Laguna Verde, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Photo of the Week - 04/29/2007
In the middle of a vast salt pan of the Salar de Uyuni in southwestern Bolivia, the startling colors of this salty lake appear luminous. The color comes from magnesium, calcium carbonate, lead and arsenic in the water. Around 10:00 AM is the best time to see the lake, when wind changes the color from blue to the intense turquoise seen here.
In the background is Licancabur volcano, a stratovolcano with a crater lake thought to be the highest crater lake in the world.
"Salar de Uyuni comprises over 12,000 sq km in the Potosi region. The salt is over 10 meters thick in the center. In the dry season, the salt planes are a completely flat expanse of dry salt, but in the wet season, it is covered with a thin sheet of water that is still drivable.
The standard tour heads south toward the southwest corner of Bolivia, by many fluorescent-colored lakes that are created from a collection of different minerals from runoff from the surrounding mountains."
Salar de Uyuni.
For more photos and descriptions, take the tour of Salar de Uyuni.
Photo displayed with the kind permission of Peter and Jackie Main.
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