Detailed review on functional microbiology of soda lakes was published by Dimitry Sorokin with colleagues. Review summarizes results of studies of main functional groups of the soda lake prokaryotes responsible for carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycling, including oxygenic and anoxygenic phototrophs, aerobic chemolithotrophs, fermenting and respiring anaerobes. The main conclusion from this work is that […]
The team of international scientists detected extensive salty groundwater networks in Antarctica using a novel airborne electromagnetic mapping sensor system called SkyTEM. The research provides evidence that the underground lakes and brine-saturated sediments may support subsurface microbial ecosystems. The findings shed new light on ancient climate change on Earth and provide evidence that a similar briny […]
It seems that our planet is close to the vast man-made drought. The reasons are climate change as an anthropogenic impact, as well as hyper extraction of water for industrial and irrigation purposes. Saline lakes are extremely sensitive to both effects. The result is worldwide decline of saline lakes. The new research from Peking University and […]
Earth Observatory NASA web page share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment. This is the winter selection. The world’s saltiest body of water – Don Juan Pond in the lowest part of Upper Wright Valley in Antarctida is so salty that its calcium-chloride rich waters rarely freeze. With a salinity level […]
Yahoo News reports the ‘Nature’s revenge’ on the banks of Dead Sea (Israel). With the water level decline, because of the construction of dams, storage reservoirs and pipelines, the unique salt lake is drying up at a distressing rate. The Dead Sea is evaporating at a rate of nearly four feet per year and large […]
Richard Stone. Saving Iran’s great salt lake. Science 04 Sep 2015: Vol. 349, Issue 6252, pp. 1044-1047 “Lake Urmia, in Iran’s northwestern corner, was once the planet’s sixth largest salt lake, covering about 5200 square kilometers—a bit larger than the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Flamingos, egrets, and other waterfowl feasted on brine shrimp, and […]
A team of internationally recognized scientists highlight the growing importance of saline lake research. In new paper “Ecological impacts of global warming and water abstraction on lakes and reservoirs due to changes in water level and related changes in salinity” scientists discuss how changes in water level and salinity related to climate change and water abstraction affect […]
Even thought well known for specialists in the field, this professional paper have to be used as a perfect reference on the topic of long-term balance between input and loss of salts in closed lakes. The paper is also interesting as presents hydrologic data for several closed lakes that are quite different in volume and […]
New research published in Journal of Great Lakes Research shows Iran’s most famous lake has shrunk by nearly 90% this September. The popular story is presented by The Guardian. Ali Mirchi, Kaveh Madani and Amir AghaKouchak, coauthors of the research paper, urge action. “In the late 1990s, Lake Urmia, in north-western Iran, was twice as […]
Preserving an Accident, the Salton Sea in California, for the Good of Nature – the article by FELICITY BARRINGER (Nov. 10, 2014) published at The New York Times. Typical story about disappearing saline lake: “In some ways, Salton’s fate is like that of other disappearing saline lakes, such as the almost-vanished Aral Sea in Central Asia […]