Page 11 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Salt lakes
Salt lakes occur throughout the world’s desert regions. One of the largest shallow lakes in the United States is the Great Salt Lake. It has an area of about 5000 sq km. This lake receives water from nearby rivers, but water evaporates as fast as it enters. Nearby are playas such as the Bonneville salt flats.
Some of the lakes of Africa’s Great Rift Valley are also salt lakes. Even larger playas exist in Australia.
Lake Eyre, in central South Australia, covers 9000 sq km and is the lowest point in Australia. Its salt crust is about 15 cm thick.
evaporation: the change of state of a liquid to a gas. Evaporation happens below the boiling point and is used as a method of separating out the materials in a solution.
As the saline water in the playa evaporates, delicate salt crystals form as a crust.
 The white deposits shown in the picture below are salt. They are toxic to most plants.
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