A primordial world of minerals litters Atacama desert

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over part of Chile's Atacama Desert, which is bound on the west by the Pacific and on the east by the Andes. The Atacama is considered one of the driest places on Earth - there are some parts of the desert where rainfall has never been recorded.

In this image, captured on 26 June 2019, a specific area in the Tarapaca Region, in northern Chile, is featured - where some of the largest caliche deposits can be found. It is here where nitrates, lithium, potassium and iodine are mined.

Iodine, for example, is extracted in a process called heap leaching - which is widely used in modern large-scale mining operations. Leach piles are visible as rectangular shapes dotted around the image, although the exact reason for the different shades of colour is uncertain. Some leach piles could appear lighter or darker owing to the varying water content or soil type concentration.

The geometric shapes in the right are large evaporation ponds. Brine is pumped to the surface through a network of wells into the shallow ponds. The dry and windy climate enhances the evaporation of the water and leaves concentrated salts behind for the extraction of lithium - which is used in the manufacturing of batteries.

The bright, turquoise colours of the evaporation ponds are in stark contrast with the surrounding desert landscape - making them easily identifiable from space. Distinctive black lines visible in the image are roads that connect to the various construction sites.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe's Copernicus programme. This false-colour image was processed by selecting spectral bands that can be used for classifying geological features.

Related Links
Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission at ESA
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Scientists use pressure to make liquid magnetism breakthrough
Lemont IL (SPX) May 19, 2020
It sounds like a riddle: What do you get if you take two small diamonds, put a small magnetic crystal between them and squeeze them together very slowly? The answer is a magnetic liquid, which seems counterintuitive. Liquids become solids under pressure, but not generally the other way around. But this unusual pivotal discovery, unveiled by a team of researchers working at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE's Argonne National ... read more