A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water; such lakes can also be termed hypersaline lakes, and may also be pink lakes on account of their colour. An alkalic salt lake that has a high content of carbonate is sometimes termed a soda lake.
One saline lake classification differentiates between:
*subsaline: 0.5–3‰ (0.05-0.3%)
*hyposaline: 3–20‰ (0.3-2%)
*mesosaline: 20–50‰ (2-5%)
*hypersaline: greater than 50‰ (5%)
Large saline lakes make up 44% of the volume and 23% of the area of lakes worldwide.