{{short description|Landlocked body of water that contains concentrations of salts greater than the sea}} [[File:Lake Assal 3-Djibouti.jpg|thumb|Lake Assal, one of the most saline lakes outside of Antarctica]]

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

Specific microbial species can thrive in high-salinity environments<ref name=Hammer1986/> that are inhospitable to most lifeforms,<ref name=Vreeland/> including some that are thought to contribute to the color of pink lakes.<ref name=cassella>{{cite web | last=Cassella | first=Carly | title=How an Australian lake turned bubble-gum pink | website=Australian Geographic | date=13 December 2016 | url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2016/12/australias-pink-lakes/ | access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref><ref name=ie2018>{{cite web | last=McFadden | first=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 desiccated, and some species are thought to survive for over 250 million years.<ref name=Vreeland/>

The water in hypersaline lakes has great buoyancy due to its high salt content.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=How It Works|date=2014-04-10|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 regions.<ref name=Hammer1986/>

In the Arctic, the Canadian Devon Ice Cap contains two subglacial lakes 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|access-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).{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

The most saline water body in the world is the Gaet'ale Pond, located in the Danakil Depression in Afar, Ethiopia. The water of Gaet'ale Pond has a salinity of 43%, making it the saltiest water body on Earth<ref name=perez>{{cite journal|last1=Perez|first1=Eduardo|last2=Chebude |first2=Yonas |title=Chemical Analysis of Gaet'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 saline lake outside of Antarctica was Lake Assal,<ref name=Quinn2015/> in Djibouti, which has a salinity of 34.8% (i.e. 10 times as salty as ocean water). The best-known hypersaline lakes are the Dead Sea (34.2% salinity in 2010) and the Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah, US (5–27% variable salinity). The Dead Sea, dividing Israel and the West Bank from Jordan, is the world's deepest hypersaline lake. The Great Salt Lake, 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/>

==See also== * {{annotated link|Brine pool}} * {{annotated link|Halocline}} * Halophile – organism that thrives in high salt concentrations * List of bodies of water by salinity * Pink lake * Salt lake – one with a concentration of salts and minerals significantly higher than most lakes

==References== <references> <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&q=Lovenula&pg=PA315 |year=1986 |publisher=Springer |isbn=90-6193-535-0}}</ref> <ref name=Vreeland>{{Cite journal |last1=Vreeland |first1=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|bibcode=2000Natur.407..897V |s2cid=9879073 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> <ref name=Quinn2015>{{cite book |editor-last1=Quinn |editor-first1=Joyce A. |editor-last2=Woodward |editor-first2=Susan L.|title=Earth's Landscape: An Encyclopedia of the World's Geographic Features &#91;2 volumes&#93; |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErkxBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |year=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-446-9 |page=9}}</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 |access-date=2010-08-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815024315/http://geology.utah.gov/online/PI-39/pi39pg9.htm |archive-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 |last1=Allred |first1=Ashley |last2=Baxter |first2=Bonnie |publisher=Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College |access-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> </references>

Category:Hydrology Category:Saline lakes