Salar de Uyuni: Bolivia’s Giant Salt Flat Explained

Salar de Uyuni is a huge flat in Bolivia that looks like a giant white desert.

It isn’t made of sand; it’s made of salt that was left behind when a big lake dried up.

The lake, called Lake Minchin, existed a long time ago and slowly shrank until it disappeared about 10,000 years ago.

The water that was left behind evaporated, and the salt stayed on the ground.

Under the salt, there is a thick layer of salty water that contains a lot of lithium, a metal used in batteries.

The salt flat sits very high in the Andes mountains, about 3,656 meters above sea level.

Because the climate is very dry, the water keeps evaporating, so the salt keeps building up.

That’s why the desert looks so white and flat.

It’s the biggest salt flat in the world, covering more than 10,000 square kilometers.