Lake Amadeus

On the road to Uluru, Australia , we passed Lake Amadeus, a large salt lake that is approximately 180 km long and 10 km wide. It contains up to 600 million tons of salt.

Salt lakes form when the water flowing into the lake contains salt or like minerals and there is no exit to the sea. Evaporating water leaves behind its dissolved salts which results in a high salinity. When, as here, the amount of water flowing into a lake is less than the amount that is evaporated, the lake disappears, leaving a dry lake. Seasonally, the water will reappear in parts of this lake, only to disappear during periods of drought.

This was viewed from a small hill overlooking the Lassiter Highway. On the other side of the hill was Mount Conner. www.flickr.com/photos/ejhrap/8539303759/in/photostream

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