Day1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

all Pictures © Benni Ritter-Prinz, Hannah Hartung & Damián A. López

 

 

Day 1:
The introduction excursion of the CRC1211 started on Sunday 9/03/25 going from Antofagasta to Taltal with various stops along the road.

 

 

Day 2:
Focus area of the second day was the Paposo transect.

 

Day 3:
Visiting the sampling site of the irrigation experiment. We explored alluvial fan deposits along the coastal road from Taltal to Antofagasta and meeting up with the B project to learn something about Huidobria in the Quebrada systems in the Atacama Desert. 

 

 

 

Day 4: “From dust to crust” (Benni)
Long drive from Mejillones to Pica. Passing by Salar Grande exploring some gypsum crusts, Tillandsia dunes and tephra layers of the coastal cordillera.

 

 

 

Day 5: Lamas, Lamas, Lamas
Visiting Salar del Huasco and project D03. We saw Lamas, Nandus, Flamingoes and learned something about isotopes and water inflow.

 

 

 

 

Day 6:
First stop at hyper arid core of the Atacama Desert. Gypsum crusts form in the shape of polygons here - Maindronia (Insecta: Zygentoma) lives there, but we did not see one. Short stop at Salar Grande visiting a salt mine. We had lunch at a site where Tillandsia Lomas occur. Highlight of the day was the visit at Rio Loa canyon viewpoint with a dusty rough ride. 

 

 

 

 

Day 7: Genesis of the CRC
Visiting the maybe oldest surface on Earth to be able to walk on from the Miocene/Eocene (Dunai et al., 2005/ Ritter et al. in prep.). Did some Chilean history by visiting Pisagua. Lunch at Quebrada Tiliviche.

 

 

 

Day 8: Aroma Transect
From Miocene to recent - visiting the alluvial fan of the Quebrada Aroma: an altitude transect (1200-2500 m) from hyper arid to arid/semi-arid conditions.