Salar de Atacama

To the east, it is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range called Cordillera de Domeyko.

These volcanoes are situated along the eastern side of the Salar de Atacama, forming a north–south trending line that separates it from smaller endorheic basins.

The Laguna Cejar is a sink hole lake in the Salar de Atacama, 18 km from San Pedro, Chile.

[12] South of Salar de Atacama ancient plutonic rocks of Cambrian and Ordovician age crop out.

[17][18] The cause for the high contration of lithium in the brines of Salar de Atacama is not fully clear as various competing hypothesis exists.

[17] It is suggested that high geothermal gradients and altitude differences in the hydrological basin enhances the leaching of lithium from rocks and clays.

[11] Some litium-rich waters entering Salar de Atacama are thought to have been previously concentrated at salt lakes at higher elevation.

[4] It is argued that "[a]greements between Indigenous organizations and lithium companies have brought significant economic resources for community development, but have also expanded the mining industry's capacity for social control in the area.".

The natural removal of boron and lithium from present-day brines possibly occurs as ulexite and lithium-sulfate, this latter as double and/or triple salts.

[23] Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM) and Albemarle operating in Salar de Atacama are among the largest lithium producers in the World.