Salt lake
A salt lake, or saline lake, is a lake with a lot of sodium chloride and other dissolved minerals in the water. It is often defined as three grams or more of salt per litre. In some cases, salt lakes have more salt than sea water: they are called hypersaline lakes. An alkaline salt lake with a high content of carbonate is called a soda lake.
Salt lakes can be put into categories based on salinity:[1]
- subsaline 0.5–3 ‰ (parts per thousand)
- hyposaline 3–20 ‰
- mesosaline 20–50 ‰
- hypersaline greater than 50 ‰
Salt lakes form when the water flowing into the lake, containing salt or minerals, cannot leave. This is because the lake is endorheic (a dead end). The water then evaporates, leaving behind any dissolved salts. This increases its salinity. Salt lakes are an excellent place for salt production. High salinity will also lead to a unique flora and fauna in the lake. Sometimes the large amount of salt means there is little life in or near the 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 'playa', salt flat or salt pan.
Salt Lake Media
- Ethiopia - Lake Assale.jpg
One of two salt lakes in the northern end of the Danakil Depression known as Lake Karum
- Lake Hillier Shoreline Pink Hue Salt Deposite.jpg
Lake Hillier shoreline with microorganisms including Dunaliella salina, red algae which cause the salt content in the lake to create a red dye
- Soltan salt lake iran.jpg
Soltan lake in Iran with salt mounds
- Larnaca 01-2017 img32 Salt Lake.jpg
Salt Lake in Larnaca, Cyprus
- Dimictic lake.png
Lake stratification in different seasons
- Берег Эльтон с высоты птичьего полёта.jpg
The shore of Solt Lake Elton, Volgograd Oblast, Russia
- A118, Mono Lake, California, USA, 2004.jpg
Mono Lake, United States
- Salt transport by a camel train on Lake Assale (Karum) in Ethiopia.jpg
Salt transport by a camel train on Lake Karum in Ethiopia.
Related pages
References
- ↑ Hammer U.T. (1986). Saline lake ecosystems of the world. Springer. p. 15. ISBN 90-6193-535-0.