Geology and resources of Salars in the central Andes

Antiquity of aridity in the Chilean Atacama Desert

“…5D). They include gypsum, anhydrite, halite, borates, and sodium sulphates (Stoertz and Ericksen, 1974;Ericksen and Salas, 1989). Evaporites are being deposited in salt lakes and coastal lagoons, between 198S and 278S (Suarez and Bell, 1987).…”

Mineral-resources map of the Circum-Pacific region, southeast quadrant

“…The Central Andes, mainly in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, contain many salars, former lakes in areas of internal drainage and under progressive desiccation, in which elements leached from the country rocks have concentrated. The largest proven economically important concentrations of lithium, potash, and sodium have been found in the salars of Atacama (Chile), Uyuni (Bolivia), and Hombre Muerto (Argentina) (Ericksen and Salas, 1990;Ide and Kunasz, 1990).…”

“…Among the important resources discovered in the Southeast Quadrant during the past two decades is lithium in the salars of the Central Andes (Ericksen and Salas, 1990). Andean salars are known to contain large resources of rock salt, lithium, borax, and smaller resources of gypsum, sodium sulfate, potassium, and magnesium.…”

“…Production of lithium started in 1984 at the Salar de Atacama, in an operation designed for annual production of 7,500 tons of lithium carbonate (Ericksen and Salas, 1990). The central halite body of the salar contains the greatest amount of lithium and potassium-rich brine, with an average of 1,800 milligrams/liter of lithium and 28,000 milligrams/liter of potassium.…”

“…In the better-studied Salar de Atacama, the lithium is thought to have been derived mainly from the leaching of volcanic rocks and discharged into the salar by stream and ground water flow (Ide and Kunasz, 1990;Ericksen and Salas, 1990).…”