Dry Lake

A dry lake is an ephemeral lakebed, or a remnant of an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Alternative names for the dry lake include alkali flat and playa.

A playa lake may cover a wide area, but it is never deep. Most water in it evaporates. leaving a layer of salt on the surface. These salt covered stretches are called saltpans.

If its basin is primarily salt then the dry lake is called a salt pans, pan, hardpan, or salt flat (the latter is a remnant of a salt lake). Other dry lake types include the sabkha and the mudflat.