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.

Due to variable algal concentrations, vivid colors (from pale green to bright red) are created in the evaporation ponds. The color indicates the salinity of the ponds. Microorganisms change their hues as the salinity of the pond increases. In low- to mid-salinity ponds, green algae such as Dunaliella salina are predominant, although these algae can also take on an orange hue. Halobacteria, a type of halophilic Archaea (also known as Haloarchaea), are responsible for changing the color of middle to high-salinity ponds to shades of pink, red, and orange. Other bacteria such as Stichococcus also contribute tints.^{[citation needed]}

Notable salt ponds include:

• The Salterns of Guérande, in Loire-Atlantique, France. The salt produced in the salterns are a protected geographical indication in Europe.
• The Cáhuil salt ponds, in the O'Higgins Region, Chile.
• The Manaure salt ponds, in La Guajira Department, Colombia.
• The Salineras de Maras, Peru, in the Cusco Region.
• The saltworks of Alcácer do Sal, Comporta, and Castro Marim in Portugal
• The El Caracol solar evaporator, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico.
• The Sečovlje and Strunjan salt ponds on the northern edge of the Adriatic Sea in Slovenia.
• The San Francisco Bay salt ponds in the United States, formerly operated by Cargill,^[5][6][7][8] including Charleston Slough. Cargill has since ended salt production in the area, and most of the ponds are being restored to a more natural state.
• The Dead Sea salt ponds in the West Bank, Israel and Jordan.
• The salt ponds in Salina, Malta. The name of the village is the Maltese word for salt pan.
• The Port Hedland, Dampier, Lake McLeod, Useless Loop and Onslow salt ponds in Western Australia.
• Yellow Walls, Malahide, Ireland; active from 1770 to 1837.^[9]
• Lake Grassmere in New Zealand
• The ancient salt pans in Marsala and Trapani, Sicily. Salt has been farmed here since the Phoenician period, with archaeological evidence still present in nearby Motya.
• The Nature reserve of Margherita di Savoia, in Apulia, Italy. Known since antiquity, it's one of the largest in Europe. Flamingos often nest in the area.
• The salt works on the island of Great Inagua owned by Morton Salt.
• The salt harvesting by the Tsonga women of Baleni on the Small Letaba River, Limpopo, South Africa.^[10]

Until World War II, salt was extracted from sea water in a unique way in Egypt near Alexandria.^[11] Posts were set out on the salt pans and covered with several feet of sea water. In time the sea water evaporated, leaving the salt behind on the post, where it was easier to harvest.

Salt pans are shallow open, often metal, pans used to evaporate brine. They are usually found close to the source of the salt. For example, pans used in the solar evaporation of salt from sea water are usually found on the coast, while those used to extract salt from solution-mined brine will be found near to the brine shaft. In this case, extra heat is often provided by lighting fires underneath.

• 
  Natural salt evaporation ponds at Pedra de Lume, Sal island, Cape Verde
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  A salt pan worker in a salt evaporation pond in Tamil Nadu, India.
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  Salt evaporation ponds at a lithium mine in Argentina. The brine in this salar is rich in lithium, and the mine concentrates the brine in the ponds.
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  Contemporary solar evaporation salt pans on the island of Lanzarote at Salinas de Janubio
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  Solar evaporation ponds in the Atacama Desert
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  Solar evaporation ponds in the Salt Valley of Añana, Spain
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  Solar evaporation ponds in the Salt Valley of Añana, Spain
• 
  Salt evaporation ponds at Pag, Croatia
• 
  Salt pile in Argentina

• Solar desalination
• Seawater greenhouse
• Evaporite

• Short BBC documentary on the salt evaporation ponds of Pedra de Lume, Cape Verde [1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Salt evaporation pond (category)

• NASA page on salt ponds
• Information on the San Francisco Bay salt ponds
• Interactive satellite view
• "Salt, Grown On Sticks Harvested From Sea" Popular Science, March 1933

v t e Ponds, pools, and puddles
Ponds	Ash pond Balancing lake Ballast pond Beel Cooling pond Detention pond Dew pond Evaporation pond Facultative lagoon Garden pond Ice pond Immersion pond Infiltration basin Kettle pond Log pond Melt pond Mill pond Polishing pond Raceway pond Retention pond Sag pond Salt evaporation pond Sediment pond Settling pond Solar pond Stepwell Stew pond Tailings Tarn Waste pond Waste stabilization pond
Pools	Anchialine pool Brine pool Infinity pool Natural pool Ocean pool Plunge pool Reflecting pool Spent fuel pool Stream pool Swimming pool Tide pool Vernal pool
Puddles	Bird bath Coffee ring effect Puddle Puddles on a surface Seep puddle
Biome	Beaver dam Duck pond Fish pond Goldfish pond Koi pond
Ecosystems	Aquatic ecosystem Freshwater ecosystem Lake ecosystem
Related	Aerated lagoon Bakki shower Big fish–little pond Body of water Constructed wetland Full pond Hydric soil Phytotelma Pond of Abundance Pond liner Ponding Puddle (M C Escher) Spring Swimming hole Water aeration Water garden Water Lilies (Monet) Well

v t e Salt
History	History In the American Civil War International Salt Co. v. United States In Middlewich Old Salt Route In Chinese history Salt March Salt road
Types	Abraum Alaea Alberger Asín tibuok Bittern Black lava Butter Calcium chloride Celery Curing Cyclic Dairy Flake Fleur de sel Garlic Himalayan Iodised Jugyeom Kala namak Korean brining Kosher Monosodium glutamate Moshio salt Pickling Potassium chloride Potassium nitrate River reed salt Sodium nitrate Onion Rock Salammoniac Salt substitute Sea salt Seasoned Sel gris Smoked Sodium chloride Truffle Túltul
Food usage	Brining Salting Brined cheese Salt-cured meat Salted fish Health effects Salt and cardiovascular disease
Commerce and industry	Salt Industry Commission Evaporation pond Salt mining Salt well Sink works Open-pan salt making List of countries by salt production Salt tectonics
By region	In Cheshire In Ghana San Francisco Bay In Pakistan
Culture	Grain of salt Salt in the Bible Salting the earth
Miscellaneous	Mineral lick Road salt Smelling salts Water softening Ximenes Redoubt Tax
Category