The Atacama Desert—an arid, unpopulated swath of northern Chile that is home to some of the most perceptive ground telescopes on Earth—is actually teeming with life beneath the ground, according to a team of researchers that recently scrutinized its soils.
The formations in Atacama s lagoons mirrored ancient rock structures. Measuring around 4 meters across and several meters high, they flaunted shades from brown to green, each shade pointing to a unique microbe community.