Ojos de Mar is a group of 3–6 small water bodies close to the town of Tolar Grande in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and an important tourist attraction there. They are inhabited by

extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...

microorganisms of interest to biotechnology;

stromatolite Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). The ...

s have also been found there.

The lakes

The Ojos de Mar are six or three small deep

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

s characterized by a blue-

turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of yea ...

colour in a white salty desert landscape under a bright blue sky. Their water is extremely salty and

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...

and their colour changes depending on the angle of the sun impacting the clear waters. The water bodies are filled by water coming from surrounding rocks that evaporates in the Ojos de Mar. The name may refer to the colour and saltiness of the water that resembles the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

; it is possible that the water bodies were encountered by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

on their way through the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. They are also referred to as Ojo de Tolar. Despite their name and appearance, they are not remnants of the

. Water temperatures of have been measured. The turquoise colour is due to sunlight reflected from the floor of the waterbodies. The occurrence of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

and

halite Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, p ...

has been reported. The Ojos de Mar are one of the main tourist attractions of Tolar Grande and are of scientific interest due to the stromatoliths that grow there; stromatoliths are the oldest traces of life on the planet and at least 3.4 billion years ago helped give rise to the

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

in the atmosphere; this 2009 discovery of stromatoliths at Ojos de Mar has gained media attention and in 2011 it led to the Ojos de Mar along with Laguna Socompa where similar stromatoliths occur to be declared a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

by the government of the

Salta Province Salta () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy. To the north it borders Boliv ...

. They lie at elevations of from the town of Tolar Grande ( west from the city of

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

; the

Tren a las Nubes The Tren a las Nubes ( en, Train to the Clouds) is a tourist train service in Salta Province, Argentina. The service runs along the eastern part of the Salta–Antofagasta railway line of the Belgrano Railway (also known as the "C-14" line) t ...

tourist train passes through Tolar Grande) in the

of Argentina, and can be reached from Tolar Grande through a road and a

parking lot A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

. The environment of the waterbodies is fragile and thus visitors are discouraged from approaching too closely, also because the ground is unstable. Other tourist attractions of Tolar Grande are the volcanoes

Llullaillaco Llullaillaco () is a dormant stratovolcano at the border of Argentina (Salta Province) and Chile (Antofagasta Region). It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of tall volcanic peaks on a high plateau close to the Atacama Desert, one of the dri ...

and

Socompa Socompa is a large stratovolcano at the border of Argentina and Chile with an elevation of metres. Part of the Chilean and Argentine Andean Volcanic Belt (AVB), it is part of the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the various segments of the AVB. Th ...

and the Cono de Arita. Vegetation in the area includes

tola Tola may refer to: Places * Bella Tola, a mountain in the Pennine Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais * La Tola, a town and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia *Tola (Shakargarh), a village in Pakistan * Tola, Rivas, a municipality ...

and

yareta __NOTOC__ Yareta or llareta (''Azorella compacta'', known historically as ''Azorella yareta'', from ''yarita'' in the Quechua language) is a velvety, chartreuse cushion plant in the family Apiaceae which is native to South America. It grows in th ...

; animals reported from there include

vicuña The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which live ...

Biotechnological significance

The Ojos de Mar display a rich assembly of microorganisms including extremophiles in their waters which have been analyzed with

bioinformatic Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combine ...

s methods. The ecosystem has been classified as an "gypsum evaporite microbial ecosystem"; these are

biofilm A biofilm comprises any syntrophic consortium of microorganisms in which cells stick to each other and often also to a surface. These adherent cells become embedded within a slimy extracellular matrix that is composed of extracellular ...

s or

endolithic An endolith or endolithic is an organism (archaeon, bacterium, fungus, lichen, algae or amoeba) that is able to acquire the necessary resources for growth in the inner part of a rock, mineral, coral, animal shells, or in the Porosity, pores bet ...

microbial ecosystems associated with

evaporite An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocea ...

deposits with endolithic systems dominating at Ojos de Mar. In general, the Argentine Puna in South America features a number of high altitude lakes between elevation which are characterized by extreme environmental conditions: Extremely high

insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...

by the sun, low temperatures, large temperature changes between day and night, extremely high

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

of their waters owing to high evaporation rates and accumulation of toxic elements such as

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

. Because of this, plants and animals are rare in these areas and extremophile microorganisms which can tolerate the extreme conditions make up much of the biota. These in turn could be used to obtain

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

s that could be useful for

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

processes, such as

ultraviolet radiation Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...

-resistant or -exploiting enzymes like

photolyase Photolyases () are DNA repair enzymes that repair damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet light. These enzymes require visible light (from the violet/blue end of the spectrum) both for their own activation and for the actual DNA repair. The DN ...

s and

antioxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...

s that protect cells from oxidative damage; these compounds and proteins could be used in medicine and the

cosmetic industry The cosmetic industry describes the industry that manufactures and distributes cosmetic products. These include colour cosmetics, like foundation and mascara, skincare such as moisturisers and cleansers, haircare such as shampoos, conditioners a ...

Gallery

File:Ojo de mar en Tolar Grande.jpg, alt=Photo of a lake below a scarp, with a mountain rising behind, Ojos de Mar. Aracar volcano rises in the background File:Ojo de mar, Tolar Grande.jpg, alt=Green pond surrounded by white outcrop, A smaller pond File:Ojo de mar, camino a Tolar Grande, Salta, Argentina - panoramio.jpg, alt=Photo of water surface with reflected sunlight, The water surface of Ojo de Mar below the sunny sky File:Le salar de Tolar Grande, Argentine.JPG, alt=Photo of land rising above a lake, with a white capped mountain, Salar de Tolar Grande, with snow covered Aracar in the background

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Tolar Grande, un parque jurásico en miniatura
* {{TripAdvisor, g2356196-d8145933, Ojos de Mar Lakes of Argentina Tourist attractions in Salta Province Salta Province