Gaet'ale Pond is a small

hypersaline lake A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride, brines, and other salts, with saline levels surpassing those of ocean water (3.5%, i.e. ). Specific microbial species can thrive i ...

located near the Dallol crater in the Danakil Depression (

Afar Region The Afar Region (; ; ), formerly known as Region 2, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northeastern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Afar people. Its capital is the planned city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash, Ethiopia, Awash� ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

). It is located over a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

of tectonic origin and has no apparent inlet or outlet streams. The water of Gaet'ale Pond has a

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

of 43%, making it the saltiest water body on Earth.

Location and origin

Gaet'ale Pond is the largest of a series of small ponds located approximately southeast of Dallol springs. It is crescent-shaped with a diameter of about . According to residents of the nearby village of Ahmed'ela, an earthquake in January 2005 reactivated a thermal spring and the pond was created. For this reason, its temperature of is hotter than the environment.

Composition of the water

The salts in the water of Gaet'ale Pond are mainly composed by

calcium chloride Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound, a Salt (chemistry), salt with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline solid at room temperature, and it is highly soluble in water. It can be created by neutralising hydrochloric acid with cal ...

at 2.72 mol/kg and magnesium chloride at 1.43 mol/kg. It also contains small amounts of Na⁺, K⁺ and ions. The total amount of dissolved solids content is 433 g/kg, or 43.3%. It also contains traces of iron(III) that form a complex with

chloride The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pr ...

, giving the water a characteristic yellow color. Bubbles of odourless gas are emitted from the lake surface. It is likely volcanically-produced

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

. Bird and insect corpses have been found around the pond, and it has been proposed that the gas may be harmful for small animals or humans.

References

External links

{{portal, Lakes
Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area
Bodies of water of Ethiopia Afar Region Ponds of Africa Saline lakes of the Great Rift Valley 2005 beginnings