Age of caves in the Cordillera de la Sal (Atacama, Chile)

Although the Cordillera de la Sal, close to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), is one of the driest places on Earth, it contains extensive cave systems that have developed in halite. A detailed morphological study of these caves, combined with 16 AMS radiocarbon ages on wood and bone fragments recovered from cave ceilings and diamictons, have allowed us to define when these systems formed and when sediments were emplaced. The sometimes huge cave passages appear to have formed in less than 2000 years by a succession of short-lived flash floods, probably after single extreme rain events.