File:Salinas Grandes and Salina de Ambargasta salt flats in Argentina (MODIS 2019-03-08).jpg

English: On March 1, 2019, NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over north-central Argentina, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board to acquire a stunning true-color image of two large salt flats, the Salinas Grandes and Salina de Ambargasta.

The two salt pans sit on the eastern side of the Sierras Pampeanas (Pampas Mountains) which rise steeply from the broad grasslands known as the pampas, and which run roughly parallel to the more westerly Andes. The two salt-encrusted, shallow lakes sit in a tectonic depression that covers about 18,000 square km (6,950 square miles). In the Quaternary the lakes filled with fresh water from rainfall and inflow from several rivers. Changes in geography caused the inflows to close and, through evaporation, the lakes shrank in size as their waters became more and more saline. Eventually the salty lake water was covered by a crust of salt, which is so thick that the salt pans, as they are now called, can easily be seen from space.

Lake Salinas Grandes is the more southerly of the two lakes, while Salinas de Ambargasta lies to the north. The foothills of the rugged Andes Mountains lie to the west.