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Salt flat

A salt flat, also known as a salt pan or playa, is a vast, level expanse of land in arid regions covered by a thin crust of salt and other evaporite minerals, resulting from the complete evaporation of ancient lakes or shallow water bodies in enclosed basins.^[1]^[2] These features are characterized by their harsh, barren environments, where the salt crust forms delicate polygonal patterns and can support limited microbial life adapted to extreme salinity.^[1] Salt flats form through a geological process driven by arid climates, where precipitation is minimal and evaporation rates are high.^[1] Minerals such as sodium chloride, sourced from surrounding rock weathering, are dissolved by rainwater and carried by seasonal floods into topographically closed depressions lacking outlets to the sea.^[1]^[3] Over millennia, repeated cycles of wetting and drying concentrate these salts, building layered deposits primarily composed of halite (sodium chloride), along with gypsum, calcite, and borax.^[1] The resulting crust is fragile and dynamic, often expanding and cracking due to crystal growth from subsurface brine, which reshapes the surface into chaotic forms after rain events.^[1] Notable examples include the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah, United States, which cover about 30,000 acres (120 km²) and are a remnant of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, which existed approximately 32,000 to 14,000 years ago and receded at the end of the last Ice Age, leaving the salt flats.^[3]^[4] The world's largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, spans approximately 10,000 square kilometers at an elevation of 3,656 meters in the Andean Altiplano and formed from the evaporation of several ancient lakes during the Pleistocene epoch.^[5] These formations hold ecological value as hypersaline habitats, economic importance for extracting minerals like lithium and potash, and cultural significance for activities such as land speed record attempts on their smooth surfaces.^[1]^[6]

Definition and Terminology

Definition

A salt flat, also known as a playa or salt pan, is a flat expanse of arid terrain covered by a crust of salt and other evaporite minerals that precipitate from water as it evaporates in endorheic basins—closed drainage systems without outlets to the sea.^[7]^[1] These landforms represent the dry remnants of shallow, ephemeral lakes or ponds where mineral-rich waters accumulate and concentrate through repeated cycles of wetting and drying.^[8] Typically occurring in desert or semi-arid regions, salt flats develop in ancient lake beds or basins where evaporation rates far exceed precipitation and inflow, leaving behind a hardened, polygonal surface of salts such as halite (sodium chloride) that can appear reflective and mirror-like when dry.^[1]^[9] When occasional rains flood the area, the crust dissolves into a temporary mudflat, creating a soft, expansive plain that hardens again upon drying.^[7] This dual nature—rigid and brittle in aridity, yet temporarily viscous—distinguishes salt flats from broader desert pavements or alluvial fans. The term "playa" originates from the Spanish word for "beach" or "shore," reflecting early observations of these features as flat, shore-like depressions in arid landscapes.^[10] In contrast, "salt pan" derives from historical industrial practices of evaporating seawater in shallow pans to harvest salt, a process analogous to the natural concentration of salts in these geological settings.^[11]^[12] These synonyms highlight the landform's association with evaporative mineral deposition, though "salt flat" emphasizes the expansive, level terrain often exceeding hundreds of square kilometers.^[8] Salt flats, defined as flat, arid landscapes formed by the evaporation of ancient lakes leaving behind salt deposits, share terminology with several related landforms that highlight specific features of evaporative environments.^[13] The term "salt pan" emphasizes the prominent mineral crust, typically composed of halite and other evaporites, covering the surface of shallow depressions where saline water has evaporated.^[13] In contrast, "playa" refers to the broader closed basin, which may experience intermittent flooding and encompasses not only the salt-crusted center but also surrounding mudflats and alluvial features, often remaining dry for about 75% of the year in arid intracontinental settings.^[14] "Dry lake" underscores the ephemeral nature of these features, denoting the desiccated bed of a former lake where water temporarily accumulates before evaporating, synonymous with playa in many contexts.^[13] "Sabkha," an Arabic term, specifically describes coastal evaporite flats influenced by saline groundwater seepage and periodic marine flooding, commonly found in marginal marine environments like those around the Arabian Gulf, and distinguished by features such as gypsum laminae.^[13]^[15] Regional variations in nomenclature reflect local geological and cultural contexts. In Spanish-speaking regions, particularly South America, "salina" is used for saline depressions or flats akin to salt pans.^[16] In North Africa, "chott" (or "shott") denotes halophyte-vegetated salt flats, often contrasting with the bare, crusted portions termed sabkha.^[15] Common misconceptions arise from conflating salt flats with other saline features. They should not be confused with salt marshes, which are coastal wetlands characterized by emergent salt-tolerant vegetation and regular tidal inundation, forming peat-rich soils rather than dry evaporite crusts.^[17] Similarly, salt flats differ from saline flats within active lakes, where surfaces remain wet or submerged due to persistent water bodies, unlike the predominantly dry, exposed conditions of salt flats.^[13]

Formation and Geology

Geological Processes

Salt flats form primarily through evaporation in endorheic basins, which are closed drainage systems lacking an outlet to the sea, allowing dissolved minerals from inflowing water to accumulate and concentrate over time.^[18] Tectonic activity plays a crucial role in creating these basins, as faulting and subsidence in regions like the Basin and Range Province or Andean foreland generate isolated depressions that trap water and sediments. In such settings, groundwater and surface water recharge from surrounding highlands introduces solutes, but persistent arid conditions drive evaporation rates that exceed precipitation and inflow, leading to progressive brine concentration and mineral precipitation.^[19] The geological sequence begins with initial flooding of the basin, where episodic inflows deposit fine-grained sediments such as clays and silts on the basin floor, forming a foundational layer of mudflats. As water levels fluctuate due to climatic variability, repeated wetting and drying cycles emerge, promoting the development of polygonal desiccation cracks in the surficial sediments through contraction and expansion. These cycles enhance solute mobility, with drying phases intensifying evaporation and concentrating brines to hypersaline levels, initiating the precipitation of evaporitic minerals.^[20] In hypersaline conditions, the precipitation sequence follows a solubility-driven order: gypsum (calcium sulfate) crystallizes first as the least soluble evaporite in the evolving brine, forming layers that act as aquitards in marginal zones. Continued evaporation then saturates the brine with sodium chloride, leading to halite crystallization in the basin's central nucleus, where it accumulates as thick, bedded deposits up to hundreds of meters deep.^[19] This process, observed in examples like the Salar de Atacama, results in a mature salt flat characterized by a halite-dominated core surrounded by gypsum-rich margins, with the absence of drainage outlets ensuring long-term solute retention and basin aggradation.

Environmental Conditions

Salt flats develop primarily in arid or hyper-arid climatic zones, where annual precipitation is typically less than 250 mm, often much lower, such as the 121 mm average recorded at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.^[21] These regions experience high potential evaporation rates exceeding 1,000 mm per year, frequently reaching 1,800 mm or more in semiarid to arid environments, driven by intense solar radiation and low humidity.^[22] Temperature extremes further facilitate rapid drying, with daytime highs often surpassing 40°C and nocturnal lows dropping below 0°C, promoting quick evaporation and minimal moisture retention in surface waters.^[23] Hydrologically, salt flats form within endorheic basins, closed drainage systems that lack outlets to the sea, allowing salts carried by inflowing water to accumulate rather than disperse.^[1] These basins are typically fed by ephemeral rivers, sporadic flash floods from distant mountain ranges, or shallow groundwater seepage, as seen in the Bonneville Salt Flats' 9,000 square mile drainage area.^[21] The absence of outflow traps dissolved minerals, concentrating them through repeated cycles of wetting and drying, with evaporation exceeding precipitation by factors of 10 or more annually.^[1] The formation process unfolds over extended timescales, often exceeding 10,000 years, linked to post-glacial or pluvial periods when ancient lakes expanded during wetter Pleistocene climates before receding in the Holocene.^[24] For instance, remnants of Lake Bonneville, a massive Pleistocene pluvial lake, dried to form the Bonneville Salt Flats around 10,500 years ago, with ongoing salt accumulation influenced by millennial-scale climatic shifts.^[21] Similarly, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia originated from the evaporation of Paleo Lake Minchin during the late Pleistocene, approximately 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Physical and Chemical Characteristics

Surface Morphology

Salt flats exhibit vast, nearly level expanses that can span thousands of square kilometers, exemplified by the Salar de Uyuni covering approximately 10,000 km². These surfaces are covered by a hard, white crystalline crust primarily of halite, with thicknesses varying from millimeters in thin seasonal layers to up to 1 meter or more in perennial zones. The terrain is minimally sloped, typically with gradients less than 1%, facilitating the ponding of shallow water during precipitation events, and often occurs in endorheic basins at elevations ranging from below sea level to several thousand meters above.^[25]^[26]^[27]^[26] A hallmark of salt flat morphology is the formation of polygonal patterns, usually hexagons 1 to 2 meters across, arising from desiccation cracking and differential salt precipitation influenced by subsurface brine convection and evaporation. These polygons feature raised ridges along their boundaries, reaching heights of up to 0.4 meters, which create a tessellated texture contrasting the otherwise smooth, expansive plain. In arid conditions, the dry crust becomes compact and drivable, as demonstrated by the Bonneville Salt Flats where surface relief is minimal at about 0.4 meters over 104 km²; however, intense solar heating often generates superior mirages, producing illusory horizons that mimic distant water bodies.^[28]^[27]^[26] Surface appearance varies significantly with moisture levels: during wet periods, flooding dissolves portions of the crust, forming shallow brine pools and expansive mudflats with slippery, irregular textures. Wind-driven erosion further modifies the landscape, excavating deflation hollows by removing fine sediments and, at margins, sculpting yardangs—streamlined ridges aligned with prevailing winds—through abrasion of exposed evaporites and alluvium. The halite-dominated mineralogy contributes to the crust's bright white hue and crystalline structure.^[26]^[29]^[26]

Mineral Composition

Salt flats, as evaporite deposits formed in arid endorheic basins, are predominantly composed of halite (sodium chloride, NaCl), the primary mineral forming the surface crust in major examples like the Bonneville Salt Flats. Associated minerals include gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate, CaSO₄·2H₂O), which forms through early precipitation in sulfate-rich brines, and thenardite (sodium sulfate, Na₂SO₄), particularly in more alkaline conditions. Clays such as illite (a mica-like phyllosilicate) and montmorillonite are commonly interbedded, contributing to the fine-grained matrix and influencing brine chemistry through ion exchange.^[26]^[30] Stratigraphically, the surface layer of salt flats consists of a thin, soluble salt crust—typically 0.1 to 1.5 meters thick—dominated by halite and readily dissolved during wet periods, while subsurface evaporite beds can extend to depths of up to 100 meters or more, as observed in the Salar de Uyuni where massive halite layers reach 121 meters in borehole cores.^[5] These deeper beds often include interlayers of gypsum, anhydrite, and clay-rich sediments derived from surrounding volcanic and lacustrine sources. Brines trapped within the porous evaporite sequence contain trace elements such as lithium (up to 1,500 ppm in Salar de Uyuni) and boron (up to approximately 0.6 g/L), concentrated through repeated evaporation cycles and sourced from hydrothermal inputs.^[31]^[5] Recent studies have highlighted boron's role in controlling brine pH through borate speciation, buffering alkalinity in hypersaline environments.^[32] Mineral identification in salt flat deposits relies on techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), which quantifies phases such as halite, aragonite, and clays by analyzing crystal lattice patterns in powdered samples from surficial and subsurface cores.^[33] For industrial applications, evaporite purity is graded based on NaCl content, with deposits exceeding 95%—and often reaching 98-99% in high-quality zones—being suitable for chemical processing, road de-icing, and water softening, as seen in evaluations of playa salts.^[34] Impurities like sulfates or clays below 5% ensure economic viability without extensive refining.^[35]

Global Distribution and Examples

Major Salt Flats by Region

In North America, the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, cover approximately 120 km² (30,000 acres) and serve as a renowned site for land speed record attempts due to their flat, hard-packed surface. However, the salt flats have been shrinking over recent decades due to industrial potash extraction, drought, and climate change, raising concerns for their future usability for speed records as of 2025.^[36]^[37] The Great Salt Lake Desert, also in Utah, encompasses vast expanses of salt-encrusted playas formed as remnants of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, spanning thousands of square kilometers in the Great Basin region.^[38] In South America, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia stands as the world's largest salt flat, extending over 10,000 km² and containing substantial lithium brine reserves estimated at up to 21 million metric tons.^[5] The Salar de Atacama in Chile covers about 3,000 km² and is a primary global source of lithium extraction from its subsurface brines.^[39] In Africa and the Middle East, the Etosha Pan in Namibia measures roughly 4,800 km² and functions as a central feature within a wildlife-rich conservation area.^[40] The Chott el Djerid in Tunisia spans approximately 5,360 km², forming one of the largest endorheic basins in North Africa.^[41] In Asia and Australia, Lop Nur in China is a desiccated salt flat historically utilized as a nuclear test site, with its dry lake bed covering several thousand square kilometers in the Tarim Basin.^[42] Lake Eyre in Australia, the continent's largest salt lake, extends across about 9,300 km² when dry and occasionally fills with seasonal floodwaters from its expansive inland drainage basin.^[43]

Notable Features

Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia stands as the world's largest salt flat, covering approximately 10,000 square kilometers and holding significant records for its vast expanse and lithium reserves beneath the surface.^[44] During the wet season from December to March, a thin layer of water transforms its surface into a vast mirror, reflecting the sky and creating surreal optical illusions that have made it a premier destination for landscape photography.^[45] The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah exhibit distinctive hexagonal patterns formed by the expansion and contraction of salt crystals through repeated cycles of wetting and drying, a process driven by subsurface moisture dynamics.^[28] These geometric formations, often resembling honeycombs, result from the crystallization of sodium chloride into prismatic shapes that interlock as they grow, contributing to the flats' unique visual texture.^[3] In Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, the salt flats coincide with active volcanism, including the Erta Ale stratovolcano, where persistent lava lakes and hydrothermal activity create a dynamic geothermal landscape amid the evaporite deposits.^[46] The region experiences extreme heat, with surface temperatures frequently exceeding 50°C due to its location in the Afar Rift, one of Earth's hottest inhabited areas.^[47] Salt flat sediments worldwide preserve ancient fossil records and paleoclimate indicators, such as pollen and microfossils from prehistoric lakes, revealing shifts from wetter pluvial periods to arid conditions over the late Pleistocene.^[48] For instance, cores from the Bonneville Salt Flats contain stratigraphic layers that document the evaporation of Lake Bonneville around 14,500 years ago, providing evidence of past hydrological regimes.^[49]

Ecological and Environmental Aspects

Flora and Fauna

Salt flats, characterized by extreme salinity and aridity, support limited but highly specialized biological communities that have evolved unique adaptations to survive in these harsh environments.^[50] In the marginal zones surrounding salt flats, halophytic plants such as saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) and pickleweed (Salicornia spp.) dominate, employing mechanisms like salt exclusion and excretion through specialized glands to maintain cellular balance amid high sodium levels.^[50]^[51] These plants form sparse vegetation in slightly less saline fringes, stabilizing soils and providing minimal cover for other life forms. Beneath the surface or in residual brines, extremophile microbes including halobacteria (Halobacterium spp.) thrive, producing vibrant red or pink hues through carotenoid pigments that protect against intense ultraviolet radiation.^[52]^[53] Faunal diversity is equally constrained but includes resilient species in temporary pools and edges; brine shrimp (Artemia salina) inhabit ephemeral hypersaline waters, entering dormant cysts to endure desiccation and fluctuating salinities up to 300 g/L.^[54] Migratory birds like lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) congregate in East African salt pans such as Lake Natron, feeding on cyanobacteria blooms in the alkaline brines that sustain their populations.^[55] Along vegetated boundaries, insects such as the Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) forage on saline mudflats, while small mammals including kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) scavenge in adjacent shrublands.^[56]^[57] Certain salt flats serve as biodiversity hotspots, exemplified by Namibia's Etosha Pan, where waterholes around the saline expanse attract large herbivores like elephants and zebras for game viewing, highlighting the ecosystem's role in supporting regional wildlife corridors.^[58] Additionally, microbial mats in these environments, composed of layered bacterial communities, act as terrestrial analogs for potential ancient life on Mars due to their resilience in desiccated, high-salt conditions.^[59]

Climate Change Impacts

Climate change exacerbates the drying of salt flats through heightened evaporation rates driven by rising temperatures, which accelerate water loss from underlying brines and lead to more rapid desiccation of surface crusts.^[60] At the same time, altered precipitation patterns, including more erratic and intense rainfall events in arid regions, promote erosion of fragile salt surfaces, destabilizing their structural integrity.^[61]^[62] These dynamics contribute to the expansion of arid zones globally, with projections indicating that drylands—prime habitats for salt flat formation—could increase by up to 23% of the Earth's land area by 2100 under high emissions scenarios (such as RCP 8.5).^[63] The destabilization of salt flat crusts under these conditions generates frequent dust storms, which loft fine particles into the atmosphere and degrade regional air quality by increasing concentrations of particulate matter and toxic elements like arsenic. As of 2025, dust storms around exposed lakebeds such as the Great Salt Lake have become more frequent and dangerous.^[64]^[65] Habitat loss for brine shrimp, a key species in saline ecosystems, results from rising salinity levels that exceed tolerance thresholds, disrupting food webs and compelling migratory birds—such as eared grebes that rely on these populations for up to 90% of their breeding needs—to alter routes or face population declines.^[66]^[67] Additionally, intensified evaporation mobilizes salts into adjacent groundwater systems, causing salinization that impairs freshwater availability for nearby ecosystems and agriculture.^[68] These impacts heighten vulnerabilities for salt flat flora and fauna already adapted to extreme conditions. In the Great Salt Lake region of the United States, ongoing shrinkage—attributed to climate-driven drought and water diversion—has exposed over 2,000 square kilometers of lakebed, unleashing toxic dust laden with heavy metals that poses respiratory risks to millions in surrounding urban areas.^[69] Similarly, at Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, climate change-induced droughts pose risks of further drying that could reduce brine availability, intensifying the environmental footprint of lithium extraction operations.^[70]

Human Uses and Cultural Significance

Resource Extraction

Salt extraction from salt flats has been practiced since ancient times, primarily for halite (sodium chloride) used in food preservation. In ancient Egypt, salt was employed by at least 2000 BC to draw moisture from foods and inhibit bacterial growth, enabling long-term storage of fish and meats. This method relied on natural evaporation in shallow basins near saline sources, a precursor to modern solar evaporation techniques. Solar salt production from salt flats in the Americas began in the 19th century, with operations at the Great Salt Lake in Utah commencing in 1847, where brine was evaporated to yield halite for industrial and culinary uses.^[71]^[72]^[73] Contemporary salt mining at salt flats predominantly utilizes solar evaporation ponds to harvest halite and associated minerals from hypersaline brines. At the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, part of the Great Salt Lake basin, commercial operations pump subsurface brines into extensive pond networks covering over 80,000 acres, where solar evaporation concentrates and precipitates salts over 1-2 years. These activities yield approximately 2 million tons of salt annually, with halite comprising about 90% of the extracted material, primarily used in de-icing, chemical manufacturing, and water softening. The process begins with brine extraction via wells, followed by sequential ponding to allow impurities like magnesium to settle before harvesting crystallized halite.^[74]^[75]^[37] Beyond halite, salt flats serve as vital sources for other minerals, including lithium, potash, and boron, extracted from lithium-rich brines that also contain these elements alongside dominant halides. The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the world's largest salt flat, holds an estimated 21 million tons of lithium—about 21% of global reserves—extracted via brine pumping and evaporation for battery production. As of October 2025, Bolivia's new center-right president has renewed ambitions for foreign investment in lithium mining at the site.^[76]^[77] Potash (potassium chloride) production occurs at sites like the Bonneville Salt Flats, where Intrepid Potash extracts significant quantities annually from brines for use in fertilizers.^[78] Boron, often co-occurring in alkaline brines, is recovered from saline water bodies such as Lakkor Co in Tibet, where concentrations reach 400-850 mg/L and are separated using solvent extraction or adsorption for applications in glassmaking and agriculture.^[79] Extraction techniques at salt flats typically involve pumping brines from aquifers into lined evaporation fields, where solar heat and wind drive water loss, sequentially precipitating minerals based on solubility—first halite, then potash or lithium carbonates. This method, optimized since the early 20th century, minimizes energy use but requires large land areas; for instance, at Bonneville, brines are channeled through canals to ponds up to 10 feet deep, with harvesting via mechanical scrapers once crystals form. Post-2000 environmental regulations have emphasized prevention of salt loss and crust degradation, particularly in the U.S., where the Bureau of Land Management mandates brine reinjection or salt laydown programs at sites like Bonneville to restore crust integrity after potash removal. These measures, including the 2016 Salt Laydown Project returning over 1 million tons of brine annually, address groundwater depletion and observed salt crust thinning of about 1.5 feet from 1960 to 1988, alongside recent area shrinkage of 75% since 1925 that could lead to complete disappearance by 2072-2126.^[80]^[81]^[82]^[83]^[84]

Recreation and Other Uses

Salt flats, with their vast, flat expanses and unique environmental conditions, attract enthusiasts for high-speed land racing, particularly at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, United States. The Utah Salt Flats Racing Association, founded in 1976, has organized events there since the 1930s, utilizing the hard, level surface for speed trials.^[85]^[86] Annual Speed Week gatherings, starting formally in 1949 under the Southern California Timing Association, allow vehicles and motorcycles to attempt records in various classes, with the site hosting over 500 land speed records since the first outright record set by Malcolm Campbell in 1935 at 301.13 mph.^[87]^[88] Tourism to salt flats emphasizes their otherworldly landscapes, drawing visitors for immersive experiences. In Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, tours often include stays at salt hotels constructed entirely from salt blocks, offering panoramic views and educational insights into the site's geology during multi-day excursions that traverse the flats and surrounding lagoons.^[89] In Chile's Salar de Atacama, the arid conditions and elevation above 2,000 meters provide exceptionally clear skies, making it a prime destination for stargazing tours, enhanced by proximity to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory, located along the eastern edge of the salt flat amid volcanic terrain.^[90]^[91] Scientific applications leverage salt flats as analogs for extraterrestrial environments and paleoclimate studies. NASA's research teams use sites like the Quisquiro salt flat in the Atacama Desert to simulate Martian conditions, testing rover mobility and investigating methane production in saline settings comparable to Gale Crater, where the Curiosity rover operates.^[92] Sediment cores from salt flats, such as the 186-meter-long core extracted from Death Valley's Badwater Basin, reveal a 200,000-year paleoclimate record through interbedded evaporites and mud layers, documenting cycles of aridity, lake levels, and temperature shifts in closed-basin systems.^[93] Additionally, Tunisia's Chott el Djerid served as a filming location for the original Star Wars trilogy, where its expansive, cracked salt pan depicted the desert planet Tatooine in scenes like the Lars homestead approach.^[94] Cultural interactions with salt flats reflect indigenous heritage and contemporary artistic expression. The Aymara people of Bolivia's Altiplano region regard Salar de Uyuni as a sacred site tied to creation myths involving the volcano Tunupa, incorporating the flats into rituals that honor Pachamama (Mother Earth) through offerings and ceremonies symbolizing ancestral connections to salt as a life-sustaining resource.^[95]^[96] Artists have exploited the flats' reflective surfaces for installations, such as Andrea Stanislav's mirrored obelisks placed on the Bonneville Salt Flats to interact with the horizon and sky, creating illusions of infinity, or Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970) on the Great Salt Lake's northeastern shore amid adjacent salt flats, a coiled earthwork of basalt, salt, and mud that engages with the site's saline waters and changing water levels.^[97]^[98]

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Lithium values in Salar de Uyuni range from 80 to 1500 ppm, with 300-700 ppm most prevalent. Brines are saturated with halite, moderately high in sulfate, and ...Missing: mineral | Show results with:mineral
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[PDF] mineralogy and fluid chemistry of surficial sediments in the the ...
In summary, major sources for ions comprising the solid and liquid phases of the salt crust and shallow-brine aquifer have been identified as 1) clayey ...
[35]
KGS--Bull. 187, pt. 1--Photoelectric Beneficiation of Rock Salt
With salt of 98 to 99 percent NaCl content, a larger market is available. ... Industrial use of photoelectric cells for sorting by color, size, or ...
[36]
[PDF] GREAT SALT LAKE'S NORTH ARM SALT CRUST
Apr 7, 2016 · The salt bed consists almost entirely of pure halite. Most samples of the salt contain minor amounts of thenardite (Na2SO4) and some ...
[37]
Bonneville Salt Flats Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA)
The salt flats are about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide and are comprised mostly of sodium chloride, or table salt. Located 120 miles west of Salt Lake City in ...
[38]
Great Salt Lake & Lake Bonneville - Utah Geological Survey
The size, shape, and location of this basin is controlled by tectonics, in particular the faulting and stretching of Earth's crust that has created a pattern of ...
[39]
Salar de Atacama, Chile | EROS
Salar de Atacama is a large salt flat in Chile's Atacama Desert, a major lithium source, and is about 3,000 square kilometers.Missing: facts | Show results with:facts
[40]
Etosha National Park, Namibia - NASA Earth Observatory
Nov 8, 2003 · The salt pan desert is roughly 130 kilometers long and as wide as 50 kilometers in places. The salt pan is usually dry, but fills with water ...
[41]
[PDF] monitoring sediment transfw processes on the desert margin
1). Chott el Djerid is the largest of these playas and covexs aboiit 5360km2. It has an elongated north eastern arm, the Chott el Fedjadj, which continues E ...
[42]
Chinese Nuclear Weapons Testing at Lop Nur - Stanford
Feb 6, 2019 · The site itself consists of one vertical shaft test site, two horizontal shaft test sites, and an atmospheric test site. Initial tests were ...
[43]
Sizing Up Remote Lakes - NASA Earth Observatory
Apr 26, 2021 · ... Eyre, which spans 9,300 square kilometers (3,600 square miles) in Australia. While Lake Eyre tends to receive some water each year, the full ...
[44]
Satellite radar altimetry reveals spatial and temporal changes in ...
Sep 19, 2025 · The Salar de Uyuni is speculated to be the world's largest natural mirror. However, during the wet season, the area accessible to tourists ...
[45]
Solving the mystery of whether a Bolivian salt flat is the world's ...
Sep 23, 2025 · Most of the evidence of the mirror effect is anecdotal, coming from tourist photos of people standing on the flats with the water perfectly ...
[46]
The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia)
Axial shield volcanoes rising from 0.3 to 1 km typify the southern part of the Danakil Depression, whereas its northern part is dominated by a largely deserted, ...
[47]
Gaet’ale: Reactivated Thermal Spring Hazard in Danakil Depression
Jan 5, 2016 · This paper serves to document a thermal spring, called Gaet'ale, that was reactivated in 2005, during the majorseismo-volcanic crisis in the Danakil Depression ...
[48]
Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats have long been in flux - @theU
Feb 21, 2024 · Salt crusts began forming long after Lake Bonneville disappeared, according to new U research that relied on pollen to date playa in western Utah.Missing: process | Show results with:process
[49]
Lateral and temporal constraints on the depositional history of the ...
Feb 16, 2024 · We explore the late Pleistocene to Holocene depositional record of Bonneville Salt Flats cores. Our data challenge the assumption that the ...
[50]
Plant salt tolerance: adaptations in halophytes - PMC - NIH
Feb 17, 2015 · Conclusions Halophytes will play increasingly important roles as models for understanding plant salt tolerance, as genetic resources ...
[51]
Halophytes as new model plant species for salt tolerance strategies
Salt-accumulating halophytes maintain their water potential, being more negative than the external soil media since these plants keep on accumulating salts from ...
[52]
What Are Those Weird, Pink Ponds in San Francisco Bay? - KQED
Dec 14, 2017 · ... salt water.” The vibrant pink hue comes from a natural source: halobacterium and microscopic algae. As the water gets saltier, some microbes ...
[53]
2.23: Halobacterium - Biology LibreTexts
Oct 12, 2021 · Halobacterium is one of several organisms that can color high salt environments red, like the hypersaline pools in Owens Lake, California.
[54]
The Brine Shrimp Artemia: Adapted to Critical Life Conditions - PMC
Jun 22, 2012 · The brine shrimp Artemia is a micro-crustacean, well adapted to the harsh conditions that severely hypersaline environments impose on survival and reproduction.
[55]
Why toxic lakes are a paradise for flamingos - CNN
Jan 6, 2017 · Visit Lake Natron in Tanzania and you'll find 75% of the world's 3.2 million lesser flamingos. The lake's hypersaline water can strip away human skin.
[56]
Salt Creek Tiger Beetle | Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
The Salt Creek tiger beetle requires saline mud flats and exposed mud banks with salt deposits within saline wetlands and along stream edges for foraging, ...Range · Habitat · Management And OutlookMissing: mammals flat
[57]
Mammals - Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Mammals Found in Death Valley ; Coyote Canis latrans. From salt flats into mountains; common around mesquite thickets. ; Kit fox. Vulpes macrotis arsipus
[58]
Wildlife - Etosha National Park
The large mammals in Etosha National Park include lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, giraffe, wildebeest, cheetah, hyena, mountain and plains zebra, springbok, ...
[59]
an Analog for Habitats on Present Mars
Jan 12, 2016 · Salt flats (sabkha) are a recognized habitat for microbial life in desert environments and as analogs for habitats for life on Mars.
[60]
Salt Scourge: The Dual Threat of Warming and Rising Salinity
May 10, 2022 · And climate change will drive salt scourges far from the ocean too, especially in arid regions, where climate scientists warn that higher ...Missing: flats zones
[61]
Global predictions of primary soil salinization under changing ...
Nov 18, 2021 · An increase in the rate of evapotranspiration and alteration in precipitation patterns, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas, is expected ...Missing: flats | Show results with:flats
[62]
Impacts of climate change on the fate of contaminants through ...
Jan 20, 2024 · Soil erosion and rainfall patterns are two areas where climate change is expected to induce a major impact on the planet's soils. Erosion ...Missing: flats | Show results with:flats
[63]
Rising from dead and dying lakes, western dust storms menace ...
Aug 23, 2024 · Newer western dust storms are the byproduct of both water diversions and climate change. Their harm isn't distributed evenhandedly: a new ...
[64]
Everyone Wants to be a Brine Shrimp - Terrain.org
Dec 29, 2023 · As the lakes become more saline, the brine shrimp stocks shrink. The northern arm of the lake has been oversaturated with salt for a while now, ...
[65]
Great Salt Lake: A Haven for Threatened Bird Species | Grow The Flow
Mar 11, 2024 · An astonishing 90% of North America's Eared Grebe population relies on the Great Salt Lake, where they consume up to 30,000 brine shrimp each ...Missing: flats | Show results with:flats
[66]
New study demonstrates how climate and irrigation influence salinity ...
Feb 8, 2024 · The study confirmed previous findings that salts come primarily from groundwater (66-82%), with smaller portions attributed to runoff and ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[67]
As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces an 'Environmental ...
Jun 8, 2022 · Climate change and rapid population growth are shrinking the lake, creating a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City.
[68]
Lithium and water: Hydrosocial impacts across the life cycle of ...
Jul 14, 2024 · The combined effects of climate change and lithium mining have already directly reduced the local populations of two of the three flagship ...
[69]
Facts and ideas from anywhere - PMC - PubMed Central - NIH
Salt permeates food and makes bacterial life impossible. Although it is not known when it started, salt preservation was used in Egypt by at least 2000 BC. It ...
[70]
Off the Spice Rack: The Story of Salt - History.com
Jan 10, 2013 · The ancient Egyptians were the first to realize the preservation possibilities of salt. Sodium draws the bacteria-causing moisture out of foods ...
[71]
History of Salt | SaltWorks®
Solar salt making began on San Francisco Bay, California in 1770 and at the Great Salt Lake in Utah in 1847.
[72]
Utah is Worth its Salt
Nov 21, 2013 · Currently 3 corporations extract salt using over 80000 acres of solar evaporation ponds near the lake. They produce over 2 millions tons of salt ...
[73]
[PDF] Great Salt Lake, Utah - USGS Publications Warehouse
yas (salt flats) in the basin, Great Salt Lake is believed to have first formed about 11,000 years ago when the lake rose from a smaller saline body to ...
[74]
Lithium Reserves by Country 2025 - World Population Review
As of 2023, Bolivia is the country with the largest lithium reserves in the world with 23 million tons of lithium in total.
[75]
History of Potash Production from the Salduro Salt Marsh ...
During the period 1920 to 1936, BPC unsuccessfully attempted to commercially produce potash through the solar evaporation of brines.
[76]
Boron Isotope Geochemistry of the Lakkor Co Salt Lake (Tibet) and ...
Jun 22, 2022 · Lakkor Co is one of the main boron-rich salt lakes in the Tibetan plateau where the boron concentration ranges from 401 to 849 mg L -1.
[77]
Salt Production and Processing - Morton Salt
Salt is produced using solar evaporation, rock mining, and vacuum evaporation methods. Solar uses ponds, rock mining uses underground, and vacuum uses steam.
[78]
Lithium Extraction Methods
This process involves pumping lithium-rich brine into massive evaporation ponds, where sunlight gradually evaporates the water over one to two years, leaving ...
[79]
Race to save the Bonneville Salt Flats - Bureau of Land Management
Nov 22, 2024 · The Salt Laydown Project pumps brine remaining from potash mining back onto the flats in hopes that it will bolster the naturally occurring salt ...
[80]
Utah Salt Flats Racing Association records - Archives West
The Utah Salt Flats Racing Association records contains administrative documents, meeting minutes, subject files, magazine articles, membership bios, and other ...<|separator|>
[81]
Bonneville Salt Flats speed records: Beginner's guide - Red Bull
Sep 10, 2018 · The first outright land speed record at Bonneville was scored by Malcolm Campbell and his famous Bluebird in 1935. They notched the first-ever ...
[82]
Bonneville Salt Flats & Speedway - Utah Historical Markers
The first world land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats was set on September 3, 1935, by Sir Malcolm Campbell. His speed was 301.13 miles per hour.
[83]
Luna Salada Hotel de Sal - Bolivia Salt Resort
Luna Salada Hotel offers you personalized travel planing services for a tour in Salar de Uyuni, and when you come back be sure to rest in our exquisite ...Gallery · Cruzani Travel Tours · Return to the Salt Flats · Rooms
[84]
Privileged Location - ALMA Observatory
Atacama Desert. ALMA ... These volcanoes are all situated along the eastern side of the Atacama Salt Flat, forming a line of north-south trending volcanoes.Missing: stargazing | Show results with:stargazing
[85]
Watch the Skies: Stargazing and Astronomy in the Atacama Desert
The Atacama's high altitude, dryness, and low light pollution make it ideal for stargazing, with tours and observatories available.
[86]
Nasa explores connection between Earth's salt flats and Martian ...
Apr 23, 2024 · Nasa scientists compare Quisquiro salt flat to Gale Crater on Mars, exploring methane presence. Similarities suggest Mars had saline ...<|separator|>
[87]
200 k.y. paleoclimate record from Death Valley salt core | Geology
Jun 2, 2017 · A 186-m-long core (DV93-1) from Death Valley, California, composed of interbedded salts and muds contains a 200 k.y. record of closed-basin ...
[88]
Chott el-Djerid | Star Wars Film Site - Galaxy Tours
OVERVIEW ; Site: Chott el-Djerid (northwest sector) ; GPS: 33.842831, 7.779026 ; Location: Salt flats between the Kebili and Tozeur governorates, southwest Tunisia.
[89]
La Madre Tierra: The Ancestry of Bolivia's Salt Flats - Urth Magazine
Jun 5, 2023 · In the collective consciousness, people remember the Aymara legends linking the nearby Tunupa volcano to the salt flats' origins. There's a ...
[90]
10 GREAT FACTS ABOUT THE SALT FLATS OF UYUNI, BOLIVIA
Apr 3, 2024 · The flat, reflective surface creates optical illusions that blur the lines between the sky and the ground, allowing for incredibly creative and ...Missing: notable | Show results with:notable
[91]
LANDSCAPES BY ANDREA STANISLAV - Minneapolis Institute of Art
Nov 29, 2007 · The multimedia installation includes video images of mirrored obelisks, which Stanislav created and previously set in the Great Salt Flats of ...
[92]
The Spiral Jetty | Holt/Smithson Foundation
The helicopter maneuvered the sun's reflection through the Spiral Jetty until it reached the center. The water functioned as a vast thermal mirror.<|control11|><|separator|>