I remember from the school geography course they explained to us: salt lakes are closed bodies of water, like seas and oceans. Their salt composition of water was formed due to a long process of water runoff by rivers. Although they are fresh, they have a minimal percentage of minerals and salts. The water from the lakes does not drain, but only evaporates, leaving salts behind. And for millions of years, salt has accumulated in their waters. As in the seas and the world's oceans. Another explanation is the bays of ancient seas, which does not change the essence.
I propose to look at several examples with salt and mineral lakes, which say that the salt content in them is the result of the release of underground sources, they are fed.
Lake Balkhash
Rivers flowing into the lake and description of the lake: the eastern part is deeper and saltier. And the western one is fresh and shallow.
Promotional video:
The explanation is:
It seems logical. But look, in the eastern part, three rivers flow into the lake. And they would certainly desalinate this small part of the lake. But that did not happen. Moreover, the western shallow part of the lake warms up more and evaporates more water. And one river flows into this part. This means that the salinization of the reservoir in this part would be stronger. But that doesn't happen. Conclusion: underground sources are responsible for the salt content in the lake water.
This is confirmed by the observed picture of the salt level in other lakes.
Khakass lakes
Lake Belyo. One part of the lake (western) is fresh. Eastern - mineral. Wikipedia even says that the source of water in the lake is groundwater. There are practically no living creatures (plankton, algae) in the mineral part. There is definitely no fish. The water is not drinking, it is highly mineralized.
In general, the Khakass lakes are an interesting place. They are located compactly, but have a different composition of water. Lake Shira is located near Belyo - it is salty. A couple of kilometers from it, across the hill, Lake Itkul is fresh. Itkul and Shira have a group of small satellite lakes: Kamyshovoe, Tushino, Orlovo, Tacheevskoe, Berezove, Shunet, Chalaskol, Matarak. All this looks like the outlets of underground sources.
To the northwest of Belyo is Lake Tus. Its salinity is like in the Dead Sea, that a person holds like a float:
To the southeast of Lake Itkul there is a small Lake Matarak. 10-15 years ago it was insipid. And now it has become salty and bloomed. Agree that salt does not accumulate over such a period. This changed the underground waters that feed the lake. There is no other way to explain it.
It is impossible to explain such a difference in the salt and mineral composition of lakes only by the waste accumulation of salt. It is the underground water outlets that feed the Khakass lakes. Moreover, salts of different composition. And during the catastrophe, these sources flooded the Minusinsk basin, turning it into a sea. This is evidenced by the mineralization of the soils of the Khakass steppe:
There is still no forest growing in the Khakass steppe due to the high content of salts in the soil.
I would like to mention the observation of Lake Baikal. Everyone knows that the lake has clean fresh and cold water. It does not bloom, there is no plankton in the water, despite the fact that a huge number of small rivers flow into the reservoir. One flows out - Angara. The opinion of scientists is that the water is purified by some crustaceans. This is where these crustaceans live? At a depth of 2 km?
Pure water is supplied to Baikal from faults. Baikal itself is a giant rift. And if this water in this place in the depths was salty (or washed through salt layers), then Baikal would be a salty sea. Like the Caspian or Balkhash.
Here is a small list of the saltiest and largest lakes in Russia. Why many lakes are salty is difficult to understand without taking into account the information presented.
It is possible that underground springs, passing through the strata of rocks, encounter such layers of salt on their way (or water with a high salt content and deposited these layers):
The waters coming out become salty and the lake on the surface too.
Where does so much water come from? One of the hypotheses: it is constantly synthesized there from silanes and silane oil.
Formation of silanes: silicon, as one of the main elements of rock at elevated temperatures, when combined with hydrogen degassing from the bowels, forms monosilane:
According to calculations, there should be a lot of silanes in the bowels. It is possible that they are a complete or partial cause of volcanism and earthquakes. And there is no liquid magma as such in the depths for hundreds of kilometers inland. There are no ascents of liquid plumes from the mantle either. Responsible for everything is the formation of rocks, elements, ore, water, degassing processes with various gases.
Author: sibved