Ephemeral salt lakes and their mineral deposits add color and texture to the arid Australian Outback.
Published Oct 30, 2017
Fresh rains partly fill a normally dry lake bed near Perth.
Published Apr 18, 2016
Water in Australia's salt lakes can be fleeting, but provides vital wetland habitat for plants and animals.
Published Dec 31, 2014
By mid-June 2009, the rare filling of this lake in Australia’s Simpson Desert appeared to have reached its peak.
Published Jun 21, 2009
A rim of crystal salts surrounds Lake Qarhan, the largest salt lake playa in China and a significant source of minerals, including table salt and potassium for fertilizer.
Published Feb 2, 2014
In late April 2007, the company in charge of the lakes and reservoirs that make up the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in southern New South Wales reported that lake levels were at 10 percent of capacity, the lowest they had been since the system was built about 50 years ago.
Published May 3, 2007
Great Salt Lake serves as a striking visual marker for astronauts orbiting over North America. A sharp line across its center is caused by the restriction in water flow from the railroad causeway. The eye-catching colors of the lake stem from the fact that Great Salt Lake is hypersaline, typically 3–5 times saltier than the ocean, and the high salinities support sets of plants and animals that affect the light-absorbing qualities of the water. Space Station astronauts have recorded the decline in lake levels in response to a regional 5-year drought taking both detailed views and broad views of the entire lake. As lake levels have declined the salt works have become islands in the middle of a dry lakebed.
Published Jan 19, 2004
The wet and dry seasons bring two distinct but colorful looks to this wetland in the Thar Desert.
Published Jun 14, 2019Image of the Day Land Water Drought Floods Severe Storms Temperature Extremes
The lake and surrounding landscape are characterized by many flavors and mixtures of salt.
Published Feb 1, 2016
The Great Salt Lake of northern Utah is a remnant of glacial Lake Bonneville that extended over much of present-day western Utah and into the neighboring states of Nevada and Idaho approximately 32,000 to 14,000 years ago. The north arm of the lake, displayed in this astronaut photograph from April 30, 2007, typically has twice the salinity of the rest of the lake due to impoundment of water by a railroad causeway that crosses the lake from east to west. The causeway restricts water flow, and the separation has led to a striking division in the types of algae and bacteria found in the north and south arms of the lake.
Published Jul 16, 2007
If Lake Natron, in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, had a color theme, it would be pink. The alkali salt crust on the surface of the lake is often colored red or pink by the salt-loving microorganisms that live there. Also, the lake is the only breeding area for the 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes that live in the valley. These flamingoes flock along saline lakes in the region, where they feed on Spirulina, a blue-green algae with red pigments. This mosaic of photographs of the southern portion of Lake Natron shows the largest open lagoon area, and island mud flat, and a large area of pink salt crust. The colors show the actual colors viewed by the astronauts. Each time the lake is photographed, there are differences in the pattern of its salt crust, and the red colors of the blue-green algae and bacteria on the surface of the crust.
Published Apr 10, 2006
In the desert, a lake shows a long fight between water, wind, and climate.
Published Feb 20, 2012
