{"id":374007,"date":"2026-10-17T16:27:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=374007"},"modified":"2026-10-17T16:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:57:46","slug":"atacama-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/atacama-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Atacama Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Indian researchers have identified geological sites in Tamil Nadu and Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert that share mineralogical and environmental characteristics with Mars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Atacama Desert<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_374011\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-374011\" style=\"width: 254px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-374011\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Britannica-2.jpg?resize=254%2C339&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Atacama Desert\" width=\"254\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Britannica-2.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Britannica-2.jpg?w=663&amp;ssl=1 663w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-374011\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Britannica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> The <strong>Atacama Desert<\/strong> is located in <strong>northern Chile<\/strong>, near the <strong>borders of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina<\/strong> in <strong>South America<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It <strong>stretches<\/strong> along the <strong>Pacific coast<\/strong> for about <strong>1,000 km,<\/strong> flanked by the towering <strong>Andes Mountains<\/strong> to the <strong>east<\/strong> and the <strong>Chilean Pacific Ocean coast<\/strong> range to the <strong>west<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is the <strong>driest non-polar desert<\/strong> in the world and the <strong>largest fog desert<\/strong> on Earth.\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>fog desert<\/strong> is a type of desert where <strong>fog drip supplies the majority of moisture<\/strong> needed by animal and plant life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate:<\/strong> The Atacama has a <strong>cold desert climate<\/strong> (in the K\u00f6ppen climate classification, <strong>BWk<\/strong>) with generally <strong>mild temperatures year-round<\/strong> and <strong>only slight temperature differences<\/strong> across seasons.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>average rainfall<\/strong> is about <strong>15 mm per year<\/strong>, although some locations receive <strong>only 1 to 3 mm<\/strong> in a year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Three different reasons<\/strong> contribute to the <strong>Atacama Desert being the driest place on earth. These are-<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_374012\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-374012\" style=\"width: 459px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-374012\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Nat-Geo.jpg?resize=459%2C196&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"459\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Nat-Geo.jpg?resize=300%2C128&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Nat-Geo.jpg?resize=768%2C329&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Source-Nat-Geo.jpg?w=895&amp;ssl=1 895w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-374012\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Nat Geo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li>The <strong>desert<\/strong> sits on the <strong>wrong side of the Andes<\/strong> with regards to prevailing winds.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>prevailing south-east trade winds<\/strong> carrying <strong>moist air<\/strong> are <strong>forced to rise<\/strong>. The <strong>moisture condenses<\/strong>, and falls on the <strong>opposite side<\/strong> of the Andes to the Atacama. This is commonly known as a <strong>rain shadow<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>second reason<\/strong> is <strong>high air pressure<\/strong>. Essentially, <strong>descending air warms up<\/strong>, meaning that any moisture within turns to water vapour (gas, not liquid) as opposed to rain.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the last reason is the <strong>cold Humboldt Current<\/strong> from the Pacific Ocean. Any <strong>onshore winds are chilled<\/strong> so they are <strong>unable to pick up moisture<\/strong> from the ocean.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Terrain:<\/strong> The wider Atacama region includes <strong>closed drainage basins, salt flats, volcanic landscapes<\/strong> and <strong>high-altitude lagoons<\/strong> along the Andes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Biological diversity:<\/strong> The species diversity of the Atacama Desert is <strong>highly restricted.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Resources:<\/strong> The Desert contains the <strong>world\u2019s largest supply of sodium nitrate.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It is also rich in <strong>metallic mineral resources<\/strong> such as <strong>copper, gold, silver and iron<\/strong>, as well as <strong>non-metallic minerals<\/strong> including important deposits of <strong>boron, lithium, sodium nitrate, and potassium salts.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Atacama is a globally <strong>important centre for astronomy<\/strong> because it combines <strong>very dry air, high elevation, clear skies and low atmospheric water vapour<\/strong> at suitable sites.\n<ul>\n<li>A major facility is the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-is-alma-telescope-that-will-soon-get-a-new-brain\/\"><strong>Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA)<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Indian researchers have identified geological sites in Tamil Nadu and Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert that share mineralogical and environmental characteristics with Mars. About Atacama Desert Location: The Atacama Desert is located in northern Chile, near the borders of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in South America. It stretches along the Pacific coast for about 1,000 km,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/atacama-desert\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Atacama Desert<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11209,12039,11211],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-374007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","category-places-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}