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Coordinates: 24°43′22.8″S 67°44′16.8″W / 24.723000°S 67.738000°W

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Salar de Arizaro
A view of the Salar de Arizaro
Salar de Arizaro
Location of Salar de Arizaro (blue) within northwestern Argentina and South America
Location	Argentina
Coordinates	24°43′22.8″S 67°44′16.8″W / 24.723000°S 67.738000°W / -24.723000; -67.738000
Basin countries	Argentina

Max. length	100 km (62 mi)^[1]
Max. width	50 km (31 mi)^[1]
Surface area	1,600 km² (618 sq mi)
Surface elevation	3,460 m (11,352 ft)

Islands	Cono de Arita
Settlements	Tolar Grande

Salar de Arizaro ("Arizaro" comes from Atacameno haâri "crow", "condor" and ara, aro, "accommodation", "place where something is common".^[3]) is a large salt flat of the Andes in north-western Argentina. It is located between the villages of Tolar Grande and Caipe and near Mina La Casualidad,^[1] in Los Andes Department, Salta Province.

Overview

Located in the central-western area of the Puna de Atacama, it covers an area of 1,600 km².^[4] Per extension, the Salar de Arizaro is the 6th largest salt flat in the World and the 2nd largest in Argentina after the Salinas Grandes.^[5]^[6]

The salar area is mined for metallic and non-metallic resources, as it is rich in salt, marble, iron, copper and onyx.^[7]

The nearest salt flats are the ones of Antofalla, Hombre Muerto (both in the north of Catamarca Province), Pocitos (in the east) and the Salinas Grandes of Jujuy and Salta provinces.

The Salar de Arizaro is crossed in the middle by the Salta–Antofagasta railway and the Provincial Route 27^[1] (part of the former RN 59). A particular characteristic of it is a conical hill named Cerro Cono (or Cono de Arita),^[8] a sandstone-formation.^[9]

The Salar de Arizaro is situated in the Lithium Triangle, and the area is being assessed for the extraction of Lithium carbonate by at least two companies: Lithium Chile^[10] and LiTHIUM-X^[11]

Cono de Arita
Cono de Arita

Literature

Gonzalo Monterroso: Touring Argentina - Salta. 1999, ISBN 9879821645
R. N. Alonso, J. G. Viramonte: Geología y Metalogenia de la Puna. Estudios geol. 43:393-407 (1987)