Salt flats

flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals

chott in Tunisia

large area of salt marshes in Gujarat, India, and Sindh, Pakistan

depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceed recharge

thumb|upright=1.5|Sebkhat (or Sebkha) El Melah, Tunisia in 2001, mostly dry. Note rectangular industrial evaporite pans, probably for sea-salt production, upper right. Landsat 7 image. thumb|upright=1.5|Sebkhat El Melah in 1987, flooded. Landsat 5 image.

Mudcrucs soil

thumb In geology, a chott, shott, or shatt (; ) is a salt lake in Africa's Maghreb that stays dry for much of the year but receives some water in the winter. The elevation of a chott surface is controlled by the position of the water table and capillary fringe, with sediment deflation occurring when the water table falls and sediment accumulation occurring when the water table rises. They are formed—within variable shores—by the spring thaw from the Atlas mountain range, along with occasional rainwater or groundwater sources in the Sahara, such as the Bas Saharan Basin.

lake

lake in Syria

salt lake in Peru

Large salt flat in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China

closed, drainless depression

saltpan in Mauritania