Pedernales Salt Pan

The Salar de Pedernales spreads across a high basin in the dry southern Andes. Its broad crust of salt and shallow lagoons lie beneath the mountains of the Cordillera Claudio Gay. Despite the severity of the climate, wetlands at the edges of the salar support birdlife, including flamingos. Streams and underground waters collect in this closed basin, where evaporation leaves minerals on the surface.