<< The Old Bus Route Through Death Valley - Calama to Atacama

04/02/12 - Valle de la Luna - Part 1

We've made it to the Atacama Desert.

The Valle de la Luna is not far from San Pedro de Atacama where we are staying, but it is an exotic landscape as the name implies. The hills are covered with crystals of salt, calcite and gypsum, or common sand depending on the wind and weather. Despite being in a hard desert, there are rains, and they, with the wind, shape the land.

Calcite and salt

A large salt crystal embedded in rock

One of the sand dunes

Sand dune and salt deposits

Erosion, the effects of water

Another view of the desert

Layers of sedimentary rock

A medley of "lunar" formations

The volcano Licancabur and his brother

The mineral deposits almost look like a flow of water, because they were made by the flow of water.

The ridge of this dune was closed after a recent earthquake.

Keywords: chile