El Tatio is a geyser field
located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile along the border between
of Bolivia. Before the sun starts to rise, early morning more than 60 geysers,
hot springs, mud pools, mud volcanoes and many fumaroles spew hot waters and
steam. The largest geyser in the southern hemisphere is 4.320 meters above sea
level. El Tatio is also third largest geyser field in the world, (after
Yellowstone in the U.S. and the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in
Russia) covers an area of 12 square miles seeping steam across its surreal
expanse. The El Tatio geyser field is a spectacular sight, a dreamlike
high-altitude location surrounded by stratovolcanoes that form part of the
local geothermal system. Geothermal power is the energy that comes from the
internal heat of the Earth, and where the heat flow from the interior of the
globe is sufficiently high can be used both for heating purposes and for the
generation of electrical power.
El Tatio has extremophile
microorganisms, which is possible of analogous example of life on early Earth
and potential past life on Mars. The exclusive environment of El Tatio
“provides a better environmental analog for Mars than those of Yellowstone
National Park and other well-known geothermal sites on Earth.” Depending on the
season, the hot springs yield 0.25–0.5 cubic meters per second of water at
temperatures reaching the local boiling point. The Chilean government and
private companies are looking the idea of harnessing the geothermal energy, but
could not succeed due to El Tatio’s remote location and environmental concerns
have stalled any geothermal power projects. In 2010, the site was declared a
protected area, however tourism remains the main business at El Tatio. The el
Tatio, geyser field is also known as the Copacoya geysers.
The first geothermal
prospecting of the field occurred in the 1920s particularly noticeable in cold
weather. The field once numbered 67 geysers and more than 300 hot springs, as some
geyser fountains reached heights of over 10 meters usually however they do not
exceed 1 meter. The hydrothermal activities
are main reason of discoloring the several volcanoes of El Tatio volcanic
group. El Tatio is a tourism destination, with substantial amounts of travelers
both from Chile and other countries play an integral part of economic resource
for the region, as more than 400 daily visitors comes here to see these
exclusive geysers.
The water is rich in minerals,
especially sodium chloride, rubidium, strontium, bromine, magnesium, cesium,
lithium, arsenic, sulfate, boron, potassium, silica and calcium. Hydrothermal
alteration at El Tatio, has also yielded large deposits of alteration minerals
such as illite, nobleite, smectite, teruggite and ulexite. Moreover, El Tatio
and a number of other geothermal fields have been dominated by andesitic
volcanism producing lava flows until the late Miocene, large scale ignimbrite
activity took place between 10 and 1 million years ago. The toxic minerals like
arsenic which pollutes a numbers of waters in this area, causing health issues
in the population. The climate is dry falling between December and March,
rather windy, which influences the hot springs by enhancing evaporation. This
region has extreme temperature variations between day and night. El Tatio lies
at high altitude, regularly leading to altitude sickness, and the cold dry
climate creates further danger.
Further El Tatio area has
exposure to the hot gases and water can result in burn injuries, and both
sudden eruptions of geysers and fountains and fragile ground above vents and
above boiling water, concealed beneath thin covers of solid ground, increase
the risk to unwary travelers. The hot spring waters enter the ground east and
south east of El Tatio is controlled by the permeability of the volcanic
material. Unlike geothermal fields in wetter parts of the world, given the dry
climate of the area local precipitation does have little influence on the hot
springs hydrology at El Tatio. The time the water takes to traverse the whole
path from precipitation to the springs is about 15 years.
The water travels
through a number of aquifers which correspond to permeable rock formations
through faults and fractures in the rock. Magmatic brine is mixed into this
water and the mixture ultimately becomes the water that emerges at El Tatio.
This area dry grassland vegetation are Tussock
grasses like Anatherostipa, Festuca, Stipa while rosette and cushion plants,
Azorella, Chaetanthera, Mulinum, Senecio, Lenzia, Pycnophyllum and Valeriana. El
Tatio geyser field, one of San Pedro de Atacama’s most popular surrounding
attractions, so don’t miss whenever you go Chile. The natural marveling at the
geothermal wonders provides breathtaking views for taking pictures.