Salt lake

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/salt-lake

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the classification?Endorheic basins with salinity > 3 g/L
2. What is the primary formation driver?Evaporation exceeding inflow in arid/semi-arid climates
3. Why do salt lakes have so much salt?Water enters the lake from rain and runoff, but in dry climates it evaporates faster than new water comes in. The evaporation leaves the salts behind, making the water saltier.
4. How do salt lakes change over time?Salt lakes often start as freshwater lakes when there was more rain or a connection to other water. Over thousands or millions of years, as the climate became drier or the basin became isolated, evaporation turned them into salty lakes.

Endorheic Basin: A drainage basin that retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water.
Extremophile: An organism that thrives in physically or geochemically extreme conditions detrimental to most life.
Evaporite Deposition: The process by which dissolved salts and minerals precipitate out of a body of water as it evaporates.