Pedernales Salt Flat, III Region, Atacama, Chile, an exploration target for hydrocarbons?

First Break ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Hugo Vieytes
Keyword(s):  
Salt Flat ◽  
Exploration Target

scholarly journals Benthic microalgae community response to flooding in a tropical salt flat

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. M. Masuda ◽  
A. Enrich-Prast
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Microbial Mat ◽  
Total Density ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Effect Of Water ◽  
Salt Flat ◽  
Field Samples ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

Abstract This research evaluated the effect of flooding on the microphytobenthos community structure in a microbial mat from a tropical salt flat. Field samples were collected during four consecutive days: on the first three days the salt flat was dry, on the fourth day it was flooded by rain. In order to evaluate the community maintained in flood conditions, samples from this area were collected and kept in the laboratory for 10 days with sea water. The results of total abundance of microphytobenthos varied from 4.2 × 108 to 2.9 × 109 organisms L–1, total density increased one order of magnitude under the effect of water for both situations of precipitation in the salt flat and in experimental conditions, an increase due to the high abundance of Microcoleus spp. Shannon index (H’) was higher during the desiccation period. Our data suggest that changes in the abundance of organisms were due to the effect of water. The dominance of the most abundant taxa remained the same under conditions of desiccation and influence of water, and there is probably a consortium of microorganisms in the microbial mat that helps to maintain these dominances.

Microbiota dispersion in the Uyuni salt flat (Bolivia) as determined by community structure analyses

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-336
Author(s):  
Cesar A. Pérez-Fernández ◽  
Mercedes Iriarte ◽  
Jessica Rivera-Pérez ◽  
Raymond L. Tremblay ◽  
Gary A. Toranzos
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Salt Flat

scholarly journals Characterization of prodiginine compounds produced by a Vibrio species isolated from salt flat sediment along the Florida Gulf Coast

Fine Focus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Morgan ◽  
Matthew J. Thomas ◽  
Katherine M. Walstrom ◽  
Eric C. Warrick ◽  
Brittany J. Gasper
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Medicinal Uses ◽  
Salt Flat ◽  
Florida Gulf Coast ◽  
Flash Column Chromatography ◽  
Vibrio Genus ◽  
Pink Pigment

Prodiginines are secondary metabolites produced by several known species of bacteria. These metabolites are known for their bright pigmentation and their potential medicinal uses. Biosynthesis of prodiginine compounds, including the well-studied prodigiosin, has been well characterized in Serratia marcescens and other bacterial species, including several marine bacteria. In an effort to isolate and identify natural products from marine organisms, an environmental sample was taken from a salt flat along the Florida Gulf Coast and cultured for bacterial growth. A bacterial species that produces a vibrant pink pigment was isolated and identified as a member of the Vibrio genus and was named MI-2. Whole genome sequencing identified a 13-gene operon with homology to the S. marcescens prodigiosin biosynthetic operon. The pigment produced by MI-2 was hypothesized to be composed of prodigiosin or related prodiginine compounds and was purified by flash column chromatography and identified by mass spectrometry.

Using a socio-hydrology stance to address the paradox between global decarbonisation, lithium fever, and sustainability in the Atacama Salt Deposit

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Canales ◽  
Juan Castilla-Rho ◽  
Sebastian Vicuña ◽  
James Ball ◽  
Tatiana Filatova
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Rechargeable Lithium Batteries ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Salt Flat ◽  
The World ◽  
Hydrological System

<p>Climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by replacing petroleum-driven vehicles with electric vehicles powered by rechargeable lithium batteries. By 2025, 45% of the world’s Lithium will be sourced from water-intensive mining operations adjacent to fragile eco-hydrological systems in the Atacama Desert, the world’s driest desert. In the remote Atacama salt flat basin, home to one of the world’s richest deposits of high-grade lithium, brines are being mined from aquifers, with potential impacts on the long-term environmental, ecological, economic, and social viability of the system. Stakeholders (scientists, communities, and decision-makers) are currently entrenched in adversarial relationships and top-down policy-making and implementation.</p><p>A socio-hydrology stance considering telecoupled systems of people and water is essential to address the paradox between the quest for global decarbonisation and unsustainable use of water resources in the Atacama region. The inclusion of social drivers (beliefs, biases, values, and heuristics), however, adds complexity to the analysis. To address this complexity, novel methodologies such as participatory modeling (PM) and agent-based modeling (ABM) can be implemented. The former can enrich the system with specialist and local knowledge, increase the perceived utility of models, their credibility through transparent communication of the limitations and uncertainties, and the adoption and acceptance of the model results, which ultimately guide public policy. The latter seeks to represent explicitly the complexity and heterogeneity in these telecoupled systems.</p><p>The socio-hydrological problem at the Atacama salt flat is conceptualized using the Fuzzy-Logic Cognitive Mapping methodology through participatory workshops, involving scientists, regulators, and government officials. An ABM is then coupled to an integrated and regional groundwater-surface water model to better understand the impacts of management scenarios and social interactions, and their feedbacks on the eco-hydrological system. Ultimately, the aim of this research is to take a socio-hydrology stance to analyze a wicked problem with social, environmental, and economic implications at the local and global scales, and in doing so, expand fundamental knowledge of socio-hydrology.</p>

Andaman Basin—a future exploration target

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 964-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna Mohan ◽  
S. G. Vinod Dangwal ◽  
Soma Sengupta ◽  
A. G. Desai
Keyword(s):  
Exploration Target

A hydro-thermo-haline numerical approach of the groundwater flow to explain the extreme Li-enrichment in the Salar de Atacama (NE Chile)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Angel Marazuela ◽  
Carlos Ayora ◽  
Enric Vázquez Suñé ◽  
Sebastià Olivella Pastallé ◽  
Alejandro García Gil
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Rare Elements ◽  
Salt Flat ◽  
Major Cations ◽  
Salt Flats ◽  
Strong Evaporation ◽  
Hydrogeological Systems

<p>Salt flats (<em>salars</em>) are endorheic hydrogeological systems associated with arid to hyperarid climates. The brines of salt flats account the 80 % of the world’s reserves of Li highly demanded by modern industry. About 40 % of the worldwide Li is extracted from the brine that fills the pores and cavities of the Salar de Atacama. However, the origin of the extreme Li-enrichment of these brines is still unknown.</p><p>The thick accumulation of salts and brines in salt flats results from the groundwater discharge (phreatic evaporation) near the land surface for thousands to millions of years. The strong evaporation contributes the enrichment in major cations and anions as well as other rare elements (e.g. Li, B, Ba, Sr, Br, I and F) which are very attractive for mining exploitation. However, only evaporation cannot explain by itself the extreme concentrations of some of these elements and the strong decoupling between the most evaporated brines and the most Li-enriched brines in the Salar de Atacama. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the extreme Li-enrichment of the salt flat brines: (a) concentrated brines leaking down from salt flats located in the Andean Plateau, (b) leaching of hypothetical ancient salt flats buried among volcanic rocks, and (c) rising of hydrothermal brines from deep reservoirs through faults. However, none of them has been able probed neither validated by a numerical model till the date.</p><p>The objective of this work is to discuss the feasibility of the different hypotheses proposed until now to explain the formation of the world's largest lithium reserve. To achieve this objective, two sets of numerical simulations of a 2D vertical cross-section of the entire Salar de Atacama basin are carried out to define (1) the origin and evolution of a salt flat and how climate cycles can affect the location of the most Li-concentrated brines by evaporation and (2) the establishment of the hydro-thermo-haline circulation of a mature salt flat basin.</p>

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