Salt pans of Wadala
A salt pan is created when pools of seawater evaporate at a rate faster than it is replenished by rainfall. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind the minerals precipitated from the salt ions dissolved in the water. Salts account for about 3.5 % of the world's ocean and are naturally produced when shallow ponds and bays dry up in the sun and the wind. Large salt crystals are left behind.
When production is on an industrial scale ,sea water is plades concentration ponds to allow efficient evaporation from the sun and the wind.
Salt evaporation ponds are shallow, artificial basins designed to extract salt from seawater,salty lakes,or mineral rich springs through natural evaporation. As the water dries up,the salt crystals are harvested by ranking. It takes normally 7 to 8 days for the water to evaporate from these shallow ponds.
India is the third largest salt production country in the world after china and USA with global annual production being about 230 million tones .Analyzing salinity, this is interesting bcoz an estuary is a mixing of freshwater runoff from streams and salt water that flows from the tides.
Since salt water is denser than fresh, water closer to the surface and current flowing out has lower salinity levels.
This project is important because salinity affects the environment and habitats. The percentage of salinity in the water affects the growth of plants and animals; differing salinity levels change the types of predators and prey in each habitat. Salinity also affects the chemical composition of the water in the estuary. If we can understand the chemical composition, we might also be able to understand why the estuary is polluted and how to improve the estuary.
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Saltscapes in estuaries are a natural system adapted by humans to align the limitless power of the sun with the abundant existence of sea water with explicit intent of harvesting salt, taking advantage of the most fundamental laws of nature.