Salt flat
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Natural salt flats or salt pans are flat, open expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the sun. They are found in deserts and are natural formations (unlike salt evaporation ponds, which are artificial).
A salt flat forms by evaporation of a water pool, such as a lake or pond. This happens in climates where the rate of water evaporation exceeds the rate of precipitation — that is, in a desert. If the water cannot drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind minerals precipitated from the salt ions dissolved in the water. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface.[1] These minerals reflect the sun's rays and often appear as white areas.
Salt flats can be dangerous. The crust of salt can conceal a quagmire of mud that can engulf a truck. The Qattara Depression in the eastern Sahara Desert contains many such traps which served as strategic barriers during World War II.[2]
Examples
The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where many land speed records have been set, are a well-known salt pan in the arid regions of the western United States.
The Etosha pan, in the Etosha National Park in Namibia, is another prominent example of a salt pan.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt pan in the world. As of 2024, with an estimated 23 million tons, Bolivia holds about 22% of the world's known lithium resources (105 million tons); most of those are in the Salar de Uyuni.[3] The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.[4][5]
Parts of Rann of Kutch (India) are salt marsh in the wet season and salt pan in the dry season.[6]
Salt flats can also be found in Kenya. A place called Chalbi Desert in North Horr Sub County, Marsabit County in Kenya. In the language of the Gabra people, "Chalbi" means "bare, salty area".[7]
See also
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- Salt evaporation pond – Artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines
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- Template:Annotated link – Relief occurring in the deserts of Central Asia
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Physical Geography | How Salt Shapes Our Lives". The Salt Association. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
- ^ Jorgensen, C. (2003). Rommel's panzers: Rommel and the Panzer forces of the Blitzkrieg, 1940-1942 (pp. 78–79). St. Paul, MN: MBI.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Lithium Statistics and Information" (PDF). USGS. (other Lithium statistics from USGS)
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Borsa, A. A; et al. (2002). "GPS Survey of the salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, for Satellite Altimeter Calibration". American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting. Bibcode:2002AGUFMOS52A0193B.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lamparelli, R. A. C.; et al. (2003). "Characterization of the Salar de Uyuni for in-orbit satellite calibration". IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 41 (6): 1461–1468. Bibcode:2003ITGRS..41.1461C. doi:10.1109/TGRS.2003.810713. S2CID 18716304.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Springer, K. (9 July 2018). "Rann of Kutch: Explore India's largest salt desert". CNN Travel. CNN. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Nyamweru, Celia. "From Lake to Desert: The Chalbi Basin". Kenya Past and Present: 32–36.
Sources
Page Module:Side box/styles.css has no content.Page Template:Sister project/styles.css has no content.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Briere, Peter R. (May 2002). "Playa, playa lake, sabkha: Proposed definitions for old terms". Journal of Arid Environments. 45 (1). Elsevier: 1–7. Bibcode:2000JArEn..45....1B. doi:10.1006/jare.2000.0633.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lowenstein, Tim K.; Lawrence A. Hardie (October 1985). "Criteria for the recognition of salt-pan evaporites". Sedimentation. 32 (5): 627–644. Bibcode:1985Sedim..32..627L. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.1985.tb00478.x.
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