So big, in fact, that it is said you can see the curvature of the Earth at the horizon, which goes to show that there really is no truly flat surface on the planet. At over 4,600 square miles, this salt flat it is truly vast. Surrounded by the Andes, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet, is el Salar de Uyuni. The largest example of this kind of landform is in southwestern Bolivia, near the border with Chile, and just north of Argentina. The interior draining watershed that includes the Salar de Uyuni. These salt flats are usually in desolate and remote desert areas, given the climate needed to dry up a lake. As their waters evaporated, copious amounts of dissolved salts were laid down to create a very flat, hard surface, where nothing can grow. So moving back to land, it seems the flattest places are actually lakes or landlocked seas…that have dried up. Once again, these are places far too difficult to walk upon, and there’s all that crushing water pressure, too. It may be that the largest flat expanses on the planet are completely out of sight, on the abyssal plains of the deep sea. Many landscapes in the Plains States or in Australia’s interior, or the deserts of Ethiopia, among others, feature some vast stretches of planar terrain, but on many of these there are small undulations, or at least vegetation to create some texture on the ground. You can witness the scene, and paddle a canoe across it, but you can’t go for a walk on it. When it comes to flatness on Earth, the surface of a calm lake is probably the optimal setting.
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