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ATACAMA, DESERT OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 822 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ATACAMA, See also:DESERT OF , an arid, barren and saline region of western See also:South See also:America, covering the greater See also:part of the Chilean provinces of Atacama and See also:Antofagasta, the See also:Argentine territory of Los See also:Andes, and the south-western corner of the Bolivian See also:department of See also:Potosi. The higher elevations are known as the Puna de Atacama, which is practically a continuation southward of the See also:great pupa region of See also:Peru and See also:Bolivia. It is a broken, mountainous region, volcanic in places, saline in others, and ranges from 7000 to 13,500 ft. in See also:general See also:elevation. Its culminating ridges are marked by an irregular See also:line of peaks and See also:extinct volcanoes extending See also:north by See also:east from about 28° S. into See also:southern Bolivia. On the eastern See also:side, occasional rainfalls occur and streams from the See also:snow-clads peaks produce some slight displays of fertility, but the general aspect of the plateaus, which are dry and See also:cold in See also:winter and in summer are swept by See also:rain-storms and covered by occasional tufts of coarse grass, is barren and forbidding. They are also broken by great saline lagoons and dry See also:salt basins. This region forms the Argentine territory of Los Andes and is habitable in places. On the western slope the See also:land descends gradually to the Pacific, being broken into great basins, or terraces, by mountainous ridges in its higher elevations, widening out into gently-sloping sandy plains below, famous for their nitrate deposits, and terminating on the See also:coast with sharply-sloping bluffs, having an elevation of 80o to 1500 ft., and looking from the See also:sea like a range of See also:flat-topped hills. This desolate region, which is rainless and absolutely barren, and was considered worthless for three and a See also:half centuries, is now a treasure-See also:house of See also:mineral See also:wealth, abounding in See also:copper, See also:silver, See also:lead, See also:nickel, See also:cobalt, See also:iron, nitrates and See also:borax. It is occupied by many See also:mining settlements, and includes some of the most productive copper and silver mines of the See also:world. See L. Darapsky, " Zur Geographie der Puna de Atacama," Zeits.

Ger. Erdk. zu See also:

Berlin, 1899; G. E. See also:Church, " South America: an Outline of its See also:Physical See also:Geography," See also:Geographical See also:Journal, 1901 ; See also:John See also:Ball, Notes of a Naturalist in South America (See also:London, 1887); F. O'Driscoll, " A See also:Journey to the North of the Argentine See also:Republic," Geographical Journal, 1904. (A. J.

End of Article: ATACAMA, DESERT OF

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