Central_Andes_Mountains,_Salar_de_Arizaro,_Argentina.jpg
Summary
Description Central Andes Mountains, Salar de Arizaro, Argentina.jpg |
English:
This image was taken by an astronaut looking south-east across the
South American
continent when the
International Space Station
(ISS) was almost directly over the
Atacama Desert
near
Chile’s
Pacific
coast. The high plains (3000–5000 meters) of the Andes Mountains, also known as the Puna, appear in the foreground, with a line of young
volcanoes
facing the much lower Atacama Desert (1000–2000 m elevation). Several
salt
-crusted dry
lakes
(known as salars in Spanish) occupy the basins between major thrust faults in the Puna. Salar de Arizaro (foreground) is the largest of the dry lakes in this view. The
Atlantic Ocean
coastline, where
Argentina’s
capital city of
Buenos Aires
sits along the
Río de la Plata
, is dimly visible at image top left. Near image centre, the transition between two distinct geological zones, the Puna and the Sierras Pampeanas, creates a striking landscape
contrast
. Compared to the Puna, the Sierras Pampeanas
mountains
are lower in elevation and have fewer young volcanoes. Sharp-crested ridges are separated by wide, low
valleys
in this region. The
Salinas Grandes
—ephemeral shallow salt lakes—occupies one of these valleys. The general colour change from
reds
and
browns
in the foreground to
blues
and
greens
in the upper part of the image reflects the major climatic regions: the deserts of the Atacama and Puna versus the
grassy
plains of central Argentina, where
rainfall
is sufficient to promote lush prairie grass, known locally as the pampas. The Salinas Grandes mark an intermediate, semiarid region.
|
Date | |
Source | NASA Earth Observatory |
Author | The NASA Expedition 23 crew |
Camera location | 25° 59′ 59.8″ S, 67° 30′ 00.1″ W | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap | -25.999944; -67.500028 |
---|
This image or video was catalogued by Johnson Space Center of the United States
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) under
Photo ID:
ISS023-E-28353
.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing .
Other languages:
العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ български ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ English ∙ español ∙ فارسی ∙ français ∙ galego ∙ magyar ∙ հայերեն ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ македонски ∙ മലയാളം ∙ Nederlands ∙ polski ∙ português ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ Türkçe ∙ українська ∙ 简体中文 ∙ 繁體中文 ∙ +/− |
Taken with a Nikon D3S digital camera fitted with an 80 mm lens. Provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.
Licensing
Public domain Public domain false false |
This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA . NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted ". (See Template:PD-USGov , NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy .) | ||
Warnings:
|
Annotations
InfoField
|
This image is annotated: View the annotations at Commons |
Salar de Arizaro
Salinas Grandes
Salinas Grandes
Pampas
Sierras Pampeanas
Puna (High Andes)
Atacama Desert
Rio de la Plata