Salt Lake Elton
Zhanibek, northwest of Volgograd, Volgograd region, Russia
Description:
Elton is a drainless salt lake located in Pallasovsky district of the Volgograd region. It is the largest mineral lake in Europe and one of the most mineralized in the world. The name of the lake comes from the Mongolian "Altyn-Nor", which translates as a golden bottom. It is a huge depression between the salt domes in the north of the Caspian lowland.
The water is filled with rape - a saturated salt solution, which is desalinated in the spring. The mineralization of water in Elton is 200-400 g / l, which is 1.7 times more than the concentration on the Dead Sea. The local waters contain rare algae Dunaliella salina, which give the lake a reddish hue. At the bottom of the lake are deposits of salts, and below them is a layer of hydrogen sulfide mud.
Until 1883, salt was continuously mined at Elton, and in 1910 a balneological mud resort was built here. Since 1945, 6 kilometers from Elton, there is a sanatorium of the same name. In 2001, the lake and the adjacent steppes became part of the Eltonsky Natural Park.
