POSSIBILITIES FOR THE USE OF GROUNDWATER IN THE REHABILITATION OF FARMLAND IN PAMPA DEL TAMARUGAL.

Abstract

The field verification of ancient cultivation fields, probably dating back to pre-Hispanic times, carried out by a group of researchers from the Institute of Geography of the Catholic University of Chile, in the Pampa del Tamarugal in front of the Tarapacá and Quipisca ravines, opens interesting agricultural perspectives for the Department of Iquique. Indeed, if we consider that the ancient inhabitants of the region, with little technical knowledge and rudimentary tools, were able to cultivate, perhaps for centuries, extensive fields in currently desert areas, we can only consider the possibility that modern man, with the help of modern techniques and machinery, will be able not only to rehabilitate the land formerly cultivated, but also to obtain from it better products and an adequate economic yield that will mean a real contribution to regional development. Since water is the fundamental factor in all human activity, it is essential to analyze the conditions in which this resource was found in the past and in which it is found today.