Hypersaline lake: Difference between revisions

{{short description|A landlockedLandlocked body of water that contains concentrations of salts greater than the sea}}

{{water salinity}}A '''hypersaline lake''' is a landlocked [[body of water]] that contains significant [[concentration]]s of [[sodium chloride]], or[[brine]]s, and other [[Salt (chemistry)|salts]], with [[saline water|saline]] levels surpassing that of [[ocean water]] (3.5%, i.e. {{convert|35|g/L|lb/USgal|disp=or}}).

Specific microbial andspecies crustacean speciescan thrive in these high-salinity environments<ref name=Hammer1986/> that are inhospitable to most lifeforms,<ref name=Vreeland/> including some that are thought to contribute to the colour of [[pink lake]]s.<ref name=cassella>{{dubiouscite web |Inaccurate. Notlast=Cassella beyond| afirst=Carly certain| leveltitle=How ofan salinity.Australian Nolake lifeturned inbubble-gum thepink Dead| Seawebsite=Australian atGeographic 34%| date=13 December 2016 | url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2016/12/australias-pink-lakes/ | access-date=June22 2020January 2022}}</ref><ref thatname=ie2018>{{cite areweb inhospitable| tolast=McFadden most| lifeformsfirst=Christopher | title=Lake Hillier: Australia's Pink Lake and the Story Behind It | website=Interesting Engineering | date=24 July 2018 | url=https://interestingengineering.com/lake-hillier-australias-pink-lake-and-the-story-behind-it | access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref> Some of these species enter a dormant state when [[Desiccation|desiccated]], and some species are thought to survive for over 250 million years.<ref name=Vreeland/>

The water of hypersaline lakes has great [[buoyancy]] due to its high salt content.<ref>{{cnCite web|last=Team|first=How It Works|date=June2014-04-10|title=Can you float in the Great Salt Lake?|url=https://www.howitworksdaily.com/can-you-float-in-the-dead-sea/|access-date=2020-10-08|website=How It Works|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Hypersaline lakes are found on every continent, especially in [[arid]] or [[Semi-arid climate|semi-arid regions]].<ref name=Hammer1986/>

In the [[Arctic]], the [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Devon Ice Cap]] contains two [[subglacial lake]]s that are hypersaline.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Muzyka|first1=Kyle|title=Super salty lakes discovered in Canadian Arctic could provide window into life beyond Earth|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/university-alberta-scientist-subglacial-lakes-canada-arctic-1.4614626|accessdateaccess-date=11 April 2018|work=[[CBC News]]|date=11 April 2018}}</ref> In [[Antarctica]], 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).{{cncitation needed|date=June 2020}}

The most saline water body in the world is the [[Gaet'ale Pond]], located in the [[Danakil Depression]] in [[Afar Region|Afar]], [[Ethiopia]]. The water of Gaet'ale Pond has a [[salinity]] of 43%, making it the [[list of bodies of water by salinity|saltiest water body on Earth]];<ref name=perez>{{cite journal|last1=Perez|first1=Eduardo|last2=Chebude |first2=Yonas |title=Chemical Analysis of Gaet’aleGaet'ale, a Hypersaline Pond in Danakil Depression (Ethiopia): New Record for the Most Saline Water Body on Earth|journal=Aquatic Geochemistry|date=April 2017|volume=23|issue=2 |pages=109–117|doi=10.1007/s10498-017-9312-z|bibcode=2017AqGeo..23..109P |s2cid=132715553}}</ref> (i.e. 12 times as salty as ocean water). Previously, it was considered that the most [[Salt lake|saline lake]] outside of Antarctica werewas [[Lake Assal (Djibouti)|Lake Assal]],<ref name=Quinn2015/> 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]], USAUS (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.<ref name=EncBr1986/> 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.<ref name=Wilkerson/><ref name=Allred/><ref name=Kjeldsen/>

<ref name=Hammer1986>{{cite book |last=Hammer |first=Ulrich T. |title=Saline lake ecosystems of the world |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOdvPFm6SyoC&pgq=PA315Lovenula&dqpg=Lovenula#PPA39,M1PA315 |year=1986 |publisher=Springer |isbn=90-6193-535-0}}</ref>

<ref name=Vreeland>{{Cite journal |lastlast1=Vreeland |firstfirst1=R.H. |last2=Rosenzweig |first2=W.D. |last3=Powers |first3=D.W. |year=2000 |title=Isolation of a 250 million-year-old halotolerant bacterium from a primary salt crystal |journal=Nature |volume=407 |pages=897–900 |doi=10.1038/35038060 |pmid=11057666 |issue=6806|lastbibcode=2000Natur.407..897V |s2cid=9879073 |name-authorlist-ampstyle=yesamp}}</ref>

<!-- <ref name=EncBr1986>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Goetz |editor-first=P.W. |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=15th |volume=3 |page=937 |year=1986}}</ref> -->

<ref name=Wilkerson>{{cite web|first=Christine |last=Wilkerson |url=http://geology.utah.gov/online/PI-39/pi39pg9.htm |title=Utah's Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville, PI39 – Utah Geological Survey |publisher=Geology.utah.gov |accessdateaccess-date=2010-08-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815024315/http://geology.utah.gov/online/PI-39/pi39pg9.htm |archivedatearchive-date=2010-08-15 }}</ref>

<ref name=Allred>{{cite web | url=http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/extreme/hypersaline/index.html |title=Microbial life in hypersaline environments |lastlast1=Allred |firstfirst1=Ashley |last2=Baxter |first2=Bonnie |publisher=Science Education Resource Center at [[Carleton College]] |accessdateaccess-date=2010-06-17}}</ref>

<ref name=Kjeldsen>{{cite journal | pmid=17367515 | title=Diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria from an extreme hypersaline sediment, Great Salt Lake (Utah) |last1=Kjeldsen |first1=K.U. |last2=Loy |first2=A. |last3=Jakobsen |first3=T.F. |last4=Thomsen |first4=T.R. |last5=Wagner |first5=M. |last6=Ingvorsen |first6=K. |doi=10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00288.x |volume=60 |issue=2 |date=May 2007 |journal=FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. |pages=287–298 |display-authors=4|doi-access=free | bibcode=2007FEMME..60..287K }}</ref>