How was the Atacama Desert

form?
 Main causes of the Atacama Desert
formation

• The Rain Shadow Effect

• The Pacific Anticyclone
• The Humboldt Current (Peru Current)
• The nearby location to the Tropic of Capricorn
• The Walker Circulation
 The Rain Shadow Effect
The Atacama Desert is located between two
mountain ranges: the Andes and the Chilean
Coast Range. This mountain ranges block the the
passage of rain producing an area of dry land
that lies on the leeward side of a mountain.
 The Pacific Anticyclone
The Pacific Anticyclone is a
zone of high pressure
that is usually found in
this region.It blocks the
the passage of rain.
 The Humboldt Current (Peru Current)
The Humboldt Current is a
cold ocean current that
flows along the west coast
of South America from
the southern of Chile to
northen Peru.The cold
water creates a coastal
inversion layer that block
the the passage of clouds
into the Atacama region.
 The nearby location to the
Tropic of Capricorn
As the Atacama desert, lot of
deserts like the Sahara
desert, the Namib desert, the
Sonoran desert and the
australian deserts are found
near the tropics.
This effect is produced by air
currents that flow from the
ecuator to the tropics. On its
course, the air loses humidity,
when it reaches the tropics it
becomes extremely dry.
 The Walker Circulation
The Walker Circulation is
an ocean-based system
of air circulation in the
tropical Pacific Ocean.
On its circulation, leds
extremely dry air in the
Atacama zone,
promoting the
desertification.