The Caspian Sea, located between Europe and Asia, is generally regarded as the largest inland endorheic salt lake. However, the ancient inhabitants always regarded Caspian as a sea because of its large size and saltiness.
Caspian sea has a surface area of around 143,200 square miles (371,000 km²). It also has a salinity of about one third of the salinity of most oceans, approximately 1.2%. Though today the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions due to the current inflow of fresh water.
The Caspian Sea, is believed to be one of the remnants of the ancient Paratethys Sea. The other remnants are Black Sea, Lake Urmia, and Namak Lake. About 5.5 million years ago, Caspian Sea became landlocked because of the tectonic movement and a fall in sea level.
2. Aral Sea, 17,160 km²
The Aral Sea was an endorheic lake located between Uzbekistan in the south and Kazakhstan in the north. It used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, with an area of 68,000 km² (26,300 sq mi). But due to the 1960s Soviet irrigation projects, the Aral Sea has been shrinking, and splitting into four lakes. The Aral Sea’s shrinking was "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters".
In 2004, the Aral Sea's surface area was only 25% of its original size (17,160 km²). By 2007, the area of the sea had further shrunk to 10% of its original size. In August 2014, NASA revealed that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had completely dried up, and that part has created the Aralkum Desert.
3. Lake Eyre, 9,500 km²
Lake Eyre, also known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake contains the lowest natural point in Australia, also the largest lake in Australia with an area of 9,500 km² (3,668 sq mi) when it fills. When the lake is full, around midday the water surface can become very flat and virtually impossible to see. But when saturated, the lake shows pink colouration due to the presence of algae.
Every three years, typically a 1.5 m flood occurs and the salinity in the lake increases resulting in a massive fish kill But the lake is almost fresh when recently flooded, and native freshwater fish can survive in it.
4. Lake Torrens, 5,745 km²
Lake Torrens is an ephemeral endorheic saltwater lake located within the boundaries of Lake Torrens National Park in central South Australia. When Lake Torrens filled with water after extreme rainfall events, the lake can encompasses an area of 5,745 km² (2,218 sq mi) and flow out through the Pirie-Torrens Corridor to the Spencer Gulf.
The lake water was fresh to brackish around 35,000 years ago, but since then it has become increasingly saline. Since at least 1995, Lake Torrens is part of the Inland Saline Lakes which has been listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia. And since 1991, the full extent of Lake Torrens has been protected as a national park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972.
5. Lake Urmia, 5,200 km²
Lake Urmia is an endorheic saltwater lake in Iran, west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was once the largest salt lake on Earth, with a surface area of around 5,200 km² (2,000 sq mi). But the lake has shrunk to 10% of its original size due to the pumping of groundwater, dam construction, and climate change.
Lake Urmia had approximately 102 islands, with the largest island was Shahi Island. But when the lake level dropped, Shahi Island became a peninsula connected to the eastern shore. Lake Urmia, along with its islands, is now protected as a national park by the Iranian Department of Environment.
6. Great Salt Lake, 4,400 km²
The Great Salt Lake, located in the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest endorheic salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, with the average surface area of around 4,400 km² (1,700 square miles). The lake's size is fluctuative due to its shallowness, the water level can rise during high precipitation years and fall dramatically in dry years.
The lake is the largest remnant of a prehistoric pluvial lake called Lake Bonneville that covered much of present-day western Utah during the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch. Great Salt Lake has very high salt content that is far saltier than seawater. Due to its high salt content, swimming in this lake is similar to floating.
7. Qinghai Lake, 4,317 km²
Qinghai Lake or Tso Ngonpo or Koko Nor is the salt lake located on an endorheic basin in Qinghai province, China. It used to be connected to the Yellow River, but then became isolated from the Yellow River about 150,000 years ago. As measured in 2008, Qinghai Lake has a surface area of 4,317 km² (1,667 sq mi).
Qinghai Lake has fluctuated in size, the water surface has shrunk by 312 km² over the last three decades. Its loss of surface area are due to land reclamations and natural causes. Qinghai Lake has been splitting into half a dozen lakes since the 1960s, three of them are: Gahai Lake, Shadao Lake, and Haiyan Lake.
8. Lake Van, 3,755 km²
Lake Van is one of the largest endorheic salt lakes in the world, lies in the far east of Turkey. It has a surface area of 3,755 km² (1,450 sq mi), and four islands on it. Lake Van has no outlet flow because its outlet was blocked at some time during the ancient time of Pleistocene.
In 2017, a team of archaeologists and independent divers reported the discovery of a large underwater fortress spanning around one kilometer. Based on their visual assessments, the team estimates that this fortress was constructed near the shores of Lake Van during the Urartian period, and had slowly become submerged over the millennia by the gradually rising lake.
9. Lake Bakhtegan, 3,500 km²
Lake Bakhtegan was a salt lake in Fars Province, southern Iran. With a surface area of 3,500 km², it was the second-largest lake in Iran. The lake was fed mostly by the Kor River. But the several dams construction on the river had significantly reduced water volume of the lake.
10. Lake Mackay, 3,494 km²
Lake Mackay is the largest salt lakes in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with a surface area of 3,494 km² (1,349 sq mi). The lake was named after its European discoverer, Donald George Mackay. But it is also known as Wilkinkarra to the local indigenous population.
The darker areas of the lake-bed indicate some form of algae, and the lowest elevations where pooling of water occurs. While the white reflective surface is produced by evaporation that cause salts and other minerals are carried to the surface through capillary action.
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