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.
Read more about Dry Lake: Terminology, Formation, Ecology, Human Use, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words dry and/or lake:
“A medium Vodka dry Martini—with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred, please. I would prefer Russian or Polish vodka.”
—Ian Fleming (1908–1964)
“Wordsworth went to the Lakes, but he was never a lake poet. He found in stones the sermons he had already hidden there.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)