The most salty lake in the world. The largest salt lakes in the world

The most salty lake in the world is an extraordinary and amazing natural phenomenon. There are similar water bodies on almost all continents. Antarctica in this case is no exception. In America and Russia, there are whole zones where there is a huge number of such reservoirs. But what is the most salty lake in the world?

Dead Sea

The list of the largest lakes in the area is headed by the Dead Sea. Many may disagree with this. It's not a lake, it's a sea. However, it is not. The Dead Sea is a drainage, since it has no outlet to any of the oceans. This lake is located on the border between Jordan and Israel. In size, this pond is not very large. Its length is 76 kilometers, and the width is only 18, the maximum depth is 370 meters. The total area of the Dead Sea is 810 m ² . Gradually the lake decreases in size.

Only one Jordan flows into this body of water from large rivers. Feed the Dead Sea and small streams. However, the water in the lake quickly evaporates, since the air temperature here often falls below 40 ° C. The salts, on the contrary, remain and accumulate. In addition to fresh rivers, the Dead Sea is also fed by mineral springs located on its southern coast. As a result, the concentration of salts only increases and is approximately 28%. And in places this indicator reaches 33%. For comparison, you can take the waters of the World Ocean. Here, the salt concentration is a maximum of 4%. The most fresh water of the Dead Sea flows near its northern shores. Here the salt concentration is only 24%. It is in this part that the Jordan flows into it . As you can see, this is the most salty sea. Information about this pond changes every year. After all, the water level decreases, and the concentration of salt increases.

Lakes also have legends

On the southern shore of the Dead Sea, nature has created amazing pillars. This was due to the fact that in this part of the reservoir there are many more salts, and the water quickly evaporates. One of these pillars resembles a female figure, clothed in a raincoat. She even has her own name - "Lot's wife". It is related to one of the biblical legends that tells how God decided to punish Gomorrah and Sodom. About his intention, he warned one of the righteous - Lot - and told him to leave the city before his fall, without stopping along the road and not turning around. However, Lot's wife violated the ban and eventually was punished, turning into a pillar of salt.

The most salty lake in the world: is there life in it?

The name of the Dead Sea speaks for itself: there is no life in it. There are no fish or algae. The banks of the reservoir are also lifeless. Even the surface of the Dead Sea does not resemble a water surface. It is more like an oily, metallic-ebbed liquid with white salt flakes in smaller places.

However, scientists argue that this pond is not completely dead. It hosts salt-loving bacteria, and sometimes even fungi are found.

Features of the Dead Sea

The world's salty lake has many features. First of all, its waters are saturated with various minerals, for example iodine, sodium, potassium and boron. Even the ancient healers knew about the beneficial properties of the salt solution of this pond. Water from the Dead Sea helps to heal all sorts of skin diseases.

However, swimming in this lake is almost impossible. After all, salt water can eat away the skin. If such a solution falls into any wound, then there will be not entirely pleasant sensations. That's why swimming in the Dead Sea is not so pleasant. This is rather the fate of lovers of exotics or those who are forced to take similar water procedures as prescribed by doctors.

By the way, it's difficult to dive in the Dead Sea, since its water is a thick saline solution. A person can only swing on the surface of a lake, like a float. Drowning in the Dead Sea is simply impossible. In addition, the shore of the reservoir is considered a rather low place on land. It is located only 0.4 kilometers below the level of the World Ocean.

Lake Don Juan

This is another salt lake in the world. However, few know about its existence. Lake Don Juan is on the glacial continent - in Antarctica. To be precise, on the lands of Victoria in the Wright Valley. By the way, the hydronym has nothing to do with the famous Lovelace - the lake is named after those people who first discovered it. They were the helicopter pilots John Hickey and Don Ro. They discovered the lake in 1961. In size it is very small. Approximately in 1998, its depth was a little less than 100 meters, length - 1 kilometer, and width - 400 meters.

At the moment the reservoir has significantly decreased in size. Now its depth is only 10 centimeters, the length is 300 meters, and the width is 100 meters. The water from it evaporates quickly enough. In this case, the lake of Don Juan does not completely dry up. It is supported by underwater springs. After all, this pond is one of those places where ground waters come to the surface.

Why is the lake salty?

Scientists suggest that the lake became salty because of the content in the sedimentary rocks of a large number of salts. It is through them that the meltwater from the springs passes. These sources are the main feed of Lake Don Juan. At the same time, the air in the valley is very dry. In such conditions, water evaporates much faster. At the moment, the lake Don Juan is ahead of the Dead Sea in salt concentration. Now this figure is 40%. Because of this sufficiently high concentration, the reservoir does not freeze even at a temperature of -40 ° C.

As you can see, Lake Don Juan is the most salty lake in the world. But in size it is much inferior to the Dead Sea. Interest in this water body arose from scientists also because conditions in the area of this, so to speak, water area (intense cold, aridity, hypersalinity and high ultraviolet radiation) are very similar to those on the surface of Mars.

Lake El'ton

The largest salt lakes in the world are a real miracle of nature. In the Volgograd region of Russia there is a reservoir of Elton. This is the largest lake with mineral waters in the whole of Europe. In form this pond is almost round. There is a lake in the hollow between the salt domes. At the same time there is no runoff at the reservoir. The most surprising thing is the color of the water in Lake Elton. It has a reddish tinge. This color is given to the lake of Elton by the bacteria living in it, which are representatives of the species Dunaliella salina. Not so long ago, it produced salt.