San Antonio de los Cobres is a small town of population 5,482 (per the 2001

INDEC The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses ( es, link=no, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos; INDEC) is an Argentine decentralized public body that operates within the Ministry of Economy, which exercises the direction of all of ...

census) in northwestern

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 List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. It is the capital of the Los Andes Department 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 Bolivi ...

Geography

The town is known for its high elevation of approximately above sea level, being one of the highest elevations of any city or town in Argentina. It is located approximately from the city of Salta and from the capital,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. It is part of the Andes desert and described to be an arid region with few trees and scarce drinking water.

History

In a 2015 podcast from ''

The Naked Scientists ''The Naked Scientists'' is a one-hour audience-interactive science radio talk show broadcast live by the BBC in the East of England, nationally by BBC Radio 5 Live and internationally on ABC Radio National, Australia; it is also distributed ...

'', research has shown that people in the San Antonio de los Cobres area have remarkably developed a mutation in their genes to cope with the high levels of

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, b ...

in the area. Having concentrations about ten times higher that those deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO), naturally occurring arsenic has created a very toxic environment in this region contaminating the water supplies. Evolutionary processes resulting from long term exposure have caused a specific mutation within the DNA of this population allowing them to process arsenic more quickly throughout their systems and preventing the formation of poisonous byproducts that would normally form within the body with exposure to the element. This is the first adaptation in humans regarding a toxic chemical to ever be documented.

Economy

San Antonio de las Cobres takes its name from the nearby ''

Sierra de Cobre Sierra (Spanish for " mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range ...

'', or Copper Mountain, which is rich in that mineral. Economic activity in the town is based on mining of the mineral-rich surrounding mountains, and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

using local

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft ...

wool. The town is also a stop along the '' Tren a las Nubes'' (Train of the Clouds), on the Salta-Antofagasta rail line.

Climate

San Antonio de los Cobres has a

cool arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

( Köppen ''BWk'') characterised by mild summers, cold, bone-dry winters, and very large

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak da ...

due to the extreme altitude. Rainfall is essentially nil except from January to March, when of an annual total of falls from thunderstorms.

Gallery

File:Sadlc.jpg, View of town center File:San Antonio de los Cobres (1).JPG, View from the road "RN51"

References

External links

* Populated places in Salta Province {{Salta-geo-stub