#deserrt

Arizona, USA

The most barren place on earth…

On Friday night I posted an image of a lonely road in Death Valley (http://tinyurl.com/kdvl3gs). It just seemed like a good time for it…but some of the comments correctly pointed out that Death Valley is not as barren as one might think. Life finds many niches even in harsh climates, whether it is just microbial life or life that is ephemeral, only existing at certain times of the year.

To start a new week, I bring you a photo of the area well known as the most barren place on Earth. This photo comes from the Atacama desert of Chile, the location that, on average, has the least amount of life per area on Earth. It is used as an example of an area so barren that it might be comparable to Mars.

This desert is a thin strip of land, 1000 kilometers long, sandwiched between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean

There are areas in this desert that have never received rain in recorded history. Only a few human settlements exist in the areas where there is a stable supply of water.

So…I ended the week with one barren desert…here’s a slightly different version of a barren, lifeless desert to start off the week. Somehow, this kind of barren desert seems like a good, cheerful way to start a new week.

so nice they named it twice