A sprawling landscape of some 6,00 salt wells can be found arranged in stepped terraces on the hillside of the Qaqawiñay mountain, Peru. Known as Salineras de Maras, or the Salt Mines of Maras, they are located 52 kilometers (32 miles) northeast of Cusco city and sit at an altitude of 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The shallow ponds are flooded with water from a hypersaline spring that’s believed to have formed around 110 million years ago. The water floods the pools and then evaporates from a combination of wind and the heat of the Sun, leaving behind a thick crust of salt crystals that are scraped away for distribution.

Salt harvesting is dependent on the

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