost total lack of precipitation is the most prominent characteristic of the Atacama Desert, in 2012, the altiplano winter brought floods to San Pedro de Atacama. On 25 March 2015, heavy rainfall affected the part of the Atacama desert. Resulting floods triggered mudflows that affected the cities of Copiapo, Tierra Amarilla, Chile, Chanaral, the Atacama Desert is commonly known as the driest non-polar place in the world, especially the surroundings of the abandoned Yungay town. The average rainfall is about 15 mm per year, although some locations, such as Arica and Iquique, moreover, some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. Periods of up to four years have been registered with no rainfall in the sector, delimited by the cities of Antofagasta, Calama and Copiapó. Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971, the Atacama Desert may be the oldest desert on earth, and has experienced extreme hyperaridity for at least 3 million years, making it the oldest continuously arid region on earth. The long history of aridity raises the possibility that supergene mineralisation, under the conditions, can form in arid environments. This desert is so arid, many mountains higher than 6,000 m are free of glaciers. Only the highest peaks have some permanent snow coverage, the southern part of the desert, between 25 and 27°S, may have been glacier-free throughout the Quaternary, though permafrost extends down to an altitude of 4,400 m and is continuous above 5,600 m
27.
Salar de Uyuni
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Salar de Uyuni is the worlds largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers. It is located in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, the Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the elevation variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine and it contains 50 to 70% of the worlds known lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. The Salar serves as the transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is part of the Altiplano of Bolivia in South America, the Altiplano is a high plateau, which was formed during uplift of the Andes mountains. The plateau includes fresh and saltwater lakes as well as flats and is surrounded by mountains with no drainage outlets. The geological history of the Salar is associated with a transformation between several vast lakes. Some 30,000 to 42,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin and its age was estimated from radiocarbon dating of shells from outcropping sediments and carbonate reefs and varies between reported studies. Lake Minchin later transformed into Paleo Lake Tauca having a depth of 140 meters. The youngest prehistoric lake was Coipasa, which was dated to 11,500 to 13,400 years ago. When it dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru, and two salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni spreads over 10,582 square kilometers, which is roughly 100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States, Lake Poopó is a neighbor of the much larger Lake Titicaca. During the wet season, Titicaca overflows and discharges into Poopó, lacustrine mud that is interbedded with salt and saturated with brine underlies the surface of Salar de Uyuni. The brine is a solution of sodium chloride, lithium chloride. It is covered with a salt crust varying in thickness between tens of centimeters and a few meters. The center of the Salar contains a “few islands”, the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes submerged during the era of Lake Minchin and they include unusual and fragile coral-like structures and deposits that often consist of fossils and algae
28.
Salar de Atacama
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Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is located 55 km south of San Pedro de Atacama, is surrounded by mountains, in the east it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range of the Andes called Cordillera de Domeyko. Large volcanoes dominate the landscape, including the Licancabur, Acamarachi, Aguas Calientes, the last is one of the most active volcanoes in Chile. All of them are located along the side of the Salar de Atacama. The salt flat encompasses 3,000 km2, is about 100 km long and 80 km wide and its average elevation is about 2,300 m above sea level. Some areas of the flat form part of Los Flamencos National Reserve. The Laguna Cejar is a sink hole lake in the Salar de Atacama,18 km from San Pedro and it has a salt concentration that ranges from 5 to 28%, producing at the higher end of the range an effect of floating like the Dead Sea. At present the Salar de Atacama depression conforms a subsiding sedimentary basin, comparing with neighboring areas of the Andes the Salar de Atacama depression is a major topographical anomaly. The Salar de Atacama depression is thought to be caused by a block that due to its high density has remained at lower position than the rest of the Andes. The high density would derive from the times the Salar de Atacama depression was a rift arm of the Salta Rift Basin located further east in Argentine territory. Salar de Atacama basin is bordered on the north by the Salado River basin, to the east, the drainage divide approximately coincides with the international border with Bolivia until the Portezuelo del Cajón. The dividing range includes the volcanoes Cerros de Tocorpuri, Sairecabur, Curiquinca, Licancabur, going southward, the water divide runs along a chain of volcanoes that lie entirely in Chilean territory. To the west, the Cordillera Domeyko separates the Salar de Atacama basin from arheic areas and its main tributaries are the San Pedro and Vilama rivers, which originate to the north of the salt flat. Salar de Atacamas evaporation rate is the highest in the industry, followed by Puna de Atacama, Argentina. Gerardo Díaz del Río, Ramiro Bonilla Parra, Fernando Peralta Toro, geología de superficie, sub-superficie y geoquímica del Salar de Atacama. Bottled Lightning, Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy, geoquímica del Salar de Atacama, parte 1, origen de los componentes y balance salino. Ortiz, J. F. Muñoz, P. Adkins, evaporation and land surface energy budget at the Salar de Atacama, Northern Chile
29.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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