Salar de Talar is a 46 square kilometres salt flat located in the high puna of northern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

, at an altitude of 3,950 m. It is part of a series of salt lake

Salt lake

A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water which has a concentration of salts and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes . In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water, but such lakes would also be termed hypersaline lakes...

s and salt flats located at the foothills of a chain of volcanoes stretching along the eastern side of the much greater Salar de Atacama

Salar de Atacama

Salar de Atacama is the largest salt flat in Chile. It is located south of San Pedro de Atacama, is surrounded by mountains and has no drainage outlets. To the east is enclosed by the main chain of the Andes, while to the west lies a secondary mountain range of the Andes called Cordillera de Domeyko...

.

The closed drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of Salar de Talar encompasses about 476 km² and is adjacent to other endorheic basins, including Laguna Miscanti

Laguna Miscanti

Laguna Miscanti is a brackish water lake located in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region, in northern Chile. Miñiques volcano and Cerro Miscanti tower over this lake. This heart-shaped lake has a deep blue color. The western shoreline of the lake is separated by less than 1 km from the...

, Laguna Tuyajto and Salar de Capur basins.

The salty flat is bordered on the west by Caichinque

Caichinque

Caichinque is a volcanic complex lying between Salar de Talar and Salar de Capur, in the high Andean plateau of the Antofagasta Region, in Chile...

 and on the east by Cerro Medano. This latter is a mountain with striking shades of grey and brown, which contrast nicely with the sparkling white of the salt flat's surface. On top of that, colorful ponds fringe its shores. A important lava flow from the Caichinque volcanic complex formed two lobes which advanced into Salar de Talar.

The climate of the area is arid, with an average annual precipitation of about 150 mm. Salar de Talar is a part of the Central Andean dry puna

Central Andean dry puna

The Central Andean dry puna is an ecoregion, in the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome, located in the Andean High plateau, in South America...

ecoregion, which in this zone is characterized by tussock grass vegetation.