Round 10: Tossup 2

This desert shares its name with a nearby plateau home to green lagoons with mound-forming bacteria communities called stromatolites, which scientists have compared to early life on Earth. This desert is home to an ancient delta dubbed “Red Stone” by NASA, who found naturally occurring perchlorates also found on (-5[1])Mars. (-5[1])Pockets of vegetation called lomas in this desert south of the Chala are supplied by dense rolling fogs. (10[1])The Arica (“ah-REE-ka”) Bend and the city of Arica (10[1])are located at the (10[1])northern (10[1])part of this desert. Clear skies about a mountain in this desert, the Cerro Paranal, led it to become the location of the Very Large Telescope. Only a few valleys in Antarctica (-5[1])are drier than this copper-rich desert due its location (10[1])between a country’s Coast Range and the Andes. For 10 points, name this desert (10[1])in northern (10[1])Chile. ■END■ (10[1])

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