The scientists discovered that beneath the ridges, where the salt was able to penetrate deeper, it remained shallow. The soil’s salinity is highest near the top and gets progressively less salty as it gets deeper. The soil’s groundwater is salty, but the salt content is not evenly distributed. Imagine the soil in a salt flat to have ridges on top, a layer of salt underneath, the topmost layer of soil, and then the remaining soil. The researchers’ initial theory was that the salt present on the surface is affected by the salt present in the soil below. Even if the water table is only a few feet deep, the groundwater is too salty for humans to drink. They strongly reflect sunlight and thus appear bright. All water evaporates over time, leaving behind dissolved minerals, typically salts. It is the largest of its kind in the world and contains more than fifty percent of the world’s lithium reserves.Ī salt flat develops from a natural body of water with a lower recharge rate than evaporation rate. Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is arguably the world’s most famous salt flat (see image above). A salt flat is a natural landscape consisting of a large expanse of flat land covered by salt.
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