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Don Juan Pond

Antarctica / Sector claimed by New Zealand / MacMurdo - permanent station of the US /
 lake, pond, Site of Special Scientific Interest - SSSI (UK)

With a salinity of over 40%, Don Juan Pond is the second saltiest body of water in the world. It is named after the two pilots who first investigated the pond in 1961, Lt Don Roe and Lt John Hickey. It is a small lake, only 100m by 300m, and on average 0.1m deep, but it is so salty that even in the Antarctic, where the temperature at the pond regularly drops to as low as -30 degrees Celsius, it never freezes. It is 18 times saltier than sea water, compared to the Dead Sea which is only 8 times saltier than sea water.
More a shallow pond than a lake, the "salt" in it is primarily calcium chloride with lesser amounts of sodium chloride.
This pond was the first known location for the exceedingly rare mineral Antarcticite (Calcium Chloride hexahydrate).

Recent studies show that when humidity increases in the air Calcium chloride salt in the ground can pull moisture out of the air. The liquid flows through the thin thawed layer over the permafrost carrying water and CaCl2 down to the lake. This process resembles features on Mars causing great interest in this site.

Recently, post 2000 AD, A boiling spring in the Danakil Depression in Ethiolpia, was found to be slightly saltier at 43.3 % salts by weight. The 60 degree C water could hold more salts than the sub zero water of Don Juan Pond. This new record holder is tinted a bit yellow due to traces of Fe +3 ions,
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   77°33'52"S   161°10'23"E

Comments

  • kencummings
    new image in 2015. pond is very reduced sals crust to East, wet ground to West.
This article was last modified 1 year ago