Located just south of Cerro Bayo volcano, it comprises 0.7 square kilometres (0.27 sq mi) of salt flats, sand dunes and numerous pools of open water.

The salt flat is located in a harsh climate with strong winds, large temperature fluctuations, intense insolation and aridity.

[6] Salar Ignorado is triangular with a surface area of 0.7 square kilometres (0.27 sq mi) at 4,250 metres (13,940 ft) elevation,[1] and salt-free benches delimit its shores.

They form either when strong winds blow out part of the salar surface and the shallow groundwater floods the resulting depressions,[9] or from the ongoing dissolution of salts in the salt-undersaturated brines below.

[11] Part of the groundwater reaches the surface and evaporates, leaving small gypsum crystals behind that are reworked by winds and form the dunes.

[16] The catchment of Salar Ignorado has a surface area of about 37.5 square kilometres (14.5 sq mi)[1] and is devoid of vegetation,[9] with a maximum elevation of about 5,100 metres (16,700 ft).

[6] The landscape is dominated by hills and mountains,[19] and volcanic sediments with grain sizes ranging from boulders to sand cover the terrain surrounding Salar Ignorado.

[22] The most common mineral deposited at Salar Ignorado is gypsum,[21] but bassanite, epsomite, halite, jarosite[9] and thenardite also occur.

[27] It appears to originate from hydrothermal and magmatic processes[23] that generate sulfuric acid and consume the rocks' buffering capacity.

[31] A peak of solute input to Salar Ignorado took place between 120,000 and 11,000 years ago during the Pleistocene, during a humid period.