El Tatio
Interesting facts
- Together with Sol de Mañana just across the border in Bolivia, El Tatio is the highest-altitude geyser field in the world.
- Air pressure at this height is only about 0.58 atmospheres, so water boils at around 86 °C instead of 100 °C.
- Only Yellowstone and Kamchatka's Valley of Geysers are larger, and both have taller geysers than El Tatio's generally modest fountains.
- Italian engineers from Larderello, the cradle of geothermal power, first probed the field for energy in 1921 and 1922.
- The 2009 blowout produced a steam fountain that roared from 8 September until the well was finally plugged on 4 October.
- Silica tints the spring water bluish, carotenoids stain the sinter orange-brown, and iron-oxidising bacteria add touches of green.
- A methane-producing microbe found in a warm pool here, Methanogenium tatii, was named after the field.
- Tadpoles of Andean toads living in the steadily warm spring water develop differently from those of the same species in ordinary ponds.
- Radiocarbon dating shows the sinter terraces began to form only after the end of the last ice age, undisturbed by any eruption since.
- Scientists have identified about 90 plant species in and around the field, including endemics such as Adesmia atacamensis.
Why it is worth it
El Tatio is a field of geysers and boiling springs on a high Andean plain in northern Chile, 4,320 metres above sea level, beneath a line of volcanoes that marks the border with Bolivia. It is the largest geyser field in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest in the world, holding by some counts around 8 per cent of all the planet's geysers. The name comes from Kunza, the nearly vanished language of the Atacama, and has been translated as "oven" and also as "grandfather", the geysers being, in one telling, his tears.
The time to see it is dawn. In the freezing air of early morning the steam from dozens of vents condenses into white columns that stand above the plain and glow as the sun comes over the ridges; later in the day, as the air warms, they fade to little more than shimmer. Between the vents, hot water spreads over crusts of silica sinter, hot springs bubble, and the springs gather into the Río Salado, which carries their warmth and their arsenic down towards the Loa. Scientists study these extreme microbes as models for early life on Earth and possibly on Mars.
The heat below comes from an ancient volcanic system linked to the great calderas of the Altiplano. An old Inca trail crossed the field, and the Inca kept a mountain sanctuary on Volcán Tatio. Prospectors drilled here for geothermal power through much of the twentieth century, but after a well blew out in 2009, sending up a column of steam, development stopped. The field is now administered by the indigenous communities of Toconce and Caspana, and about 100,000 people visit each year; paths lead between the vents, and one area has an artificial pool for visitors.
Getting there
El Tatio lies about 100 km east of Calama and roughly 80–90 km north of San Pedro de Atacama, which is the usual base; Route B-245 links the field with San Pedro. El Loa Airport (CJC) at Calama is about 94 km away by straight line. The steam columns are best seen in the early morning, and warm clothing, sunscreen and water are needed at this altitude.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
El Tatio is a geothermal field with many geysers located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at 4,320 metres (14,170 ft) above mean sea level. It is the third-largest geyser field in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Various meanings have been proposed for the name "El Tatio", including "oven" or "grandfather". The geothermal field has many geysers, hot springs, and associated sinter deposits. The water from these hot springs eventually forms the Rio Salado, a major tributary of the Rio Loa, significantly increasing the amount of arsenic in the river. The geothermal vents are sites of populations of extremophile microorganisms such as hyperthermophiles, and El Tatio has been studied as an analogue for the early Earth and possible past life on Mars.
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