Bye bye stromatolites, it was awesome having you here for the last 3.5 billion years

Chilean authorities recently approved a new mining project, Pampa Hermosa property of SQM. Pampa Hermosa project is going to extract iodine, sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate near the Pampa del Tamarugal, an oasis of life in the middle of the Atacama Desert.

Even though the project is located just 50 km from the coast, instead of utilizing treated seawater, they are going to extract water form the aquifers Salar de Llamara (Llamara salt flat) and Quebrada Amarga, the last one gives water to the Loa River, the most important in the region.

The Llamara salt flat is one of the last places on earth where stromatolites are still alive, and the only one where the government doesn’t protect them.

Stromatolites first appeared on earth around 3.5 billion years ago, their most important caracteristic is that the organisms which construct them are photosynthetic, they take carbon dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates and oxigen. During the time when stromatolites first appeared there was little oxigen on the planet, so thanks to them is that other animal life was able to develop.

Stromatolites are formed through the activity of cyanobacteria which grows in sediment and sand, binding the particles together and forming layers which over a long period of time harden to form a rock. 

Photo: nahomi carolina