Along the west bank of the Rhône River, colorful salt pans are interwoven with the brackish marshes of coastal France. The ponds, named Salin-de-Giraud, produce about 800,000 metric tons of salt annually and provide a respite for migrating flamingos.
This image, acquired by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9, shows the rectangular crystallization pans of Salin-de-Giraud, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Marseille. When Salin-de-Giraud was established in the late 19th century, the salt was used to manufacture soda ash that was transported by boat to soap factories in Marseille.
Salt is indirectly responsible for the orange color of the water in the satellite image. Only a few hardy lifeforms can thrive in such a briny environment. They include a beta-carotene-rich phytoplankton, Dunaliella salina, and a pink Halobacteria. The pigment trickles through the food chain: the microorganisms feed colonies of brine shrimp, which in turn feed the region’s large population of pink flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus).
The managed waters of the salt pans are an important feeding ground for thousands of migrating birds. Salt pans in the Mediterranean, such as Salin-de-Giraud, provide up to half of flamingos’ foraging requirements during the breeding season.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Emily Cassidy.
