Salt evaporation pond

A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The salt pans are shallow and expansive, allowing sunlight to penetrate and reach the seawater. Natural salt pans are formed through geologic processes, where evaporating water leaves behind salt deposits. Some salt evaporation ponds are only slightly modified from their natural version, such as the ponds on Great Inagua in the Bahamas, or the ponds in Jasiira, a few kilometres south of Mogadishu, where seawater is trapped and left to evaporate in the sun.

During the process of salt winning, seawater or brine is fed into artificially created ponds from which water is drawn out by evaporation, allowing the salt to be subsequently harvested.^{[1]: 517 [2]}

The ponds also provide a productive resting and feeding ground for many species of waterbirds, which may include endangered species.^[3] However, Ghanaian fisheries scientist RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah also noted that salt winning can destroy mangrove forests and mudflats, altering the environment and making it unproductive for other development or fish growth.^[4] The ponds are commonly separated by levees. Salt evaporation ponds may also be called salterns, salt works or salt pans.