A saltern is an area or installation for making

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as

hypersaline 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 ...

waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic

microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in ...

, primarily

haloarchaea Haloarchaea (halophilic archaea, halophilic archaebacteria, halobacteria) are a class of prokaryotic archaea under the phylum Euryarchaeota, found in water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. 'Halobacteria' are now recognized as archaea r ...

but also other halophiles including algae and bacteria. Salterns usually begin with seawater as the initial source of

brine Brine (or briny water) is a high-concentration solution of salt (typically sodium chloride or calcium chloride) in water. In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawat ...

but may also use natural saltwater springs and streams. The water is evaporated, usually over a series of ponds, to the point where

sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as Salt#Edible salt, edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs a ...

and other salts precipitate out of the saturated brine, allowing pure salts to be harvested. Where complete evaporation in this fashion was not routinely achievable due to weather, salt was produced from the concentrated brine by boiling the brine.

Background

Earliest examples of pans used in the solution mining of salt date back to

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times and the pans were made of ceramics known as

briquetage Briquetage or very coarse pottery (VCP) is a coarse ceramic material used to make evaporation vessels and supporting pillars used in extracting salt from brine or seawater. Thick-walled saltpans were filled with saltwater and heated from below u ...

. Later examples were made from

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and then

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. The change from lead to iron coincided with a change from wood to coal for the purpose of heating the brine. Brine would be pumped into the pans, and concentrated by the heat of the fire burning underneath. As crystals of salt formed these would be raked out and more brine added. In warmer climates no additional heat would be supplied, the sun's heat being sufficient to evaporate off the brine. One of the earliest salterns for the harvesting of salt is argued to have taken place on Xiechi Lake,

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, China by

6000 BC The 6th millennium BC spanned the years 6000 BC to 5001 BC (c. 8 ka to c. 7 ka). It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geo ...

. Strong archaeological evidence of salt making dating to

2000 BC The 20th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 2000 BC to 1901 BC. The period of the 2nd Millennium BC Events * c. 2000 BC: ** Farmers and herding, herders traveled south from Ethiopia and settled in Kenya. ** Dawn of the Cap ...

is found in the ruins of Zhongba at

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

References

External links

* This article incorporates text from http://www.dawlish.com/ , a site which allows free use of its content.
Salt Making in the Adur Valley
* Archaeology, arable landscapes and drainage ...Excavations at the Bourne–Morton Canal and the Roman saltern recorded.
Archaeology, arable landscapes and drainage in the Fenland of Eastern England.
* A medieval saltern mound at Millfields Caravan Park, Bramber,Wes
Medieval (13th-16th century) saltern mound

Definition of Saltern Mound
{{Salt topics *

Background

See also

References

External links