A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically

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 ...

) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water; such lakes can also be termed

hypersaline lake A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride, brines, and other salts, with saline levels surpassing that of ocean water (3.5%, i.e. ). Specific microbial species can thrive in ...

s, and may also be pink lakes on account of their colour. An

alkalic Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of ...

salt lake that has a high content of carbonate is sometimes termed a soda lake. One saline lake classification differentiates between: *subsaline: 0.5–3 ‰ (0.05-0.3%) *hyposaline: 3–20‰ (0.3-2%) *mesosaline: 20–50‰ (2-5%) *hypersaline: greater than 50‰ (5%) Large saline lakes make up 44% of the volume and 23% of the area of lakes worldwide.

Properties

Salt lakes form when the water flowing into the lake, containing salt or minerals, cannot leave because the lake is endorheic (terminal). The water then evaporates, leaving behind any dissolved salts and thus increasing its

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 ...

, making a salt lake an excellent place for salt production. High salinity can also lead to

halophilic The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

flora and fauna in and around the lake; sometimes, in fact, the result may be an absence or near absence of multicellular life in the salt lake. If the amount of water flowing into a lake is less than the amount evaporated, the lake will eventually disappear and leave a

dry lake A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...

(also called playa or salt flat). Brine lakes consist of water that has reached salt saturation or near saturation (

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 ...

), and may also be heavily saturated with other materials. Most brine lakes develop as a result of high evaporation rates in an arid climate with a lack of an outlet to the ocean. The high salt content in these bodies of water may come from minerals deposited from the surrounding land. Another source for the salt may be that the body of water was formerly connected to the ocean. While the water evaporates from the lake, the salt remains. Eventually, the body of water will become brine. Because of the density of brine, swimmers are more buoyant in brine than in fresh or ordinary salt water. Examples of such brine 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 ...

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 ...

. Bodies of brine may also form on the ocean floor at cold seeps. These are sometimes called brine lakes, but are more frequently referred to as brine pools. It is possible to observe waves on the surface of these bodies. Man-made bodies of brine are created for edible salt production. These can be referred to as brine ponds.

Threats and global decline

Saline lakes are declining worldwide on every continent except Antarctica, mainly due to human causes, such as damming, diversions, and withdrawals. One of the largest factors causing this decline is agricultural irrigation. Among the most commonly cited examples is the Aral Sea, which has shrunk 90% in volume and 74% in area, which is mainly because of irrigation. Another anthropogenic threat is climate change. Human-caused climate change is increasing temperature in many arid regions, drying soil, increasing evaporation, and reducing inflows to saline lakes. Decline of saline lakes leads to many environmental problems, including human problems, such as toxic dust storms and air pollution, disrupted local water cycles, economic losses, loss of ecosystems, and more. It can even be more costly. For example, in the case of the decline of Owens Lake, dust stirred up from the dry lakebed has led to air quality higher than allowed by US-air quality standards. This has resulted in the city of Los Angeles spending $3.6 billion over the next 25 years to mitigate dust from the desiccated lakebed, which is more than the value of the diverted water. Solutions to the decline of saline lakes can be multifaceted, and include water conservation and water budgeting, and mitigating climate change.

List

Note: Some of the following are also partly fresh and/or brackish water. *

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...

* Aralsor * Aydar Lake * Bakhtegan Lake * Caspian Sea *

Chilika Lake Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, khordha and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over . It is the bigge ...

* Chott el Djerid * Dabusun Lake *

* Devil's Lake *

Don Juan Pond Don Juan Pond is a small and very shallow hypersaline lake in the western end of Wright Valley (South Fork), Victoria Land, Antarctica, west from Lake Vanda. It is wedged between the Asgard Range to the south and the Dais Range to the north. On t ...

Garabogazköl The Garabogazköl (also spelt Kara-Bogaz-Gol; "Black Strait Lake"), or Garabogazköl Aylagy ("Black Strait Lake Bay"), is a shallow, highly-saline water-filled depression in the northwestern corner of Turkmenistan. It forms a lagoon of the Caspian ...

* Goose Lake *

Grevelingen Grevelingen or Grevelingenmeer (Lake Grevelingen) is a closed off part of the Rhine-Meuse estuary on the border of the Dutch provinces of South Holland and Zeeland. It is situated between the islands of Goeree-Overflakkee (South Holland) and Sc ...

* Khyargas Nuur *

Laguna Colorada __NOTOC__ Laguna Colorada (''Red Lagoon'') is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile. Contents The lake contains borax islands, ...

Laguna Verde Laguna Verde, the Spanish-language form of ''green lagoon'' or ''green lake'', may refer to: Bolivia *Laguna Verde (Bolivia), a salt lake in Potosi Department *Laguna Verde (Beni), a lake in Beni Department *Laguna Verde (Comarapa), a lake in Comar ...

Lake Abert Lake Abert (also known as Abert Lake) is a large, shallow, alkali lake in Lake County, Oregon, United States. It is approximately long and wide at its widest point. It is located northeast of the small, unincorporated community of Valley Fall ...

* Lake Alakol * Lake Assal * Lake Balkhash *

Lake Barlee Lake Barlee is an intermittent salt lake. With a surface area of , it is the second largest lake in Western Australia. Description Lake Barlee is situated on the Yilgarn block southeast of Youanmi and north of Bullfinch, on the border betwe ...

* Lake Baskunchak *

Lake Bumbunga Lake Bumbunga is a salt lake located in the Mid North of the state of South Australia, between the town of Lochiel and the farming locality of Bumbunga, approximately 1.5 hours' drive from Adelaide. It is a pink lake, with its colour due to c ...

* Lake Elton * Lake Enriquillo * Lake Eyre * Lake Gairdner * Lake Hillier * Lake Karum * Lake Mackay * Lake Natron *

Lake Paliastomi __NOTOC__ Lake Paliastomi ( ka, პალიასტომი, also transliteration, transliterated as Paleaostom) is a small lake near the city of Poti, Georgia (country), Georgia, connected to the Black Sea by a narrow channel. Its surface area ...

* Lake Pontchartrain *

Lake Texoma Lake Texoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, the 12th largest US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) lake, and the largest in USACE Tulsa District. Lake Texoma is formed by Denison Dam on the Red River in Bryan County, Oklaho ...

* Lake Torrens * Lake Tuz *

Lake Tyrrell Lake Tyrrell (also known as Lake Tyrrell Wildlife Reserve) is a shallow, salt-crusted depression in the Mallee district of north-west Victoria, in Australia. The name 'Tyrrell' is derived from the local Wergaia word for 'sky', the Boorong A ...

* Lake Urmia *

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

* Lake Vanda *

Larnaca Salt Lake Larnaca Salt Lake ( el, Αλυκή Λάρνακας, tr, Larnaka Tuz Gölü) is a complex network of four salt lakes (3 of them interconnected) of different sizes to the west of the city of Larnaca. The largest is lake ''Aliki'', followed by lake ...

Little Manitou Lake Little Manitou Lake is a small saltwater lake about 120 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lake was formed by receding glaciers during the most recent ice age. It is fed by underground springs, ...

* Lonar Lake *

Lough Hyne Lough Hyne (; ) is a fully marine sea lough in West Cork, Ireland, about 5 km southwest of Skibbereen. It was designated as Ireland's first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981. Features Lough Hyne was probably a freshwater lake until about ...

Maharloo Lake Maharloe Lake ( fa, دریاچه مهارلو) is a seasonal salt lake in the highlands of the area of Shiraz, Iran. southeast of Shiraz, the lake salt is rich in potassium and other salts. Rudkhane-ye-Khoshk, a seasonal river flowing through th ...

* Mar Chiquita Lake * Mono Lake * Nam Lake * Pangong Lake *

Pulicat Lake Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, (after Chilika Lake), measuring . Major part of the lagoon comes under Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The lagoon is one of the three important wetlands to attract northea ...

Qarhan Playa The Qarhan Playa or also misleadingly described as , is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections ( Dab ...

* Redberry Lake * Salton Sea * Sambhar Salt Lake *

Sarygamysh Lake The Sarygamysh Lake, also Sarykamysh or Sary-Kamysh (, , ), is a lake in Central Asia. It is about midway between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. It is the largest lake in Turkmenistan, in which three quarters of the entire lake's area is loca ...

* Sawa Lake * Siling Lake *

South Hulsan Lake South or also known by other names, is a lake northeast of Golmud in Dulan County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. A part of the Qarhan Playa, it lies east of Tuanjie Lake and south of North Hulsan Lake. Like the other lakes of the ...

* Sutton Salt Lake *

Uvs Lake Uvs Lake ( mn, Увс нуур, Uws nuur, ; russian: Озеро Убсу-Нур, Ozero Ubsu-Nur; zh, 乌布苏湖, wū bù sū hú, pinyin: ''Wū Bù Sū hú'') is a highly saline lake in an endorheic basin—Uvs Nuur Basin in Mongolia with a s ...

Gallery

File:Shiraz and areal.jpg, Astronaut's photo of

Bakhtegan Bakhtegan ( fa, بختگان, also Romanized as Bakhtegān; also known as Bakhtegān-e ‘Olyā) is a village in Mongasht Rural District, in the Central District of Bagh-e Malek County, Khuzestan Province, Iran Iran, officially th ...

and Maharloo salt lakes near Shiraz, Iran. Salt lakes are particularly common in Iran. File:Берег Эльтон с высоты птичьего полёта.jpg, Lake Elton, Russia File:A118, Mono Lake, California, USA, 2004.jpg, Mono Lake, United States File:Salt transport by a camel train on Lake Assale (Karum) in Ethiopia.jpg, Salt transport by a camel train on Lake Karum in Ethiopia.

References

External links