The most salty seas and lakes in the world. Reservoirs with the most salty water on Earth: in comparison with them, the water in the Dead Sea will seem like tap water (9 photos). Salt lakes of Russia
What is the saltiest lake in the world? The most famous is the Dead Sea in the Middle East, in which, due to the high density of water, it is impossible to drown. But the palm does not belong to him. Several lakes in the world at once have a percentage of salt content greater than the Dead Sea. Here is a list of the saltiest lakes in the world:
The most salty
All lakes from the list of the most salty (of course, except for Lake Don Juan) have long been a place of salt extraction. Over time, various hospitals were added to the salt mines, because the microclimate that has developed around such lakes has a beneficial effect on the human body, and many diseases can be treated with mud. For example, the salt deposit of Lake Elton began to be regularly developed during the time of Ivan the Terrible, shortly after he conquered the Astrakhan Khanate. During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, two tracts were laid for the export of salt, and on February 27, 1747, by decree of the ruling Senate, the "Salt Extraction Commission" was established.
Since the end of the 19th century, Elton has been of exclusively resort importance; salt mining has been discontinued there. But Lake Baskunchak combines "two in one". Here, not only salt is mined, but also a whole bunch of diseases are treated. Baskunchak's salt is the purest table salt in the world, covering up to 80 percent of the needs of the Russian market.
Lake Baskunchak is also famous for the fact that in the 60s of the last century a track was built on it to set All-Union speed records. As a result, from 1960 to 1963, 29 records were set, including 19 international ones. The maximum speed was 311.4 km / h. In the future, due to the ongoing development of the salt deposit and the deterioration of the hydrological situation, the route, where there was a 13-kilometer straight section, was closed.
The Dead Sea is widely known as an international resort, among the five record holders it has the largest area and the most developed infrastructure. Despite this, salt mining continues there today. But the sea level, unlike its Russian counterparts, is regularly decreasing. However, at great depths, complete shallowing will not occur soon.
Lake Assal in the small African state of Djibouti is located just 5 kilometers from the Indian Ocean and 155 meters below its level. It occupies the crater of an extinct volcano. There is not a single sanatorium on the lake, which lies in a very turbulent (in a social sense) region of Africa. Salt is only mined here and delivered by caravans to neighboring Ethiopia.
Antarctic phenomenon
Lake Don Juan was discovered in 1961, and was named after the helicopter pilots who first discovered it: Don Ro and John Hickey. Obviously, when they gave the name, they decided to beat the famous name of Don Juan in literature, and the English "John" was translated into Spanish. At the time of discovery, the water temperature was -30 degrees Celsius, but due to the high salt content, the lake did not freeze. Its exact description was obtained only in the 70s of the last century.
The reference book for 1977 indicates that the area of the lake is 0.25 km 2, and its average depth is about 30 centimeters. Twenty years later, the area and depth of the reservoir greatly decreased. Today it is just a very large salt puddle of 3 hectares with an almost perfectly flat bottom. No life, including bacteria, has been found in the lake.
It is located in an area of Antarctica called Victoria Land, in the Wright Valley. The average salinity is 402 ppm, some measurements show a value of 413. Lake Don Juan is described as a point of entry to the surface of groundwater with high salinity. Due to the unique natural conditions - constant strong winds and great dryness of the air - the water evaporates, leaving the substances brought in the reservoir. Due to the high concentration of salt, the lake does not freeze even at -53 degrees Celsius.
All these reservoirs have a very high salt concentration, exceeding the salinity of the World Ocean by more than an order of magnitude. Which of them is more worthy of the title of "the most salty lake in the world" than others? In absolute terms, this is Elton - 500 ppm. But sometimes, with an abundance of meltwater, the lake becomes much fresher, restoring its primacy in dry years. And the Dead Sea, with the ongoing shallowing, has good "prospects" after some time to seize the sole leadership. This lake has the greatest depth and area and, as a result, the largest volume of water and the total amount of minerals.
The Dead Sea is famous for its unusually high salt content, although in fact this body of water ranks only fourth among the most salty seas and lakes in the world.
The seas and oceans are traditionally considered to be the most saline water bodies. And this is mostly true. Water covers more than two-thirds of our planet's surface, and 96% of it is in the oceans. Ocean waters contain thousands of billions of tons of dissolved salt.
The salinity of the water at different points in the oceans varies. Around the poles, the constant presence of snow and ice reduces salt levels, while closer to the equator more water evaporates from the surface of the seas, which means a higher salt content in the water.
But there are reservoirs on our planet, where there is much more salt than in the seas and oceans.
Dead Sea
The most famous such body of water is the Dead Sea, located on the border of Jordan and Israel. The water here is 10 times saltier than the average sea. However, the Dead Sea is far from the most salty sea. It ranks only fifth among the most saline bodies of water on Earth.
Besides, the Dead Sea is not a sea at all. Although the term "sea" is loosely used, it essentially refers to a large body of salt water that is partly surrounded by land. The Dead Sea is completely surrounded by land and has no access to the ocean or the open sea. In fact, this is a lake, but large and salty, which causes confusion.
The shore stones of the lake sparkle with crystallized table salt in places where the sun makes the water evaporate quickly. In addition, the Dead Sea is the deepest hypersaline body of water in the world. Its depth reaches 330 meters.
In recent years, this reservoir has been rapidly decreasing in size, to the point that rumors have appeared about its complete disappearance. Today, however, Israeli geologists claim that it will stabilize at current levels in the near future.
Lake Don Juan
Despite its celebrity status, the Dead Sea is not able to take away the laurels of the most salty body of water from a tiny lake called Don Juan. This crumb does not exceed 300 meters in length and 100 meters in width, and its depth is 10 centimeters. However, the percentage of salt in the lake is 44%, which is 10% more than in the Dead Sea, and 40% more than in the ocean.
The lake is located in Antarctica, in the McMurdo Dry Valley, famous for being the driest place on the planet - there is no precipitation there, and strong winds do not allow glaciers to form on the inside of the mountains surrounding the valley.
salt source
Scientists do not know the exact reason for such a high salt content in the water of the lake. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is completely cut off from other water bodies and is not diluted with fresh water coming from precipitation and due to the melting of glaciers. All the salt contained in the waters of Don Juan cannot leave them in any way. She can only freeze or evaporate.
With such a high percentage of salinity, the lake almost never freezes - this requires a temperature below -53 degrees Celsius. All that remains is evaporation. The water evaporates, which leads to an even higher percentage of salinity.
While other salty waters of Antarctica get fresh water from snow and ice, Don Juan always remains undiluted. Scientists are still trying to find a source of salt in the waters of the lake.
Salt on land
It is noteworthy that reservoirs are far from the most saline places on the planet. Record accumulations of this mineral are found on land.
The Uyuni salt marsh is the largest in the world, its area exceeds ten thousand square kilometers. It is located in Bolivia and is actually the bottom of a dried up prehistoric salt lake.
The basin of this lake is unusually flat, geologists have noticed a difference in height of only one meter. Today, this huge flat valley is covered in sparkling salt crystals.
During the rainy season, tourists flock to Uyuni to see the world's largest mirror surface, and flamingos fly here to lay their eggs, perched on large salt marshes.
For several centuries, salt has been mined in the vastness of Uyuni, but there is still so much that it will last for a long time.
Underground springs
Despite the fact that the largest salt deposit is in Bolivia, the largest exporters of this mineral are Australia and China. There are the most productive salt mines.
However, the largest salt mine is in Canada. Its depth reaches 550 meters, and the area is seven square kilometers. Seven million tons of salt are extracted from the mine annually. This place is located near the Great Lakes, and geologists suggest that the salt deposits there are very rich and lie at a relatively great depth, covering a huge area. This wealth is left over from a prehistoric sea that dried up about 420 million years ago.
The fact that it is difficult for scientists to name the only saltiest place on Earth tells us that much of the history and bowels of our amazing planet has not been studied and is kept secret. It is quite possible that there is another reservoir in the wilds of Siberian forests, which will turn out to be saltier than Lake Don Juan.
There are several salt lakes in the world. Each of the contenders for the title of "the most salty lake in the world" is special in its own way, one stands out against the background of the other. Undoubtedly, the salt lake itself is an incredible natural phenomenon. You can meet salt water bodies anywhere in the world. There are especially many such phenomena in the territory of America and Russia. It is impossible to say with accuracy which lake is the most salty of all. The concentration of salt and minerals may change, for example, with the change of season. In the article, we will highlight some of the most salty lakes in the world, some of them have an approximately equal amount of salt in the water.
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is recognized as the most salty of all lakes, it is located in the Middle East. The water level is several hundred meters lower than sea level and continues to fall by 1 meter per year. The Dead Sea coast is the lowest surface area on the territory of our earth.
Salinity is 300%, this figure is higher than many other lakes. Compared to the Black Sea, salinity is 20%. For a long time it was believed that this level of salinity excluded the presence of living organisms in the water, but this is not entirely true. Some types of bacteria and fungi live here. But on the territory of the lake there are no fish and algae, the shore is also lifeless.
The size of the lake and the depth are decreasing, this is due to several factors:
- Changing of the climate.
- Reduction of groundwater, due to the development of industry.
Many people come to the sea for treatment, not only water, but also mud has useful properties. Having bathed in this salty water, you can get rid of many skin diseases, but the bathing process itself is unpleasant, the water is so salty that it can corrode the skin, so you should swim in the sea only on the recommendation of a doctor.
Water with a high salt content has many beneficial properties, especially medicinal
Uyuni is the largest salt lake in the world. At the bottom there is a thick layer of salt, about 8 meters. Water replenishment occurs only during the rainy season. However, there is very little water here, and the surface resembles a huge mirror, there is a feeling that there is no boundary between earth and sky. And during the period when there is critically little water in the lake, it looks like a salty desert. From salt, local residents even build their own dwellings.
The landscape of the territory is unique: huge layers of salt and volcanoes.
From plants and animals, only giant cacti can be found here, breaking through layers of salt, they grow up to 12 meters in height, only flocks of rodents live from the animal world.
At the end of the year, pink flamingos arrive, the sight is simply amazing, these majestic birds walk around on a snow-white surface.
Previously, real salt hotels were built on the coastal territory, tourists were invited to stay and relax there. This could not be found anywhere else on our planet. However, the unusual houses were demolished due to poor hygienic conditions.
Salt reserves on the territory of Uyuni will last for millions of years
Don Juan
Lake Don Juan is the coldest salt lake in Antarctica. Its dimensions are small, the depth does not reach even 100 meters, and the length is only 1 kilometer. The size gradually decreases due to the fact that it is fed only by underground groundwater and the water quickly evaporates.
Scientists have found that when the humidity of the air rises, the salt around the water begins to absorb moisture. Salt water flows through the soil until it reaches the permafrost layer. This is a very serious and important discovery, since similar water can form on Mars. The scenery of the water tracks on Don Juan is similar to the tracks on Mars, they appear at the same time of the year. There are scientists who think that these stripes are the result of water flows, and this is proof that there is water on Mars.
Lake Don Juan is the best place to simulate the conditions of life on Mars very well.
Salt lakes of Russia
One of the natural wealth of our country is a lot of salty reservoirs. This attraction is popular with tourists. It is difficult to say which lake in Russia is the most salty. We will consider several reservoirs located throughout our vast country.
Elton
Lake Elton is located in Russia, in the direction of Volgograd, once salt was mined from this reservoir. The surface of the water is golden, with a pink tint. The color of the water is due to bacteria living there. The salt water of Lake Elton, as well as the mud, are good for health. There are several resorts nearby. Elton is a real miracle, the largest mineral water lake in all of Europe. In shape, it resembles a circle located in a lowland between salt hills. The reservoir has no outlet. In summer, during the hot season, the lake has a feature of practically drying up, and the depth becomes less than 10 centimeters. In the cold season, the average depth is 1.5 meters.
Salt concentration in Elton is 1.5 times higher than in the Dead Sea
collapse
Lake Razval is located in the Orenburg region in the city of Sol-Iletsk. At the moment, this is a famous resort where people come from all cities, the water here is also considered to be curative. As in any salt lake, it is difficult to swim there, the water simply keeps a person on the surface due to the very high concentration of salt. Depth of collapse reaches 18 meters.
The reservoir appeared on the site where salt mining used to take place
A pond located on top of a salt mountain. Baskunchak is the largest in Russia and one of the largest salt lakes in the world. It is located in the Astrakhan region. Rapa and clay here have healing properties. Sulfide mud, like Dead Sea mud, has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. The air here is useful, it contains a lot of bromine and phytoncides. Therefore, those who want to improve their health come here.
Salt extracted from Lake Baskunchak is the purest
Yarovoye
This reservoir is located in Altai. Like other lakes, it has no runoff; it is one of the deepest in this region. The main value of Yarovoye is brine, which contains a huge amount of mineral salts. Silty mud from the bottom of the reservoir, salt water itself and clean air also have useful properties. Research scientists have confirmed that the content of nutrients is not inferior to their content in the Dead Sea, so the healing effect on Lake Yarovoe will be no worse than the Israeli one. More and more doctors began to recommend this place for visiting for medicinal purposes.
It will not be possible to plunge headlong into the water of the lake, the high salt content will not allow this
raspberry lake
Altai, Astrakhan region, is rich in salt water. Another no less famous is Raspberry Lake. In spring, early in the morning, the surface of the water becomes crimson, which is why it got its name. In other seasons, the color is brown. Water is also considered very beneficial for the skin.
Bulukhta
Bitter-salty Bulukhta has fewer useful properties than Elton, but tourists also like to come here. However, this picturesque place is located in the wild, it is extremely difficult to get there. The number of tourists here is less, mostly lovers of extreme sports and wildlife. The lake is not very deep, the water contains minerals and useful salts.
The area around the reservoir is swampy
Our planet Earth is rich in many incredible natural phenomena. Salt lakes are among them. They are scattered all over the territory, thanks to which people from all over the world can see this phenomenon live, improve their health by swimming in healing water, carry out medical procedures using mud and just breathe clean healing air.
There are about 5 million lakes in the world, but we have only heard of a few of the largest. Do you think Baikal is the largest lake in the world? In fact, Baikal occupies only the 7th line in the ranking of the largest lakes!
Did you know that the area of the largest lake on the planet is equal to the area of 52 million football fields and is comparable to the area of Moscow multiplied by 150 times? No? Then read below!
No. 10. Great Slave Lake - 28,930 square kilometers. North America.
Great Slave Lake is the 10th largest lake in the world by area, and it is also the deepest lake in North America. Its depth is 614 meters. The dimensions of the Great Slave Lake are 480 km long, 19-109 km wide, and the area is 28,930 square kilometers.
From October to June, the lake is covered with ice; in winter, the ice can withstand the weight of trucks. Rivers flowing into the lake: Hay, Slave, Snowdrift, etc. The Mackenzie River flows out of the lake. The origin of the lake is glacial-tectonic.
No. 9. Lake Nyasa - 30,044 square kilometers. East Africa.
Lake Nyasa (Malawi) is the ninth largest lake in the world. Lake Nyasa fills a crack in the earth's crust in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, located between Mozambique and Tanzania. The length of the lake is 560 km, the depth is 706 m. Nyasa contains 7% of the world's reserves of liquid fresh water.
Nyasa is known for its rich ecosystem, many of the species found in the lake are endemic. The origin of the lake is tectonic.
No. 8. Big Bear Lake - 31,080 square kilometers. Canada.
The Great Bear Lake is located 200 km south of the Arctic Circle in Canada. The lake ranks eighth in area in the world and fourth in North America. The dimensions of the lake: length - 320 km, width - 175 km, maximum depth - 446 m.
The lake has a not very good history. Uranium was found here. It was from here that uranium was mined for the manufacture of bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The lake is almost always covered with ice, the ice rarely melts before the end of July. The origin of the lake is glacial-tectonic.
No. 7. Lake Baikal - 31,500 square kilometers. Eastern Siberia.
Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, the largest water reservoir, which contains 20% of the world's liquid fresh water. Baikal is also considered one of the cleanest lakes in the world.
The lake ranks seventh in terms of area in the world and first in terms of volume. The dimensions of the lake are: length - 636 km, width - 80 km, maximum depth - 1642 m, volume - 23,600 km3.
The origin of the lake is tectonic, the age is more than 25 million years. The fauna of Lake Baikal is one of the most unique in the world, many species are endemic.
No. 6. Lake Tanganyika - 32,893 square kilometers. Central Africa.
Lake Tanganyika is one of the deepest lakes in the world, along with Lake Baikal. The lake lies between 4 countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Burundi.
The dimensions of the lake are: length - 676 km, width - 72 km, maximum depth - 1470 m, volume - 18,900 km3. The origin of the lake is tectonic.
Tanganyika lies in the deepest tectonic basin in Africa and enters the basin of the Congo River, one of the largest rivers in the world.
No. 5. Lake Michigan - 58,016 square kilometers. North America.
Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes. This lake is the largest of the lakes located entirely within the United States. Michigan is the fifth largest in the world and the third among the Great Lakes. The volume of the lake is 4918 m3, length - 494 km, width - 190 km, maximum depth - 281 m. The origin of the lake is glacial-tectonic.
No. 4. Lake Huron - 59,596 square kilometers North America.
Lake Huron is one of the Great Lakes. This lake is located on the territory of two countries: the USA and Canada. Huron is the fourth largest lake in the world. The volume of the lake is 3538 m3, length - 331 km, width - 295 km, maximum depth - 229 m. The origin of the lake is glacial-tectonic.
No. 3. Lake Victoria - 69,485 square kilometers. East Africa.
Lake Victoria is located in Tanzania, Kenya. After the construction of the Owen Falls Dam in 1954, the lake was turned into a reservoir. There are many islands on the lake. Fishing is developed on the lake and there are many ports on the territory of the three countries. On the island of Rubondo (Tanzania), a national park has been formed.
Victoria is the third largest lake in the world. The volume of the lake is 2760 m3, the length is 320 km, the width is 274 km, the maximum depth is 80 m. The origin of the lake is tectonic.
The lake was discovered and named after Queen Victoria by British traveler John Henning Speke in 1858.
No. 2. Lake Superior - 82,414 square kilometers. North America.
Lake Superior is the second largest in the world and the largest among the Great Lakes, located on the border of the United States and Canada. The volume of the lake is 12,000 m3, length - 563 km, width - 257 km, maximum depth - 406 m. The origin of the lake is glacial-tectonic.
Etymology of the name. In the Ojibwe language, the lake is called Gichigami, which means "big water".
No. 1. Caspian Sea - 371,000 square kilometers. Europe Asia.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth and is classified as the largest lake or sea due to its size. Located at the junction of Europe and Asia. Volume - 78,200 m3, length - 1200 km, width - 435 km, maximum depth - 1025 m. The coastline of the Caspian Sea is approximately 6500 kilometers long.
130 rivers flow into the Caspian Sea, the largest of them are the Volga, Terek, Sulak, Ural, Kura, Artek, etc. The Caspian Sea washes the shores of Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan.
The origin of the lake is oceanic.
Salt lakes in Russia have always been popular. Medical sanatoriums have been built near most of them, because the water and mud of such reservoirs have a high mineral content. Yes, and vacationers who come to such lakes as savages are not averse to smearing themselves with mud. We decided to find out which lake in our country is the most salty, and it turned out that there are two contenders for this title.
Elton - a lake with pink-golden water
Elton is one of the most mineralized lakes on the planet. The salinity of this lake is estimated by experts at 200-500 ppm, and this is one and a half times more than in the Dead Sea.
This figure fluctuates, since at different times of the year the reservoir has a different concentration of minerals due to water evaporation. This also affects the depth of the reservoir: in summer the lake becomes very shallow, up to 5-7 centimeters, and in spring the depth reaches one and a half meters.
Elton is located in the Volgograd steppe, a round pond is surrounded by plains. Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, salt has been mined here (until 1882), but at the beginning of the 20th century, the production was transferred to Lake Baskunchak (where salt is free of any impurities), and a sanatorium was opened on the banks of the Elton. It was then that the resort history of the lake began.
Persons of the royal family and representatives of the aristocracy came to the resort to improve their health, and the famous doctor, the founder of Russian gynecology Snegirev wrote: “I have never seen such brilliant results from treatment with healing springs, as in Elton, either in Russia, or in the Caucasus, or abroad”. Now it is difficult to imagine that there was once a prestigious resort on Elton, but here something has been preserved from the baths of Catherine the Great. The ancient nomads also knew about the magical properties of the lake, the treatment at that time went something like this: they dug a hole near the shore, put the patient there for an hour, and then washed him with brine (concentrated water with salt and minerals) from the lake.
But let's omit the healing properties of water, Elton is beautiful without them:
Its shores are strewn with snow-white salt crystals that sparkle in the sun, and the water is of an amazing golden-pink color. A pinkish tint to Elton is given by special algae, and in the afternoon and especially closer to sunset, the water shimmers with gold. By the way, this unusual property is reflected in the name: Elton from the Kazakh "Altyn-Nur" means "golden lake".
The coastline is very diverse (and the lake is large, with an area of approximately 152 sq. km.): there are beaches, shallow waters, salt marshes, ravines, picturesque flowing rivers, and valleys. In the hot season, you can just wander around the lake itself. And for photographers, there is generally expanse: everything is white from salt, as if covered with snow, crystals of unusual shape and some alien landscapes.
By the way, even the locals have a story that the sanatorium once had a museum of “Abandoned Crutches”: people came on crutches, and after a month or two of treatment they went home, leaving the crutches at the resort as unnecessary.
Baskunchak - All-Russian salt shaker
The second contender for the title of the most salty lake in Russia is Baskunchak. It is located near Elton, in the Akhtubinsky district of the Astrakhan region. The salinity of Baskunchak water is approximately 370 ppm. The reservoir is called the "All-Russian salt shaker", because it is here that 80% of the country's salt is mined.
The salts of the lake are very pure (up to 99.8%), surprisingly, many tourists use salt from the shore directly into their food. This is a significant difference between Baskunchak and the previous lake: Elton salts with various impurities are not entirely suitable for the food industry. And in Baskunchak - the purest sodium chloride. True, thanks to additional minerals, the waters of Elton are much healthier and have better healing properties, but there is also a sanatorium on the banks of the Baskunchak.
The depth of salt in Baskunchak is 6 kilometers, and it is practically inexhaustible: the fact is that a huge number of springs flow into the lake, which replenish the reserves of the reservoir every day by about 2.5 thousand tons. Salt was mined in the lake as early as the 8th century and sent along the Great Silk Road.
