Hypersaline lake

A hypersaline lake is a lake that holds much more salt than regular ocean water. It has high levels of sodium chloride, brines, and other salts, making its water very heavy and salty—sometimes even saltier than the ocean.

Because of the high salt content, the water in these lakes has great buoyancy, meaning things float more easily. Some tiny living things, called microbes, can survive in these very salty places where most life cannot.

Hypersaline lakes exist on every continent, often in dry or semi-arid regions. In cold places like the Arctic, there are hidden salty lakes under ice, such as those beneath the Canadian Devon Ice Cap. In Antarctica, large salty lakes are found in dry valleys, like Lake Vanda.

The world’s saltiest water body is the Gaet'ale Pond in the Danakil Depression of Afar, Ethiopia. Other famous hypersaline lakes include the Dead Sea, which lies between Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, and the Great Salt Lake in Utah, United States.