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Water salinity
Salinity levels
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A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride or other salts, with saline levels surpassing that of ocean water (3.5%, i.e. 35 grams per litre or 0.29 pounds per US gallon).

Specific microbial and crustacean species thrive in these high-salinity environments that are inhospitable to most lifeforms. Some of these species enter a dormant state when desiccated, and some species are thought to survive for over 250 million years. The water of hypersaline lakes has great buoyancy due to its high salt content.

The most saline water body in the world is the Don Juan Pond, located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica. Its volume is some 3,000 cubic meters, but is constantly changing. The Don Juan Pond has a salinity level of over 44%, (i.e. 12 times as salty as ocean water). Its high salinity prevents the Don Juan from freezing even when temperatures are below −50 °C (−58 °F). There are larger hypersaline water bodies, lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys such as Lake Vanda with salinity of over 35% (i.e. 10 times as salty as ocean water). They are covered with ice in the winter.

The most saline lake outside of Antarctica is Lake Assal, in Djibouti, which has a salinity of 34.8% (i.e. 10 times as salty as ocean water). Probably the best-known hypersaline lakes are the Dead Sea (34.2% salinity in 2010) and the Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah, USA (5–27% variable salinity). The Dead Sea, dividing Israel and the Palestinian West Bank from Jordan, is the world's deepest hypersaline lake, and the Araruama Lagoon in Brazil is the world's largest. The Great Salt Lake, located in Utah, while having nearly three times the surface area of the Dead Sea, is shallower and experiences much greater fluctuations in salinity. At its lowest recorded water levels, it approaches 7.7 times the salinity of ocean water, but when its levels are high, its salinity drops to only slightly higher than that of the ocean.

Hypersaline lakes are found on every continent, especially in arid or semi-arid regions. The Devon Ice Cap contains two subglacial lakes that are hypersaline.

See also

• Brine pool – Accumulation of brine in a seafloor depression
• Halocline – Stratification of a body of water due to salinity differences
• Halophile – Organisms that live in high salt concentrations
• List of bodies of water by salinity
• Salt lake – Landlocked body of water which has a high concentration of salts

References

1. ^ Hammer, Ulrich T. (1986). Saline lake ecosystems of the world. Springer. ISBN 90-6193-535-0.
2. Vreeland, R.H.; Rosenzweig, W.D.; Powers, D.W. (2000). "Isolation of a 250 million-year-old halotolerant bacterium from a primary salt crystal". Nature. 407 (6806): 897–900. doi:10.1038/35038060. PMID 11057666. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |last-author-amp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
3. ^ Marion, G.M. (1997). "A theoretical evaluation of mineral stability in Don Juan Pond, Wright Valley, Victoria Land". Antarctic Science. 9: 92–99. doi:10.1017/S0954102097000114.
4. Quinn, Joyce A.; Woodward, Susan L., eds. (2015). Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-61069-446-9.
5. Goetz, P.W., ed. (1986). The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (15th ed.). p. 937.
6. Wilkerson, Christine. "Utah's Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville, PI39 – Utah Geological Survey". Geology.utah.gov. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
7. Allred, Ashley; Baxter, Bonnie. "Microbial life in hypersaline environments". Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
8. Kjeldsen, K.U.; Loy, A.; Jakobsen, T.F.; Thomsen, T.R.; et al. (May 2007). "Diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria from an extreme hypersaline sediment, Great Salt Lake (Utah)". FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 60 (2): 287–298. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00288.x. PMID 17367515.
9. Muzyka, Kyle (11 April 2018). "Super salty lakes discovered in Canadian Arctic could provide window into life beyond Earth". CBC News. Retrieved 11 April 2018.

• Hydrology
• Saline lakes