A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked

body of water A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such ...

that has a

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'' ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

s (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 ...

) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

s (often defined as at least three

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to ...

s 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 lakes, 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 strengt ...

salt lake that has a high content of

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonat ...

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%)

Properties

Salt lakes form when the water flowing into the lake, containing salt or minerals, cannot leave because the lake is

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

(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 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 (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 (chemistry), 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 ...

), and may also be heavily saturated with other materials. Most brine lakes develop as a result of high evaporation rates in an

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

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. Bodies of brine may also form on the ocean floor at

cold seep A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. ''Cold'' does not mean that the temperature of the see ...

s. 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.

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 lake lying between Kazakh ...

* Aydar Lake * Bakhtegan Lake *

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad s ...

* Chilika Lake *

Chott el Djerid Chott el Djerid ( ar, شط الجريد ') also spelled ''Sciott Gerid'' and ''Shott el Jerid'', is a chott, a large endorheic salt lake in southern Tunisia. The name can be translated from the Arabic into English as "Lagoon of the Land of Palms" ...

* Dabusun Lake *

* Devil's Lake * Don Juan Pond * Garabogazköl * Goose Lake * Great Salt 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 ...

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 Alakol * Lake Assal *

Lake Balkhash Lake Balkhash ( kk, Балқаш көлі, ''Balqaş kóli'', ; russian: озеро Балхаш, ozero Balkhash) is a lake in southeastern Kazakhstan, one of the largest lakes in Asia and the 15th largest in the world. It is located in the ea ...

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 Enriquillo Lake Enriquillo ( es, Lago Enriquillo) is a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic located in the southwestern region of the country. Its waters are shared between the provinces of Bahoruco and Independencia, the latter of which borders Hait ...

* Lake Elton *

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains ...

* 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 Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

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, Oklahom ...

* 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 Urmia; az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü; ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê; hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich; arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is ...

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 * Little Manitou Lake *

Loch 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 f ...

* Lonar Lake * Maharloo Lake * Mar Chiquita Lake * Mono Lake * Nam Lake * Pangong Lake * Pulicat Lake *

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 ( D ...

* Redberry Lake *

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gu ...

* Sambhar Salt Lake * Sarygamysh Lake * 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 Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. 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 Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Endorheic lakes Shrunken lakes Salts

Properties

List

Gallery

See also

References

External links