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Description
The Salar de Uyuni was once at the bottom of an inland sea that covered most of the Bolivian Altiplano. When it evaporated during the last ice age, it left behind the Salares de Uyuni and Coipasa, as well as several brackish lakes and smaller salt flats. As well as being a major source of, um, salt, the Salar was recently discovered to contain the world's largest reserves of Lithium, by far larger than those in Chile and the United States. As of now the mines are largely experimental, but are expected to be fully functional in 2011. The government has to move carefully, though, in order to respect both local desires, and the ecosystem of the Salar.
These geometric patterns are some of many formed by the drying salt. There are hexagons in some areas, pentagons in others, and one area where the salt has crystallized into rose formations (unfortunately, I didn't get to see that...).

Description
The Salar de Uyuni was once at the bottom of an inland sea that covered most of the Bolivian Altiplano. When it evaporated during the last ice age, it left behind the Salares de Uyuni and Coipasa, as well as several brackish lakes and smaller salt flats. As well as being a major source of, um, salt, the Salar was recently discovered to contain the world's largest reserves of Lithium, by far larger than those in Chile and the United States. As of now the mines are largely experimental, but are expected to be fully functional in 2011. The government has to move carefully, though, in order to respect both local desires, and the ecosystem of the Salar.
These geometric patterns are some of many formed by the drying salt. There are hexagons in some areas, pentagons in others, and one area where the salt has crystallized into rose formations (unfortunately, I didn't get to see that...).