A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of

sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as salt (although sea salt also contains other chemical salts), is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. With molar masses of 22.99 and 35.45 g ...

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

s, and other salts, with

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

levels surpassing that of

ocean water Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approx ...

(3.5%, i.e. ). Specific microbial species can thrive in high-salinity environments that are inhospitable to most lifeforms, including some that are thought to contribute to the colour of pink lakes. Some of these species enter a dormant state when

desiccated Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

, and some species are thought to survive for over 250 million years. The water of hypersaline lakes has great buoyancy due to its high salt content. Hypersaline lakes are found on every continent, especially in arid or semi-arid regions. In the Arctic, the Canadian Devon Ice Cap contains two subglacial lakes that are hypersaline. In Antarctica, there are larger hypersaline water bodies, lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys such as Lake Vanda with salinity of over 35% (i.e. 10 times as salty as ocean water). The most saline water body in the world is the Gaet'ale Pond, located in the Danakil Depression in

Afar Afar may refer to: Peoples and languages *Afar language, an East Cushitic language *Afar people, an ethnic group of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia Places Horn of Africa *Afar Desert or Danakil Desert, a desert in Ethiopia *Afar Region, a region ...

, Ethiopia. The water of Gaet'ale Pond has a

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

of 43%, making it the saltiest water body on Earth (i.e. 12 times as salty as ocean water). Previously, it was considered that the most saline lake outside of Antarctica was Lake Assal, in Djibouti, which has a salinity of 34.8% (i.e. 10 times as salty as ocean water). Probably the best-known hypersaline lakes are the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

(34.2% salinity in 2010) and the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...

in the state of Utah, US (5–27% variable salinity). The

, dividing Israel and the West Bank from Jordan, is the world's deepest hypersaline lake. The Great Salt Lake, while having nearly three times the surface area of the Dead Sea, is shallower and experiences much greater fluctuations in salinity. At its lowest recorded water levels, it approaches 7.7 times the salinity of ocean water, but when its levels are high, its salinity drops to only slightly higher than that of the ocean.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , last=Hammer , first=Ulrich T. , title=Saline lake ecosystems of the world , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOdvPFm6SyoC&q=Lovenula&pg=PA315 , year=1986 , publisher=Springer , isbn=90-6193-535-0 {{Cite journal , last1=Vreeland , first1=R.H. , last2=Rosenzweig , first2=W.D. , last3=Powers , first3=D.W. , year=2000 , title=Isolation of a 250 million-year-old halotolerant bacterium from a primary salt crystal , journal=Nature , volume=407 , pages=897–900 , doi=10.1038/35038060 , pmid=11057666 , issue=6806, bibcode=2000Natur.407..897V , s2cid=9879073 , name-list-style=amp {{cite book , editor-last1=Quinn , editor-first1=Joyce A. , editor-last2=Woodward , editor-first2=Susan L., title=Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features [2 volumes] , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErkxBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 , year=2015 , publisher=ABC-CLIO , isbn=978-1-61069-446-9 , page=9 {{cite web, first=Christine , last=Wilkerson , url=http://geology.utah.gov/online/PI-39/pi39pg9.htm , title=Utah's Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville, PI39 – Utah Geological Survey , publisher=Geology.utah.gov , access-date=2010-08-03 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815024315/http://geology.utah.gov/online/PI-39/pi39pg9.htm , archive-date=2010-08-15 {{cite web , url=http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/extreme/hypersaline/index.html , title=Microbial life in hypersaline environments , last1=Allred , first1=Ashley , last2=Baxter , first2=Bonnie , publisher=Science Education Resource Center at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

, access-date=2010-06-17 {{cite journal , pmid=17367515 , title=Diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria from an extreme hypersaline sediment, Great Salt Lake (Utah) , last1=Kjeldsen , first1=K.U. , last2=Loy , first2=A. , last3=Jakobsen , first3=T.F. , last4=Thomsen , first4=T.R. , last5=Wagner , first5=M. , last6=Ingvorsen , first6=K. , doi=10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00288.x , volume=60 , issue=2 , date=May 2007 , journal=FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. , pages=287–298 , display-authors=4, doi-access=free Hydrology

See also

References