Territories of Care: Feminist Proposals in the Face of Extractivism in Chile’s Atacama Desert

This article presents a dataset on the accumulated water flow (L/s) granted in the Antofagasta Region for each year between 1905 and 2018. We produced the dataset starting from the official public records on water rights (Registro Público de Derechos de Aprovechamiento de Aguas, RPDAA), which are free to access and available at the National Water Agency's website (Dirección General de Aguas, DGA). The initial data described 1047 individual water rights granted in the Antofagasta Region according to 65 criteria. In order to find errors in the data, inconsistencies between the data, or/and the absence of relevant information, we revised and validated the data through different methods, including a literature review and interviews to public officials. Then, we calculated the accumulated water flow (L/s) from the annual flow granted each year (1905–2018) in the two main basins of the region: the Loa River Basin, and the Salar de Atacama Basin. In doing so, we differentiated the type of water (ground or surface water) and the use of water. Thus, the data show and compare temporal variations in the allocation of ground and surface water to different water uses in the two basins. The data are useful to researchers, decision makers and to the general population interested in the processes of water distribution within the Chilean context.

Rivers play a crucial role in landscape evolution and human development, especially in arid zones, where hydrological resources are scarce and in high demand. The Atacama Desert is one of the world’s oldest and driest non-polar deserts, and aquatic systems therein have been historically subjected to anthropogenic pressure mainly associated with natural resource exploitation, such as water consumption for industrial mining activities. The mining industry has experienced a systematic development since the early 20th century, making Chile one of the main worldwide copper producers. This study analyzed sediments from two Atacama Desert rivers, the Loa and Salado Rivers (Antofagasta Region, Northern Chile). Sedimentary short-cores were obtained from sampled locations at varying distances from the confluence of the rivers. The characterization of chemical components, grain size, mineralogy, and magnetic properties of the rivers’ sediments was assessed in surface and subsurface samples to determine their respective signatures in the Inka-Coya Lake near the rivers’ confluence. The magnetic mineralogy present in the sediments of both rivers is composed of detrital magnetite and maghemite interspersed with those of authigenic origin. However, the downstream Loa River concentrated more authigenic minerals than the Salado and increased the abundance of silt-sized particles. The grain size of the Loa’s channel bed suggests low stream competency and high formation of depositional habitats. The magnetic signal and mineralogical composition of sediments from the lake are dominated by detrital pyrite, magnetite, and authigenic greigite. In contrast, the river’s sediments were dominated by magnetite and maghemite of detrital origin intercalated with those of authigenic origin. The granulometry, mineralogy, and rock magnetic properties of Inka-Coya Lake sediments indicate recent detrital input alternating with authigenic mineral-rich layers, mainly reflecting shifts in hydrological regimes. The highest concentrations of copper were observed in the upper, more recent sediment layers. Future scenarios of risky climatic conditions associated with increasing global metal demands could modify the availability of potentially toxic elements and transport capability in fluvial sediments, increasing the threats to water resource conservation in the world’s most arid desert.

Citizen science as a tool to assess cetacean diversity in the Atacama Desert coast

The range distribution of Heleobia transitoria (Biese, 1947) is confined only to its type locality, Quebrada Cachina, a ravine located on the Atacama Desert coast in the Antofagasta Region, northern Chile. The species is classified as “En Peligro Crítico” according to Ministry of the Environment of Chile, a category equivalent to Critically Endangered (CR) of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, in part for its restricted distribution. This paper reports the occurrence of H. transitoria in the Atacama Region, Chile, after the study of morphological characters using light and scanning electron microscopy. This new record highlights considering the limited distribution and current conservation status of the species.

<p>The Atacama Desert in Northern Chile is considered to be the driest desert on Earth. At present, the annual rainfall amount is less than 1mm for parts of the hyper-arid core of the desert. The processes controlling this hyper-aridity are known, but the mean state and variability of the regional climate on geological time scales is not well understood. In this study, we aim to analyse climate conditions in the Atacama Desert from PMIP4 simulations. Our focus is on the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), when climate records from the Central Atacama point to a substantially different climate with wetter conditions than at present (Diederich et al., 2020). We statistically analyse and evaluate PMIP4 historical simulations with respect to circulation patterns over the Southeast Pacific and Western South America which are associated with rare rainfall events in the Atacama Desert. For the evaluation, PMIP4 simulations for the historical period are compared to Reanalysis data, and we will focus on troughs and cutoff lows over the subtropical Southeast Pacific, and on the Bolivian High (Reyers et al., 2020). We then assess changes of the characteristics, e.g., the frequency of occurrence, of such circulation patterns for Paleo-climate conditions compared to the present. In the framework of our study, we perform km-scale simulations with the regional climate model WRF, using results from PMIP4 experiments for the historical period and for the LGM as boundary conditions. In the future, these simulations will be used to better understand the meso-scale processes, e.g., involved in local wind systems, that contribute to changes in the hydrological cycle and potentially impact the dust-emission activity of the desert. This study is part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1211 “Earth- Evolution at the dry Limit” (https://sfb1211.uni-koeln.de/).</p><p>Diederich, J,  Wennrich, V, Bao, R, and co-authors (2020). A 68 ka precipitation record from the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Global and Planetary Change, 184, 103054. DOI:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.103054.</p><p>Reyers, M, Boehm, C, Knarr, L, Shao, Y, and Crewell, S (2020). Synoptic-to-Regional-Scale Analysis of Rainfall in the Atacama Desert (18°–26°S) Using a Long-Term Simulation with WRF. Monthly Weather Review, 149, 91-112. DOI:10.1175/MWR-D-20-0038.1.</p>

The study of supergene minerals has been used as a proxy to unravel the palaeoclimatic conditions that prevailed when it occurred. The youngest age of supergene mineralisation is interpreted as the last time with sufficient moisture; therefore, it will reflect the transition from semi-arid towards hyperarid conditions.The history of dating supergene minerals, mainly alunite and far less common copper-bearing minerals such as atacamite and pseudomalachite, in the Atacama Desert is mainly restricted to the Central Depression and Precordillera indicating that supergene processes were active from 44 to 6 Ma. In contrast, there are only four ages in the Coastal Cordillera, one reported by Sillitoe & McKee, 1996, and three obtained by Reich et al., 2009. This lack of information makes it impossible to constrain the onset of hyperaridity in the Coastal Cordillera and how it relates with the previously mentioned physiographic units.The Coastal Cordillera in northern Chile correspond to a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous magmatic arc consisting mainly of andesites and basaltic andesites intruded by numerous plutonic bodies. It hosts the metallogenic belt with the largest number of mineral deposits in the Antofagasta Region, the majority of which are copper deposits.We test for the first time, the potential of the LA-ICP-MS in situ U-Pb technique to date the deposition of the copper deposits in the Coastal Cordillera and use it as a new proxy to understand its palaeoclimatic evolution. For this purpose, we selected chrysocolla samples from manto- and vein-type deposits hosted in the west side of the Coastal Cordillera.Chrysocolla is an amorphous hydrated copper silicate that precipitate from gel-like material. Furthermore, the chrysocolla may occurs as a replacement of other copper minerals such as malachite and atacamite. Macroscopically it is possible found it in crust, in veins filling cracks along the host rock or in amygdales of andesites. The second most common mineral is atacamite which presents a complex textural relationship with chrysocolla.The amorphous structure of chrysocolla makes difficult that the U and Pb concentrations will be consistent along the same sample. Due to this, we apply a pre-scan with the laser to measure the U-Pb ratio in the sample. After that, the laser spots were defined in tree main areas: highest, intermediate and lowest U-Pb ratio to be secure that we will get a dispersion of the ratios that can help to obtain an isochron.The preliminary results show that the chrysocolla is extremely young (

Partial remains of a titanosaur sauropod collected in the Tolar Formation (Upper Cretaceous) at the Atacama Desert (Antofagasta Region), northern Chile, is described, and a new species, Atacamatitan chilensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected. The material consists mainly of dorsal and caudal vertebrae, part of a humerus and a femur. The presence of a titanosaur confirms the Cretaceous age for the outcrops of red sandstone of the Tolar Formation whose age was previously uncertain, ranging from the Upper Cretaceous to the Paleocene. The new specimen represents the most complete dinosaur reported for this region and one of the most complete titanosaur known from Chile and the pacific margin of South America so far.

In hyperarid deserts like the Atacama Desert, biota face additional aggravations beside the dryness, e.g. high UV radiation and often high surface temperatures. However, even under these extreme conditions, diverse microbial communities thrive on and within the sediment and interact strongly with their mineral substrate. Common habitats for microbial communities in this environment are fog-receiving surfaces and endolithic zones within evaporite crusts. Endolithic microorganisms are highly adapted to both the substrate and severe water limitations and colonize protected cracks, niches, and caverns within translucent rocks and crusts. They have the potential to alter mineral components and stimulate the formation of secondary minerals as they redistribute moisture and potentially extract crystal water. Processes like these are the starting point of pedogenesis and, even if proceeding extremely slowly, affect the shape of the surface.To elucidate the relationship of microbial communities with the mineral matrix, we investigated the biogeochemical traces of microbial communities and their spatial distribution on and within gypsum and halite crusts from different regions within the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. We combined imaging techniques (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) and biomolecular methods (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GC-MS/MS and nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR) to obtain a deeper insight into the entanglement of microorganisms and evaporitic crusts. Tight interactions of bacteria and fungi with the mineral matrix were revealed by SEM. Short-chain membrane fatty acids (C14-C18) indicated recent bacterial activity in all samples analyzed. Extracellular short-chain acids (C6-C12) and carbohydrates of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) make up to 75% of the total biomass within evaporites which point to efficient desiccation buffers and protection mechanisms against UV radiation. Furthermore, the sticky EPS leads to the biochemical stabilization of mineral aggregates by agglutination, which was also visible with SEM.

Green technologies designed to mitigate climate change through renewable energy and zero-emissions transportation currently depend on lithium-ion batteries, which require ‘critical materials’. Like nickel, graphite, manganese and cobalt, lithium is a key component of batteries that store energy for electric vehicles, smart devices and renewable power plants. Although lithium is present all over the globe, one of the main commercial lithium reserves is in the Puna de Atacama, a desert region at the borders of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Resulting from a collaborative study for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Plurinational Observatory of Andean Salt Flats, this chapter examines how the reliance on brine evaporation as an extraction method for lithium mining exacerbates conditions of ecological ‘exhaustion’ in the Puna de Atacama. The study is based on ethnographic and historical research primarily conducted in Chile with environmental activists, Indigenous leaders, scientists and policy practitioners. Furthering the concept of ‘alterlives’ to examine not only exposure to downstream chemicals but also the in situ alteration of life at mining sites upstream in the chemical supply chain, the chapter analyses environmental injustices inherent to green extractivism across multiple scales. It considers under what conditions Indigenous and local participation may contribute new models and standards for monitoring and offers policy recommendations to prevent further social harm and environmental damage.

Abstract. The Atacama Desert is one of the driest deserts on Earth, with a predominantly hyperarid climate since at least the Miocene. Geological evidence, however, indicates that this overall hyperaridity was repeatedly interrupted by wetter periods. Deep-time precipitation reconstructions of the Atacama Desert are limited by scarce and discontinuous sediment sequences, most of which received moisture from wetter regions outside the Atacama Desert. Longer archives of the precipitation history in the desert interior during the Neogene are unfortunately extremely rare. The sediment records of two tectonically blocked endorheic basins (also known as clay pans) in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile may fill the gaps in the paleo-precipitation record of the Atacama Desert. Comprehensive investigations of both clay pans applied intensive geological and geophysical site surveys and deep-drilling operations with subsequent downhole logging. Short pilot cores of up to 6.2 m in length already showed highly variable sediment successions reflecting strong hydroclimatic fluctuations on glacial–interglacial timescales. Electromagnetic and seismic surveys yielded a three-layer structure in both basins consisting of the resistive basement overlain by a low-resistivity basal and a high-resistivity upper sediment unit with total sediment thicknesses of more than ∼ 100 and ∼ 160 m in the Playa Adamito Grande (PAG) and Paranal clay pans, respectively. Assuming similar sedimentation rates to those of the pilot cores, this would imply that the sediment records of both clay pans span several million years. Lithological data and downhole-logging results of the deep-drilling operations reveal strong heterogeneities in the sediment composition that presumably can be traced back to major climatic and/or tectonic shifts in the catchments of the clay pans. Whereas the fine-grained sediments at the base of the PAG sequence suggest longer-lasting lacustrine sedimentation with enhanced evaporative episodes, the lower sediment unit in the core from the Paranal clay pan consists of fluvial conglomerates and sandstones. Both lacustrine and fluvial sediments indicate less arid conditions in the central Atacama Desert than today. Separated by distinct lithological boundaries, the upper sediments in both clay pans show several similar sediment facies typical of alluvial-fan deposition, e.g., proximal mudflows and debris flows, sheetflood, and distal alluvial sediment flows, but also pedogenic calcium sulfates. The shift to a predominant alluvial-fan deposition, which is common after torrential rainfall in the Atacama Desert today, implies a general modification of the environmental conditions of the study areas. These initial results already highlight the potential of the sediment records from the PAG and Paranal clay pans to provide unprecedented information on the Neogene precipitation history in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert.

We present the results of analysing stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in camelid remains found at the Late Archaic site TU‐52 (ca. 5000–3800 bp), the Tarajne Phase site TU‐94 and the Early Formative sites TU‐54, TU‐85 and TU‐122 (ca. 3100–2400 bp). All of the sites are located in the Puna de Atacama (Northern Chile) along the 14 km Tulan transect, between the head of Tulan ravine (ca. 3000 m.a.s.l.) and the border of the Salar de Atacama (2317 m.a.s.l.). Our aim is to understand how the space was used by hunter‐gatherers and early herders from the beginning of camelid domestication to the consolidation of herding practices. Isotopic analyses were complemented with osteometric data in order to correlate changes in animal size and isotopic values with the initiation of animal husbandry. Isotopic and osteometric results show less variability of δ13C and δ15N values during the Late Archaic and Tarajne Phase, whereas variability is higher during the Early Formative. We postulate that during the latter period, there was more widespread use of hunting and herding spaces along the Tulan ravine, including areas above 3000 m.a.s.l. as result of more consolidated herding practices, while the highlands were used as a complementary space to hold livestock near ritual sites and residential settlements. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring ten thousand years of variation in weapons technologies: A diachronic analysis of lithic projectile points in the puna de atacama (northern Chile)

Substantial knowledge has accumulated on the microbiome of the hyperarid Atacama Desert during the last two decades; however, information on Atacama free-living amoebae (FLA) is limited and increasing efforts are required. FLA are polyphyletic heterotrophic naked or testate protists that feed on organic matter, fungi, protozoa, and bacteria and may disseminate infections. Amoebae in Chile are represented by 416 taxa and 64 genera, and 29 taxa have been identified in arid shrub lands at the southern limit of the Atacama Desert, and Acanthamoeba are present in all the country's regions. To expand our knowledge and to contribute to the biogeographic distribution of Atacama FLA, we report the dominant presence of members of the genus Acanthamoeba in water and sediment sampled at the Loa and Salado rivers in the pre-Andean zone of the Antofagasta Region, northern Chile, at sites 2500 m above sea level. We expect these observations and preliminary evidence of FLA presence in other wetlands (Chiuchiu, Tebenquiche) in this region to be incentive for further exploration of Atacama amoebae.

The puna de atacama, which Bowman has described admirably,1 is an area of basins, mountain knots and pied ont alluvial deposits at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, lying partly in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, roughly between latitudes 260 and 180 S. The eastern marches of the Chilean Atacama Desert consist of a number of lofty depressions which are physiographically more akin to the Puna than to the low-lying coastal desert. Few geological features are easier to identify than old shorelines in a desert basin,* and they have been seen in the Puna by various workers3~6 who have ascribed them to high lake levels of a bygone pluvial period. In Bolivia, Moon7 filled his Ballivan (Titicaca-Poopo) and Minchin with meltwater released by a Pleistocene interglacial. Newell8 saw a gradual desiccation of the Titicaca region since a pluvial period in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. Briiggen9 said the same of northern Chile; and Ahlfeld10 extended one of his pluvial from Bolivia into the adjacent Chilean basin of Ascotan. Other writers11 have deduced from the archaeological record and certain natural phenomena, such as buried forests, a progressive desiccation of the Puna and the Desert of Atacama during the last few centuries. During August and September 1958 an expedition from Cambridge12 looked at eight of the lakes that figure prominently on maps of the Puna, in the hope of finding around them physiographic evidence of former high levels, and archaeological proof of recent climatic changes. The Chilean salares (salt-covered basin floors) of Ascotan, San and Atacama displayed clear shorelines into the usually soft volcanic or clayey rocks that surround them; the phrase parallel roads of San Martin will give an idea of the appearance of the shoreline stairway around that salar. Further, the Salar de Atacama was bounded along its north-western shore by an extensive delta-like terrace of gravel, cobbles and silt; and two streams that flow into the basin, the Rio Grande and the Vilama, exhibited strath and cut terraces along their courses, whose nature suggests that they formerly flowed into a deep Atacama lake that later underwent a rapid drop in level. The Bolivian lagunas closely resemble the salares in form and in the presence of various salt deposits within the basins. The presence of shallow lakes?shallow enough for flamingoes to wade across them?can be ascribed to the greater pre? cipitation which their elevation brings them. Shorelines have been into the soft ashes that surround the lagunas of Hedionda, Charcota and Inca Corral, and tufa has been deposited in horizontal beds; here too a rapid drop in level was suggested by the nature of the beaches.

Genitalia morphology of a new gnorimoschemine micromoth (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae, Gelechiinae, Gnorimoschemini) discovered in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, fits the original description of Scrobipalpulopsis Povolný, 1987, a genus previously synonymized with Scrobipalpula Povolný, 1964. The generic assignment of the new species was assessed using a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. The new species, the type species of Scrobipalpulopsis and another species recently transferred from this genus to Scrobipalpula were grouped in a monophyletic cluster distantly related to that of Scrobipalpula. Furthermore, an ancestral state reconstruction analysis suggested that the presence of two pairs of processes on the vinculum in the male genitalia represents a synapomorphy for the cluster of three species. Accordingly, the revalidation of Scrobipalpulopsisgen. rev. (type species Phthorimaeastirodes Meyrick, 1931) and the reinstated combination Scrobipalpulopsislutescella (Clarke, 1934) comb. rev. are proposed. The micromoth Scrobipalpulopsisaguilaensissp. nov., whose larvae feed on inflorescences of the Chilean endemic Glandulariagynobasis (Verbenaceae), is described and illustrated. Genetic divergence with congenerics was found to be 2.5–4.4% (K2P). This discovery represents the first record of Scrobipalpulopsis from the Atacama Desert.