The Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is found in South America. This cold desert hugs the coasts of Peru and Chile. It is a land of sand dunes and pebbles and covers an area that is about 54,000 square miles (140,000 square kilometers).

The Atacama Desert has the world's only natural source of sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is a mineral used to make gunpowder. It is also used to make fertilizer. Atacama is also rich in minerals such as copper, iron ore, lithium, and silver.

Atacama is a coastal desert. Coastal deserts are very interesting. There is a lot going on around them. In the nearby ocean, there are cold ocean currents and strong winds. Cold currents near the warm land often causes the desert to be covered in fog.

The Atacama Desert, even with the nearby ocean and the amount of fog, is thought to be the Earth's driest desert. In fact, the US Geological Survey reports that measurable rainfall may only occur once every 5 to 20 years! Now that's dry!