August 5, 2024JPEG Along the west bank of the Rhône River, colorful salt pans are interwoven with the brackish marshes of coastal France. The ponds, named Salin-de-Giraud, produce about 800,000 metric tons of salt annually and provide a respite for migrating flamingos Salt is indirectly responsible for the orange color of the water in the satellite image. Only a few hardy lifeforms can thrive in such a briny environment. They include a beta-carotene-rich phytoplankton, Dunaliella salina, and a pink Halobacteria The pigment trickles through the food chain: the microorganisms feed colonies of brine shrimp which in turn feed the region’s large population of pink flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) The managed waters of the salt pans are an important feeding ground for thousands of migrating birds. Salt pans in the Mediterranean, such as Salin-de-Giraud, provide up to half of flamingos’ foraging requirements during the breeding season NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Emily Cassidy View this area in EO Explorer The salt-producing ponds of southern France are feeding grounds for pink flamingos. The salt produced from tidal marshes in southern France is the product of ideal climate conditions and careful management. The west-central state of Gujarat accounts for nearly three-quarters of India’s annual salt production. In this active tectonic environment, salt squeezes through faults in the rock until it reaches the surface and flows like a glacier. The much flashier, rarer, red-crested pochard is a Mediterranean bird that nests regularly in the Camargue. A white salty path goes up to an overlook where a skin of pale blue water covers the salt beds of Baleine. Spring birds, ancient ruins and scenic wetlands are discovered during a journey through France’s Camargue delta. Just as the birds in the Western Hemisphere fly north from Latin America into the United States and Canada to breed, so do the birds of the Eastern Hemisphere … fly north from Africa to Eurasia to find suitable nesting grounds. The Camargue in the south of France is the stopping off point for thousands and thousands of birds coming or going across the Mediterranean Sea. This massive delta — over 350,000 acres — of the Rhone River silted in over the years to form tangles of lagoons, wetlands, freshwater marshes, salt pans, rice paddies and pastureland with occasional stretches of riparian forests and hedgerows. A bird … and mosquito haven. Armed with a tattered guide to the birds of Europe and binoculars, Danny and I head out from our digs in Istres (pronounced as a pleasant hiss in French: iss-tr, leaving off that final ‘es’) west towards the delta. Keying in Camargue to the map function of the phone, we see that to go the 12 miles to the middle of the vast area will take more than an hour. Soon we discover why. Instead of going up and around through Arles, we follow a route directly west through many fields, some plowed and ready for planting, some with very green pastureland, others covered with some sort of plastic protecting seedlings. Beautiful, flat, empty and green. Now and again we stop and listen, using our Merlin app for identification of songs. The first and noisiest bird is the common nightingale, the bird with the ‘beautiful’ voice. It is loud and has a varied sequence of riffs and musical phrases. The bird is not visible although it sounds so close I could part the branches to find it practicing in its ‘green room’. From the Guide: ”A well known bird that is difficult to see.” Indeed! I had expected a sweet melodious song, maybe like a long warbling vireo’s with more varied notes and phrasing. Yet these birds which are everywhere sound more like a mockingbird, with a wide variety of phrases some sweeter than other, but others quite jarring. Nightingales, though, are not mimics. Nor do I see why the famous soprano, Jenny Lind, would be called, back in the day, the ‘Swedish Nightingale.’ The ferry loads (maybe 20-25 cars) and in no time we are on firm ground and back on our way, across the flat delta, stands of swaying reeds or trees at either side. We hear different warblers and eventually see the melodious warbler which sounds more what I would have thought the nightingale would sound like. Along the route to a large lagoon, a vineyard, Domaine d'Espeyran, appears on the right with rows and rows of vines each with enormously large trunks and main branches now showing bright spring green leaves along the branches of each plant. The new season for creating rosé has begun. Soon we come to a gate across the road and an enormous, hand-painted sign: Cabin de Espeyran. Private property. Fortunately there is a small lagoon on the left, busy with birds. There are many egrets, both great white and little egrets (same as our great and snowy), glossy ibises, a grey heron (similar to our great blue), a few coots, a pair of mallards and a few odd looking ducks with bright red bills, red heads, black chests and rears, white on the sides and mottled rust/white/grey on the back. Quite distinctive. I check the book: a red-crested pochard similar to the common pochard which I’ve seen only a few times. The pochard, Aythya ferina, a medium-sized diving duck related to our redhead, Aythya americana. The much flashier, rarer, red-crested pochard is a Mediterranean bird that nests regularly in the Camargue. A life bird! Back on the main road, a southerly route takes us to the extensive salt pans. A glistening white hill of crystals sits not too far away in the wind-whipped water. A white salty path takes us up to an overlook where a skin of pale blue water covers the salt beds. Baleine Sea Salt, found in my kitchen back home and in the local supermarkets of the Berkshires, is not only advertised on a rock, but sold in a small booth nearby. The Greeks, 2,600 years ago, ventured into this river delta to obtain salt among other necessities. Later the Romans settled nearby in Arles, (where they built a bridge to take their legions to Spain). Roman ruins dominate the town: a large amphitheater (still used for events) and a smaller theater. There are two stone pillars still standing proudly of the original 120 that existed at one time, evidence of a thriving Roman community. Clellie Lynch is a regular Eagle contributor. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Volume 10 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2023.1108386 This article is part of the Research TopicTerrestrial Field Analogues for Planetary ExplorationView all 7 articles evidence of past lacustrine and evaporitic environments has been found within basins and craters where often layered sedimentary deposits and hydrated minerals are observed and precise phases of aqueous processes during their deposition remain unresolved mostly for our inability to model subsurface structures Although several geological processes and locations on Earth have been previously proposed as examples to describe these deposits on Mars we lack a strong visualization of what water activity might have looked like during evaporitic stages within basins and craters Here we propose to investigate the shallow subsurface of the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana as a potential analog for understanding groundwater upwelling on Mars The pans are found within the Makgadikgadi Basin a depression located at the southwestern end of a northeast-southwest set of graben linked with the East African Rift The Makgadikgadi Pans are evaporitic environment rich in hydrated minerals and groundwater activity The purpose of this work is to identify buried faults and areas of relative water saturation within the lacustrine sediment of the Makgadikgadi Basin by means of electrical resistivity surveys This work represents the first electrical resistivity survey of the basin floor which provides a precursory investigation of the relationship between groundwater We present four electrical survey lines from different locations in the pans which reveal distinct sedimentary units Several faults are inferred from the vertical displacement of these units and accompanying low resistivity where displacement is observed These results provide a framework for visualizing the sedimentary sequences of infilled basins and craters on Mars which can broaden the ongoing discussion of hydrogeological processes that were active in the planet’s past as well as Oyama and Becquerel crater of Arabia Terra as locations to establish this framework Since such processes are still ongoing in the Makgadikgadi Basin imaging the subsurface of the pans helps explain the formation of layered and salty deposits on the surface of Mars how they may have interacted with flowing water FIGURE 1. The Makgadikgadi Pans (Botswana). (A) Regional map of Southern Africa. Major faults are labeled with bold black lines, the majority of which are associated with the East African Rift (EAR). The Makgadikgadi Pans represent the southernmost termination of the EAR. Modified from Schmidt et al. (2023) (B) Landsat 8 images of the pans from October 2021 (-20.8° Red circles indicate ERT survey line locations (Lines A Here electrical resistivity methods are applied for imaging fault lines previously identified with airborne geophysics and buried under lacustrine sediments to generate 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). This method allows the detection of changes in relative electrical resistance within void space produced by any faults and associated fractures in the overlaying water saturated sediment (Kolawole et al., 2018; Ojo et al., 2022) The aim of this work is to shed light on the relationship between faults and groundwater flow in an otherwise arid This data provides insights on the depth and saturation of sediments in an evaporative setting which is bound to teach us more about the processes of formation and erosion of playa deposits on Mars their relationships with groundwater upwelling and if they were formed in a wetter and habitable Mars The sedimentary units within the Kalahari Group found within the pans are referred to as the Makgadikgadi Group in this work following the nomenclature of available drill core data to ensure that the returned 2D ERT would potentially cross the faults FIGURE 3. (A) Total magnetic intensity map derived from aeromagnetic data. The Makgadikgadi Pans are outlines in white. (B) Close-up of the magnetic intensity showing linear buried strucutres in the are of the northern Ntwetwe Pan. (C) Accompanying Landsat 8 image. Dashed box marks the location of Figure 7 FIGURE 4. Topographic data of the Makgadikgadi Basin for regional context and fault identification. White lines mark fault locations. Dashed sections indicate inferred position of faults underneath pan sediment. Red circles mark the location of the four ERT survey lines. Modified from Schmidt et al. (2023) Ground views of the cable and electrodes along Line A (A) and Line D (B This processes yielded an average exploration depth of 100–120 m Each electrode had to be carefully catalogued with a differential GPS to ensure the reconstruction of a detailed topographic model for the 2D ERT profiles FIGURE 6. ERT survey lines (A), (B). (A) Landsat-8 image from September 2021 marking the location of ERT survey lines A and B within the Ntwetwe Pan. Pooled water can be observed in the southeast corner. A relict delta can be observed just southwest of the survey lines (Franchi et al., 2020) (B) Profile of ERT survey line A and interpretation showing the likely lithostratigraphic units in the subsurface (C) Profile of ERT survey line B and stratigraphic interpretation The 2-D models from the inversion software were then used to interpret the subsurface conditions Within the GIS environment Surfer® v22 (Golden Software we processed aeromagnetic data to create a total magnetic intensity map to further assist in fault identification and ERT survey line placement A set of NNE-SSW trending magnetic highs were found to be parallel to existing surficial fault scarps which enabled us to infer the presence of faults that had no obvious surface expression (A) Location of ERT survey line C passing across the edge of the shoreline of the Ntwetwe Pan (B) Total magnetic intensity derived from aeromagnetic data Profile X—X′ shows the depth to bedrock derived from the aeromagnetic data directly where ERT survey line C was placed Line C is perpendicular to a large northeast-southwest trending structure The southeast-northwest trending structures are dikes from the Okavango Dike Swarm (C) Surface topography with line C location marked by red line Note the large difference between the topographic surface change in elevation and the bedrock topography change (D) ERT profile of line C and stratigraphic interpretation Line C shows the shoreline transition between the pan exterior (NW) and pan interior (SE) FIGURE 8. (A) Profile of survey line (D). Line D is located at the boundary of the west shoreline of the Sua Pan (dashed black line). Dark material in the Landsat 8 imagery is silcrete (also see Figures 5B, C) (B) Example of the silcrete terrain that dominates the western shoreline of the Sua Pan and surroundings of line (D) (C) ERT model of line D and stratigraphic interpretation ERT survey lines A and B are collinear running roughly NE-SW at the center of the Ntwetwe Pan where a major regional fault was inferred to be located (Figure 4, Figure 6A). The distance between lines A and B is wide (approximately 2.8 km) due to caution in the possible existence of two parallel faults (Figure 4) The ground had a rigid and friable salt crust (1–3 cm thick) lying above water-saturated loose sand and clay These lines revealed a relatively high resistivity top surface (approximately 10–30 m thick) followed by a low resistivity unit (approximately 40–60 m thick) and further followed by a deeper more resistive unit This more resistive deep section is the upper surface of a unit whose thickness could not be determined Two gaps (40 m wide in line A and 80 m wide in line B) were observed in this deep unit and are both located in the positions of the inferred faults Sections directly above these two gaps have a slightly lower resistivity than the surrounding material This structure was deemed significant and represents either the same fault (or faults) from lines A and B or possibly an infilled fracture related to the fault investigated in lines A and B This line revealed a more complex subsurface lithiostratigraphy characterized by the high resistivity pan exterior and the low resistivity pan interior This change is abrupt and is considered to mark the location of a normal fault A lower resistivity area on the footwall side might indicate a fracture zone ERT survey line D was placed perpendicular to the north-south shoreline of the western side of the Sua Pan, which appears to be fault controlled (Schmidt et al., 2023) (Figure 4, Figure 8). Line D is 2.5 km north from Kubu Island, a large ˃60,000 m2 Archean granite, which was emplaced during the Mesoproterozoic (Majaule et al., 2001) The surface composition of the immediate surroundings of line D is predominately silcrete The eastern portion of the survey line D ran across a mix of silcrete and loose sediment the surface composition graded into calcrete (similar to that of line C) The lithostratigraphy revealed in line D is characterized by the high resistivity pan exterior and the low resistivity pan interior is an abrupt change considered to mark the location of a normal fault and small isolated pockets of high resistivity on the hanging wall side are considered to be silcrete ERT survey lines A and B were taken across one of the main northeast-southwest striking faults crossing the Ntwetwe Pan (Figure 6) These survey lines show overall low resistivity values (<1.0 Ω⋅m) in the very topmost sediments in line A this is only several cm thick and is present only above the inferred fault whereas in line B it is thicker (1–6 m) This is the saturated sediment of the soft surface of the playa Both lines A and B show a higher resistivity unit immediately below this (1.0–5.0 Ω⋅m) in the shallow subsurface that extends from several centimeters to 30 m of thickness in line B The slightly higher resistivity values may be due to sparse calcrete just below the surface or a recent deposition that is more sand rich The thick 40–60 m thick unit which follows has resistivity values of <1.0 Ω⋅m and is considered to be water saturated sediment This succession is interpreted to be a mix of sediment The lower higher resistivity unit (1.5–6.0 Ω⋅m) is considered to be the upper surface of the Karoo Supergroup possibily the sandstones of the Lebung Group (discussion on depth to bedrock interpretation below) The bedrock in line A shows a 40 m wide gap at ca 450 m from the beginning of the line and a similar 80 m wide gap in line B at ca 510 m from the beginning of the line Directly above these two gaps are slightly lower resistivity values and shows tangible evidence for the faults inferred in the airborne geophysics dataset the area of lines A and B was estimated to have an infill thickness of 90–120 m This estimate matches well with our interpretation of placing the Karoo Supergroup at the bottom of the profiles of lines A and B Lines C and D image the shoreline and thus it is expected that the Karoo Supergroup would be shallower as indicated from the drill cores which put the Karoo Supergroup depths at 14–26 m The high resistivity values of the Karoo Supergroup here (30.0–200 Ω⋅m) are strikingly apart from the low <1.0 Ω⋅m values of the sediment infill (i.e Since we do not see the surface expression of the faults within the pans it means anytime they have been reactivated their surface expression is immediately destroyed by flash flooding or buried by new sediment This could be by repeated and continual seasonal resurfacing fault activity in these specific areas could be older than the lake and they have been buried by the sediments during the Pleistocene and any significant reactivation (i.e. movement from earthquakes) has not produced a strong surface expression This means that apart from any given pathway for the discharged water and Meridiani Planum) are chemically linked there might be relict regional faults possibly formed when Mars was more tectonically active A visual comparison of small conical layered mounds in the Ntwetwe Pan (Botswana) and Arabia Terra (Mars) (B) Mounds in Sera crater Arabia Terra (8.71 Sera crater displays layered mounds that are geomorphologically similar to the mounds observed in the Makgadikgadi Pans This alludes to multiple depositional events and changing energy (i.e these instruments do not involve electrical resistivity they demonstrate that the value of revealing the subsurface of lacustrine deposits is unquestionable For these reasons we stress the importance of subsurface imaging instrumentation on future Mars missions where the role that faults have had on aqueous environments can be appreciated We have demonstrated that in an overall arid groundwater might utilize ancient faults in the bedrock which contribute to the total water entering the basin groundwater movement through faults that intersect sediment filled basins and craters on Mars might have had a significant influence on the surface morphology and surface mineralogy identifiable from both orbital and rover datasets This work has wide implications for determining how putative water table elevations could have interacted within sediment filled craters on Mars by resolving areas of low resistivity and identifying faults that water could have used as pathways which is not possible with the current instrumentation present on Mars Results can also allow us to better infer what the underlying lithology of layered deposits within craters might look like it demonstrates the scientific importance of future missions to employ subsurface imaging techniques on Mars The Makgadikgadi Pans show the sedimentary complexity of these environments but the types of duricrusts that are likely to be encountered in these playa basins on Mars as well as calculating the volume of both annual rainfall and river drainage into the pans and determining the approximate amount of water contained in the pans a rough estimate of the amount of groundwater discharged into the pans can be obtained The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author GS: Conceptualization—investigation—writing (original draft)—writing (review and editing)—figures—methodology—supervision EL: Investigation—writing (original draft) FF: Investigation—writing (original draft)—supervision AS: Investigation—writing (original draft)—methodology This research was carried under research permit CMLWS 1/17/4 II (28) The field work was funded by Europlanet 2024 RI Transnational Access to GS and EL Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement number 871149 We would like to thank Estella Atekwana and Folarin Kolawole for advice on faulting and electrical resistivity data interpretation We also thank Christopher Schmidt for insightful conversations on fault mechanics The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher A deep groundwater origin for recurring slope lineae on Mars PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar 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Accepted: 07 February 2023;Published: 20 February 2023 Copyright © 2023 Schmidt, Luzzi, Franchi, Selepeng, Hlabano and Salvini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: G. Schmidt, Z2VuZXdhbHRlci5zY2htaWR0QHVuaXJvbWEzLml0 Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) has granted partial relief to a lessee in a long-standing legal battle over 782 acres of salt pan land spread across Mulund HC protects lessee of 632 acres salt pan land in Mulund-Bhandup belt from dispossession A division bench comprising Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla last week stayed an earlier order passed by a single judge which had directed the lessee to hand over 632 acres of the land to the salt commissioner a central government employee who oversees the administration of salt-related matters including leasing out salt pan lands and managing the salt cess The bench restrained the central authority from dispossessing the lessee on the condition that he continues to pay the assignment fees at the prescribed rates the court refused to extend the same relief for the remaining 150 acres located on the western side of the Eastern Express Highway The bench noted that no salt production had taken place on this portion of the land for at least two decades due to severe sewage contamination we are of the view that no relief can be granted as far as these 150 acres are concerned simply because the lease of the suit property to the Plaintiff and his predecessor was for manufacture of salt,” the judges observed They added that the stay on the remaining 632 acres would be lifted if the lessee failed to pay the required fees filed a suit after the deputy salt commissioner terminated the lease for non-compliance with the salt manufacturing clause Walawalkar challenged the termination and also sought a declaration that he was entitled to a lease renewal for another 99 years following the expiry of the original lease in October 2016 He argued that the inability to manufacture salt on a significant portion of the land was due to factors beyond his control—particularly the encroachment of slums and industrial units along the western boundary which discharged sewage and effluents onto the salt pans upheld the termination of the lease and directed that the entire 782 acres be returned to the salt commissioner The court stressed that the lease was explicitly for salt manufacturing and did not confer any broader rights to the land where land prices are among the highest in the country permitting the use of 782 acres of land for salt manufacturing cannot be confused with creating any vested right in the land for the lessee,” Justice Marne had said “This is not a lease for housing or industrial use The moment the lessee ceases salt production With plenty of sunlight to drive their pumps instead of costly diesel harvesting salt costs a third of what it used to and has made life for workers much easier treeless landscape is matched only by the drudgery of the salt farmers who toil there for eight months of the year as the monsoon recedes and the flooded salt pans dry out farmers and their families hop on to trucks and tractors to migrate to the Little Rann of Kutch in Kutch district where they pitch tarpaulin shelters and begin mining the underground deposits An estimated 10,000 families of farmers, known as agariyas in Gujarati migrate to the marshes from across the state They start each season by digging wells to pump out brine using diesel pumps; the brine is then poured into shallow squarish plots carved on the salt pans and left to evaporate under the sun to produce salt crystals These marshes produce 30% of India’s inland salt Life in the salt marshes is uniquely challenging Drinking water comes not from pipes but tankers children attend schools inside buses not buildings and the only avenue to healthcare is weekly mobile vans from the health department Basic amenities such as an electricity grid and toilets are nonexistent and my nieces attend primary school in a mobile school bus,” says Bharatbhai Shyamjibhai Mandviya Salt pan mining was heavily reliant on diesel but a subsidy to encourage use of solar pumps has cut emissions and the cost of mining Photograph: Ahmad Masood/ReutersContracts made with salt traders before each season where the traders pay an advance to the farmers to buy pumps and to meet household expenses mean most farmers start the season in debt with the harvest income barely enough to cover their costs Diesel constitutes nearly 65% of the input costs in salt farming and about 1,800 litres of the fuel is needed to produce 750 tonnes of salt area manager of nonprofit Vikas Centre for Development that works with salt producers in the region “We have to pump out water from the wells for over 200 days a year and we relied heavily on diesel to do that,” says Mandviya adding that he would spend as much as 300,000 rupees (£2,800) on the fuel every season But the introduction of solar panels to the pans has triggered a significant shift in the lives and lifestyles of the impoverished salt workers the Gujarat government gave solar pumps to salt farmers at nearly 80% subsidy as part of a larger push to cut emissions and bring down the costs involved in salt production A combination of diesel and solar working to power water pumps fetching brine Photograph: Suchak Patel/The Migration Story“Solar-powered pumps have reduced the cost of salt farming to one-third of what it was,” says Sonagra Mandviya has installed three pumps on the salt pan he works on the savings from which have led to many firsts in his life “We have now built a two-bedroom house with a separate hall and a kitchen in Kharaghoda [his home village],” says Mandviya The new home with tiled walls and built-in cupboards which he will share with his brother and family is a big upgrade from the kuccha [mud and straw] house they lived in before The brothers also bought a motorcycle and a refrigerator from the money they managed to save We had to ride the bicycle for a whole day to get to our village … on a motorcycle we can do it in two hours flatSantabhai Bamaniya salt farmerWith more than 5,500 solar-powered pumps now dotting the region energy costs have fallen to about 90 rupees to produce one tonne of salt from more than 300 rupees before The agariyas such as Mandviya are no longer as dependent on the capital from traders which gives them greater negotiating power over salt prices “I was able to farm without borrowing from traders for the first time last year,” says Bajubhai Vakad from Tikar village in Surendranagar district An aerial view of salt pans in Little Rann of Kutch Photograph: Travel India/AlamySolar pumps and the financial stability they grant have improved access to health while also offering freedom to salt farmers from an endless work cycle “Steady supply from the solar panels is powering not only pumps but also televisions Children of salt makers are switching to state-run ‘edutainment’ programmes to make up for the loss of education,” says Bhavna Harchandani a research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar who has tracked the agariya community as part of her studies The panels offer rare shade for men to relax during breaks giving women a few moments of privacy in their makeshift homes Free newsletterGet a different world view with a roundup of the best news Sonagra says it was difficult to find an office assistant with basic secondary-school education among agariyas until a few years ago A bus serving as a mobile primary school is parked on a vast salt pan. Photograph: Suchak Patel/The Migration Story“Today, many agariya children attend private schools, complete ITI (vocational) courses, and some manage to go to college. Solar pumps have opened up educational opportunities for the next generation of the community,” he says. Diesel generators also needed round-the-clock attention, which restricted the movement of agariya families. “A family member would often have to stay back to monitor the generator. Solar pumps freed us from that; we can now visit fairs as a family,” says Bhupatbhai, an agariya from Kuda village. Many, such as 65-year-old Santabhai Bamaniya, have traded bicycles for motorbikes. “Earlier, it meant riding the bicycle for a whole day through the desert to get to our village for a social function. Even then, only men could take part. On a motorcycle we can reach the village in two hours flat,” says Bamaniya. Read moreBetter mobility has eased the sense of isolation that often defined the agariyas’ stint in the Little Rann of Kutch recalled a harrowing journey with his pregnant wife on a motorbike a few years ago hours before she gave birth “It has given us a critical sense of security especially during health emergencies,” he says But while the community is reaping the benefits of the push towards solar concerns have emerged about falling groundwater levels Digging wells and failing to find water has become common A family works together to harvest salt Photograph: Happy Mukherjee/Alamy“We have to dig 10 to 12 wells in order to find one with water,” says Devjibhai Tetitya from Nimaknagar Since their costs have fallen with the installation of solar pumps workers are drawing more water in the hope of extracting larger amount of salt to boost their incomes Mandviya has to dig many more wells to hit water now he is grateful that solar-powered pumps have made life in the salt desert easier This article was first published by the Migration Story the first newsroom in India to focus on the country’s internal migrant population Located near Spain‘s Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park San Fernando is a city embedded in one of Europe’s most significant coastal wetlands The region’s intricate landscape of dunes and marshes creates a distinctive ecosystem rich in architectural and cultural heritage showcasing the intersection of ancestral knowledge and contemporary technology La Sal Pavilion is located in the Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park in Spain | image © Fernando Alda Together with architect Carlos Montes, the team at CHS+R Arquitectos constructs La Sal Pavilion using three primary materials: salt The foundation is formed from accumulated salt while wood provides structural and spatial continuity both inside and out recalls the industrial metal frameworks once used in the salt trade One of the pavilion’s defining features is its vertical element — a tower that provides an elevated perspective of the adjacent salt flats and surrounding landscape This structure functions similarly to historical lookout towers enabling visitors to discover and interpret the complex network of salt pans By interacting only with natural forces — water and wind — the pavilion underscores its commitment to sustainability the pavilion activates the region’s abundant salt resource | image © Javier Orive A key innovation in the project is the development of salt panels that envelop the tower These panels are created through a natural crystallization process utilizing a base of 100% recycled cast acrylic a layer of bio-resin is manually applied before the salt cultivated in the salt pan’s crystallizer This results in a translucent crystalline structure that interacts with light and atmospheric conditions The salt for the panels is harvested manually by immersing fiberglass nets into the salt crystallizer where a crust of interlocking salt crystals forms these nets are repurposed into textile-like surfaces embedding thousands of crystals into flexible textured materials capable of covering various surfaces This innovative process ensures that the materials remain integrated into a circular production system minimizing waste and maximizing sustainability traditional techniques are combined with digital fabrication | image © Javier Orive La Sal Pavilion extends its influence beyond its immediate site addressing broader social and climatic issues By elevating vernacular values and sustainable traditional practices the project aligns itself with contemporary economic and social needs Its interior serves as an educational space while the surrounding area hosts community gatherings and events a vertical tower element provides views of the surrounding salt flats | image © Javier Orive the interior serves as an educational space while the exterior hosts community gatherings | image © Fernando Alda salt panels covering the tower are created using a crystallization process | image © Fernando Alda the panels are formed with a recycled acrylic base and bio-resin for adhesion | image © DEL RIO BANI fiberglass nets are immersed in salt crystallizers to form textured salt panels | image © Javier Orive architect: CHS+R Arquitectos + Carlos Montes design team: Jose Rodriguez architects In charge: José Rodríguez installations: David Villegas Cerredo construction: Francisco Pérez Díez (Pérez Díez SL) structure: Jesus Gómez Román (Hierro Puro) salt: Juan Ruiz Muriel Salinero (Salina del Molino de Ossio S.L.) AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style the Modi government is allowing publicly-owned salt pans in Mumbai to be developed for real estate by an Adani-controlled corporation The aim is to build blocks of flats for the thousands of people displaced by Adani’s redevelopment of Dharavi a densely populated and famous shantytown in the heart of Mumbai The outcome could be environmentally disastrous with experts warning that the salt pans buffer the city from floods potentially inundating the premises of thousands of people in the financial capital of India Did the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweak rules to hand over huge swathes of ecologically fragile salt pans to the Adani Group for its slum redevelopment project in Mumbai Documentary evidence indicates that rules were modified by the Modi government in August 2024 to allow infrastructure projects such as slum redevelopment and housing for socio-economically disadvantaged people on Mumbai’s salt pans despite the potentially disastrous consequences this could have on the city and its environment The rules were modified through an office memorandum dated 23 August 2024 by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. As per earlier rules land under ‘active salt production’ could be considered for transfer ‘for public purposes only in exceptional cases’ The new rules do away with this clause entirely while listing various activities for which salt pans can now be used The earlier rules had also prohibited the transfer of salt pans to ‘private-sector agencies’ a Mumbai-based non-profit working in the field of environment conservation told this correspondent that all salt pans occur below high-tide line and that any prospect of acquiring these areas for the purpose of housing construction could be disastrous ‘Sea water gushing inland during high tide is trapped between the high tide line and the low tide line,’ Goenka explained purified and commercially sold in the marketplace the first areas to be flooded when sea levels rise will be the salt pans underground seepage will begin in the coastal areas storm-water pipelines and sewage pipelines will be the first to be flooded if housing projects are constructed on the salt pans ‘This will be disastrous for the residents.’ The Modi government’s ‘office memorandum’ that purports to amend the rules pertaining to salt plans faces a legal challenge with a public-interest case filed in the Bombay High Court The petitioner argues that this type of executive decision cannot override laws that apply to salt pans and that development of these public spaces will have disastrous consequences for the city Following the Modi government’s decision to change the rules the state government of Maharashtra (within which the city of Mumbai is located) passed a resolution on 30 September 2024 to speed up housing schemes for the poor by transferring three salt pans aggregating 103.56 hectares from the central government to the state government the Maharashtra cabinet passed a resolution to apply for transfer of ‘Salt Pan Lands’ situated in Mumbai for affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – an initiative by the central government to provide housing for the urban poor – and for people displaced by the Dharavi Redevelopment Project The Dharavi Redevelopment Project has been undertaken by an Adani Group controlled ‘special purpose vehicle’ called the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited 80% owned by Adani Realty and 20% owned by the state government through its Dharavi Redevelopment Project Slum Rehabilitation Authority The Modi government’s commerce ministry is headed by Piyush Goyal a senior leader of the ruling BJP who held the coal and power portfolio for three years after Narendra Modi was first elected as prime minister in 2014 This ministry modified the rules pertaining to the salt pans after receiving several requests from central-government ministries state governments and public-sector enterprises to put salt pans to use for various public purposes As per Section (vi) of the new rules salt pans can now be transferred: ‘For welfare measures housing for project affected persons (PAP) lands may be transferred to CPSEs [central public sector enterprises] State Governments and their PSEs at 25% of the guideline value / circle rate of the concerned state on ‘as is where is’ basis’ In a cabinet meeting of the Maharashtra government on 7 August 2024 presided over by chief minister Eknath Shinde a resolution was finalised to allow more flats to be built to provide tenements to people affected by the Dharavi redevelopment The resolution directed the Brihanmumbai (Greater Mumbai) Municipal Corporation Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) to prepare a detailed action plan for the construction of flats for people displaced by Adani’s Dharavi demolition over the period of the next 15 years The SRA would review the total number of flats that are projected for development in the next 15 years and also prepare a review of how many flats are needed to be constructed on a short-term basis in the next 3-5 years Additional flats constructed in the projects that are implemented by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation MHADA [Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority] will also be used for project-affected people Cabinet also decided that the provision of ‘transferable development rights’ was required to make the project economically viable This suggests that the Adani-controlled company will ultimately own the housing established on the salt pans Cabinet also directed the urban-development department to follow up with the central government to make available government land salt pans and land belonging to the Mumbai Port Trust for the housing project Different authorities will develop different housing projects After the modification in rules by Piyush Goyal’s ministry the Maharashtra government took steps to sign an agreement with the central government to transfer three salt pans – Arthur Salt Works (Mauje Kanjur: 48.76 ha) Jenkin’s Salt Works (Bhandup: 31.12 ha) and Jamasp Salt Works (Mauje Mulund: 23.67 ha) – to the Adani-controlled company carrying out the Dharavi re-development project According to the minutes of the Maharashtra cabinet meeting held on 30 September 2024 the Maharashtra government sent an application to the central government to enter into an agreement for the transfer of ownership of the 103.56 ha of salt pans The Home Development Secretary of the Maharashtra government was appointed as the officer to finalise the signing of the agreement The Adani-controlled joint venture will pay the cost of the salt pans to the state government which in turn will transfer those funds to the central government The expenses of relocating project-affected people will be borne by the joint venture The salt pans will be used for constructing flats for tenants living in Dharavi as part of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as well as for housing for other economically disadvantaged groups The Dharavi Redevelopment Committee will supervise the project and be responsible for its implementation the Maharashtra housing department wrote to the commerce ministry to speed up the transfer of the three salt pans to the state government for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project since this land could not legally be transferred directly to the Adani-controlled joint venture The Adani-controlled joint venture had applied to the DPIIT for the transfer of land of three salt pans under three leases – Arthur Salt Works Jamasp Salt Works and Jenkin’s Salt Works – to develop an affordable rental housing project for those found ineligible for flats under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project the DPIIT said that only the central government the state governments or public-sector enterprises could claim ownership over salt pans The letter from the housing department also stated that the DPIIT had advised the project proponent the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Slum Rehabilitation Authority to submit its application through the government of Maharashtra It says: ‘the state government endorses the steps taken by the Dharavi Redevelopment Project The application form for the same is enclosed herewith (Annexure - 2) you are requested to take necessary steps to facilitate early transfer of salt pan lands (Arthur Salt Works Jamasp Salt Works and Jenkins Salt Works lands) to the government of Maharashtra for utilization in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.’ The rules governing use of salt pan lands were issued in January 2012 against a backdrop of reports describing speculative real-estate deals A public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the modification of salt-pan guidelines has been filed in the Bombay High Court has challenged the statutory power of an office memorandum – an executive instruction – to override the law He has argued that the memorandum is in violation of several laws of the country including the Environment (Protection) Act the Wetland (Conservation & Management) Rules 2017 and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules Notification 2019 ‘The government has now opened construction upon salt pans to private parties,’ Devre told this correspondent the builder-politician nexus has knowingly and intentionally strangulated the city’s open spaces mangroves and salt-pan lands for commercial purposes ‘This loss of and subsequent commercialisation and concreting of open spaces have meant that water by private parties and government departments which act as natural water absorbers in the city is expected to worsen the faulty drainage situation in Mumbai The Tribunal gathered from the report of its committee that violations of India’s coastal regulations had been committed by way of encroachments and clearing of mangroves in areas designated as salt pans It directed the State Coastal Zone Management Authority – the agency of the state government entrusted with the duty of protecting and conserving the state’s fragile coastal ecology – to prepare an action plan for remedial action to remove the dumped debris and other encroachments and to restore the mangroves The Salt Commissioner of Mumbai was directed to take action against encroachments in the salt pans It was further directed that the entire operation should be overseen by the Maharashtra environment department and the national management authority responsible for coastal zones The tribunal gave these government agencies a rap on the knuckles five months later when it found that no action had been taken to remove the encroachments The three-judge bench of the tribunal disposed of the case after the Environment Department of Maharashtra assured that remedial measures would be completed within three months The measures were to include removal of construction and debris waste for appropriate processing and the revival of damaged mangrove plantations environmentalist Debi Goenka warns that the argument that housing can be cheaply established on salt pans is a myth sewage-disposal systems and landfilling will have to begin from scratch,’ Goenka said ‘This will lead to an escalation of costs for the developer which will obviously be passed on to the end-users ‘It is a different matter if the government agrees to build all the infrastructure for the developer have to be met out of the state exchequer.’ The Mumbai salt pans are part of the National Wetland Inventory of India (See Pages 110-111) as prepared by the central government in May 2010 Residents of Dharavi are dismayed that a sizeable chunk of the shantytown population is being considered ineligible for ‘rehabilitation’ and will be displaced into housing built on the salt pans ‘It is basically a land-grabbing exercise,’ Rajendra Korde a Dharavi resident and leader of Peasants & Workers Party ‘According to the plans of the project proponent most of the households will be declared ineligible for rehabilitation ‘These people will be asked to go to the resettlement colony the vacant land will be used to expand the Bandra Kurla Complex which is an upscale commercial hub commanding some of the highest property rates in the world.’ All content on this website authorised by Steven Chaffer This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The Saline di Tarquinia Nature Reserve is a hyperhaline wetland area among the few remaining in the Tyrrhenian Sea in whose extension various geological-environmental aspects are represented The area is mostly occupied by shallow water basins currently SPA (Special Protection Area) and SAC (Special Conservation Area) as it was recognized as having a high naturalistic value with environmental characteristics particularly suitable for stopping and the nesting of numerous migratory birds Seven habitats protected by the EU Habitats Directive are represented in which rare and threatened botanical species typical of environments with a high concentration of salt grow and around 220 species of birds live a treasure chest of biodiversity and geodiversity" was created during an excursion organized by ISPRA in collaboration with the Carabinieri of the Biodiversity Protection Unit of Rome On 8 February, in the occasion of the anniversary of the Ramsar Convention guided tours to discover the aquatic avifauna will be held at the Tarquinia salt pans The Convention concerns wetlands of international importance and aquatic birds Photo gallery the Adani Group was given the go-ahead to develop salt pans in Mumbai for real estate Warnings have been expressed about the environmental impacts of building apartment blocks on wetlands that are regularly inundated by salty floodwaters The development will also displace families that have been harvesting salt from the area for generations Impacts on an adjacent Ramsar-listed bird sanctuary are as yet unknown We must vacate!),’ says 52-year-old Meghnad as he loads a sack of freshly harvested salt on to the rear carrier of his bicycle Meghnad and his wife have been engaged in packing salt heaped upon a polythene sheet at the edge of an expansive wetland in Bhandup a suburb in the eastern part of the teeming port city of Mumbai The area abuts an inlet of the Arabian Sea where Thane Creek enters the marine environment This marshy coastal land is ideal for harvesting salt Meghnad and his wife use the bicycle to ferry the packets to a lorry waiting nearby to transport the produce to a local trader ‘I have clung to the work of harvesting salt for the past 25 years,’ says Meghnad ‘But now that Adani has taken over these saltpans to construct high-rise apartments This is perhaps the last year that we can harvest salt on these pans ‘We have no idea how to earn our livelihoods after we leave.’ and beads of sweat drip down Meghnad’s body muscles rippling beneath his skin with every purposeful step The years of labor in these sun-scorched fields have sculpted him into a figure of strength carries the quiet pride of someone who has endured countless hardships His broad shoulders and thick arms tell the story of relentless toil in the salt pans where each day requires the resilience to survive such demanding work Meghnad is a fourth-generation salt worker Meghnad’s great grandfather migrated to Mumbai from a region called Daman he reached the big bustling city (then called Bombay) in search of food Migrant workers such as Meghnad’s great grandfather were employed in large numbers by rich businessmen who had leased large swathes of land alongside the creek from the British rulers of India for the purpose of harvesting salt Migrant families have now toiled in these salt pans for over 100 years Experts fear the move to construct infrastructure on the salt pans could strain the city’s already-overwhelmed drainage system and trigger disastrous flooding located alongside the Thane Creek and under central government control have historically been used for salt production and serve as vital natural buffers against floodwaters A field visit by this correspondent revealed that the land deal will cause families engaged in production of salt to lose their livelihoods A short distance away from the area where Meghnad’s family is busy preparing salt packets These lorries belong to a local contractor will transport the salt to a local market where it will be used to manufacture a variety of chemicals such as cleansers A portion of it will also be used to manufacture table salt each separated from the other by ankle-high mud dykes are under active salt production in this expanse of coastal land in Bhandup the entire area was under active salt production the sharp stench of decaying animal carcasses is pervasive Thousands of salt workers have migrated to other parts of the city to find menial work after the leases handed out by the British expired a few years ago the vast expanse of the coastal land in Bhandup is engulfed in silence There is the occasional clang of Meghnad’s metal spade against a rocky mound of salt The silence is also punctuated occasionally by shrill cries of birds flying overhead or the honking of motor vehicles on the Eastern Express Highway which runs along the western edge of the Bhandup salt pan whose properties command some of the highest prices in the world The highway was commissioned a little over a decade ago the salt pans turned into prime real-estate hotspots,’ said my guide ‘No one seemed interested in producing salt anymore The government did not renew the leases for the salt pans because lessees had engaged in speculative land deals.’ Next to the salt pan is a cluster of ramshackle huts where salt workers live with their families These dwellings exude the warmth of community life: dogs run amok in small kitchen gardens while kids lounge on hammocks set up between lemon and guava trees A variety of flowering plants lend charm and grace to the houses A huddle of men is engaged in animated conversation on the verandah of a hut The mild aroma of tea brewing emanates from the kitchen window and fills the courtyard ‘The scale of salt manufacturing operations used to be very large,’ said one of the men it is just a fraction of what it used to be Our children have grown up playing in this neighborhood Since the government has decided to hand over these lands for Adani’s high-rises we are hopeful our need for alternate livelihood and housing will be taken care of.’ Patel said salt production provides their livelihoods for at least six months of the year barring the period when the wetlands flood during the monsoon months A lorry loaded with sacks of salt speeds away in the direction of the highway on the potholed road Patel looks longingly in the direction of the lorry The company will be given an attractive FSI (Floor Space Index) of 1.33 for saleable component in exchange for constructing rental housing the Adani Group will be entitled to sell 1.33 housing units against each unit that it provides for rental to those found ineligible for free housing Local people tell me the prices of the units put up for sale increase with each passing day artificial intelligence would use the GPS-tracked movements of my mobile phone during the day to send me advertisements on social media for the salt-pan apartments which are now open for booking even though construction is yet to commence With prices of even the smallest flats beginning at over US $20,000 the apartments are clearly out of reach of displaced salt workers The salt pans are a haven for a variety of avian species because of their proximity to the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. On a Maharashtra government website the 1700-ha sanctuary is described as ‘an oasis in the concrete world of Mumbai and Thane cities’ The website further says the sanctuary is home to over 200 species of birds the splendidly colored flamingoes are the topmost attraction The Thane creek was declared a Ramsar Site on 15 August 2022, meaning that it is a wetland of international ecological importance to be managed in accordance with the provisions of a treaty signed in the Ramsar city of Iran in 1971. At present, India has 85 Ramsar sites It is as yet unknown what ecological impacts the proposed construction on salt pans would have on the Thane Creek sanctuary an environmental campaigner said that the developer is unlikely to forego the opportunity of using the apartments’ proximity to a haven for birds as a marketing hook has a desultory appearance except for the large flocks of birds flying overhead Hissing electricity transmission lines connected by massive steel towers cut through the salt pan whose white flatness disappears into the hazy distance The 3.8-km-long Airoli bridge runs across the Thane Creek and connects Mumbai with the satellite township of Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai) that was developed by the state government to reduce population pressure in the old city The Kanjur salt pan on the eastern side of the highway seems to have been in a state of disuse for many years The wetlands are filled with knee-high undergrowth are high-rise apartments in the suburbs of Bhandup West the tall residential towers of these suburbs appear like monsters rising from the ground to devour the last shreds of Mumbai’s greenery Around 15 hectares of the Kanjur salt pan, which occupies 48.76 ha, is under litigation the District Magistrate of Mumbai transferred these 15 hectares to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority a government body responsible for planning and development of the metro city to build a car shed for its metro train project the Bombay High Court imposed a status quo on this land parcel following a petition filed through the Salt Department which is directly under the control of India’s central government The department argued that the state government had no right to transfer or change the land use of this part of the salt pan because it belongs to the central government A local conservationist points out numerous encroachments along the coastal land along Thane Creek as we drive south from Bhandup towards Wadala our vehicle takes a U-turn and enters a toll road which has been constructed recently by the Mumbai Port Trust a government-owned autonomous organisation which owns the city’s historic harbor This road runs through more salt pans and mangroves alongside Thane Creek Immediately on our left is a plot where India’s Customs Department is constructing facilities their once vital operations now a distant memory The entrances to the once-bustling salt-harvesting facilities are sealed off its heat intensifying the silence of the barren land cracked surfaces of the salt pans shimmer with an almost blinding whiteness ‘reclamation’ activities on salt pans are in full swing as heavy machinery reshapes the land leveling and filling in the plots that once thrived with the harvest of salt and the cacophony of birds The transformation of this area is undeniable with large swathes being readied for development the mangroves along the creek remain steadfast The mangroves rise tall and resilient against the encroaching changes Their presence offers a fleeting reminder of the natural landscape that once dominated the area providing a sense of continuity in the face of humanity’s relentless ingress From Sea Water Evaporation Cambodia GI Kampot-Kep Salt Develops Unique Qualities salt harvesters gather small piles of the precious “Kampot-Kep Salt” with long rakes Salt production is vital for many local families in both Cambodian provinces The registration of “Kampot-Kep Salt” as a geographical indication in April 2023 holds hopes of economic development Narin Bun is the President of the Association of Geographical Indication Kampot-Kep Salt Producers. He holds a master’s degree in agriculture development, has been a salt producer for over 30 years, and is the COO of Thaung Enterprise a company promoting “Kampot-Kep Salt” and collaborating with local farmers The Kampot and Kep provinces sit on the edge of the Thailand Gulf an area that has produced sea salt for several centuries hot season and flat expanses near the coast provide ideal conditions for constructing and maintaining salt pans The “Kampot-Kep Salt,” described as “gently crunchy also contains over 80 minerals and trace elements The sandy loam soil of the “Kampot-Kep Salt” production zones contributes to its unique qualities “salt plays an important role in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and is essential for regulating blood pressure.” With its high density of minerals and its low sodium level Founder and Managing Director of Thaung Enterprise the “Kampot-Kep Salt” contains trace elements of magnesium Labor-Intensive Strict Production Standards “Kampot-Kep Salt” producers follow strict production standards and labor-intensive traditional methods Sophal Chhun is a “Kampot-Kep Salt” producer in Beoung Touk Center in Kampot who has 23 hectares of salt marshes and works with five family members The first is the irrigation of the salt pans the shallow pans are thoroughly cleaned of mold and weeds accumulated during the rainy season and must be chemical-free He explained that the soil is compacted before filling the retention pans with seawater where the evaporation will increase its density to 20 Baume (density measure) The water is then filtered and allowed to flow in succeeding production pans it takes about one week for the intense sun to evaporate most of the water allowing harvesters to collect the crust of crystalline salt The storage conditions must also be clear of all foreign matters The salt is unrefined and free of additives The salt harvesting typically occurs during the dry season as the reduced likelihood of rain ensures a higher quality of salt “Kampot-Kep Salt” is commercialized under four forms produced by association members harvested after evaporation of seawater; the second is Fleur de Sel a salt collected from the surface of the salt pans; the fine salt which used to be the product of boiled seawater and now is ground coarse salt; and flakes The sodium level varies based on the production and harvesting conditions The GI registration of “Kampot-Kep Salt” opens new national and global market perspectives Sophal and Pak charge “Kampot-Kep Salt” twice as much as generic salt “educating consumers about the value and uniqueness of GI salt is crucial for justifying its premium price.” Sophal added that local consumers do not really appreciate the GI salt yet and go for cheaper while Pov underlined the currently limited market size for “Kampot-Kep Salt,” preventing producers from fully reaping the benefits of the GI registration The GI registration expects to increase brand recognition and provide an incentive for sustainable practices and the preservation of the cultural heritage of the ancestral salt production process passed down from generations Sophal added that the GI reveals the story behind the products’ characteristics to consumers The association expects to register the GI in the European Union, counting on the EU consumers’ familiarity with the quality of GI products. The association applied to the WIPO-administered Lisbon System in June 2024 Salt production is highly dependent on a predictable dry season Kampot and Kep provinces are feeling the brunt of the changing climate with “unpredictable weather patterns and unseasonal rains that can wash away salt pans Pov produces “Kampot-Kep Salt” on five hectares of salt marshes working with three family members and three workers she can harvest up to 100 tons of salt annually Sophal faces the same issue: his production volume can vary from 700 tons annually to 350 and the economic uncertainty linked to the seasonality of salt production are not appealing to youth “Kampot-Kep Salt” also faces staunch competition from cheaper industrially produced imported salt from larger producers like India A GI registration is a mark of heightened quality and authenticity and its higher market value whets the appetite of counterfeiters and a performing traceability system and strict regulations have to be set up for the national and international markets The association gathers 12 small producers and four companies that buy the “Kampot-Kep Salt” for commercialization Narin said there are 139 generic salt producers and he hopes many will join the association and produce GI salt in the future He further remarked that the GI can strengthen community ties by sharing best practices WIPO was instrumental in the GI registration providing training on GI procedures at the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce and expert advice on establishing specifications and management training for the association and its members The government in Colombo has run for cover by buying 35,000 tonnes from India but in many areas of the country prices have skyrocketed and bad quality salt is being sold. The producers justify themselves with the floods but workers and nutritionists recall that not even the tsunami 20 years ago led to such a crisis Colombo (Sri Lanka) - Sri Lanka is grappling these weeks with a salt shortage that could last for weeks Workers at the Hambantota salt factory (in the Southern Province) believe the situation could go on until the end of the year and attribute the shortage to political interference They claim that the hasty sale of the stocks held by the salt works to the private sector contributed significantly to the current shortage The government has decided to import 35,000 tonnes from India but one that is not certain to be enough to completely meet the national needs there is a shortage of table salt in many areas and shops are distributing salt packets to consumers at exorbitant prices Several food outlets in various parts of the country have stopped selling food due to the shortage of rice and salt usually produces 135,000-140,000 metric tonnes per year Although the Hambantota Salt Works currently has no surplus reserves about a year ago it had the capacity to supply salt all year round without incurring shortages there are two large salt works in Koholankala and Palatupana The annual turnover from salt sales is about 1,500 million rupees Nutritionists Kelum Maddumage and Ashvini Caldera complain to AsiaNews that ‘the current production standards of “Lak Lunu” (the brand name under which it is sold by Lanka Salt Limited ed.) are far from satisfactory shells and other impurities are mixed with the salt from the Hambantota salt works and affiliated salt works The salt is placed on the market without proper inspection which has led to the withdrawal of the ISO 20,000 certification due to substandard quality' ‘Although some attribute the decrease in salt production to the recent floods during an on-site visit to the salt works a few days ago we found that none of the salt pans were flooded,’ the nutritionists continue when the Hambantota salt works were closed for six months the country did not have to import salt using the stocks in the warehouses the main cause of the salt shortage is attributed to administrative shortcomings and the absence of salt production at the salt pans in 2023 salt production takes place in March-April and October-November the production process naturally continues to produce the salt the country needs Any surplus production is stored for future use,' emphasise Kelum and Ashvini Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences Looking for a job? Search and apply for jobs and fellowships at FII's Job & Opportunities Board. Click here Dear reader, this article is free to read and it will remain free – but it isn’t free to produce. If you want to support the work that goes behind publishing high-quality feminist media content, please donate to FII and keep us paywall free Kutch, Gujarat: It is a white desert like no other. Nature lovers and travel buffs find inspiration in this vast expanse of nothingness, where the still blue sky adds a hue of solitude. The rustle in the Agariya settlements in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) seem to dissolve in this quietude so do the problems of women working in the salt pans here. A 3,500 sq km salt marsh Banaskantha and Rajkot is crucial for inland salt production contributing one-third of the country’s supply It is also a key source of ginger prawn exports there has hardly been any government effort to ensure dignity of life for the workforce here — one of its manifestations being in the form of medical conditions caused by lack of menstrual hygiene where the Scheduled Caste community of Agariyas toil for eight months of the year During the monsoon period between June and September the area sees saltwater ingress from the Gulf of Kutch worker families arrive mainly from four neighboring districts of Surendranagar Rajkot and Kutch and settle in makeshift sheds for the next eight months. Water scarcity is a silent predator in LRK birthing a cascade of health crises stemming from lack of menstrual hygiene so do Jalpa (18) who suffers from infections and white discharge and Vimla who deals with painful urination If neglected, lack of menstruation hygiene can lead to toxic shock syndrome reproductive tract infections and other vaginal diseases a salt pan worker from Gosana village in Dasada taluka of Surendranagar district has been going through it every month for the past three years ‘The pain begins in my lower abdomen and spreads to my back and thighs,‘ she says liberation from it seems incredibly difficult The lack of water prevents proper cleaning of private parts Using the same cloth repeatedly after washing during menstruation makes their problem even more severe,’ notes Jairambhai Devabhai Savalia the secretary of Narayanpura Cooperative Society at Patdi in Dasada taluka Women work in salt pans for more than 10 hours a day Those leasing salt pans enter into verbal agreements with ancestral producers Heenaben Jagabhai Khakariya (24) from Kesariya village of Lakhtar taluka in Surendranagar district claims that she has not been able to seek treatment for dysmenorrhea due to her demanding job She tried traditional methods like carom seeds in lukewarm water to relieve pain remarks that the struggles of women workers in LRK does not end with water scarcity ‘They have severe menstrual hygiene management challenges due to lack of hygiene resources such as clean water leading to infections and waterborne diseases,‘ she says No government medical facilities are available in LRK. However, there are primary health centres (PHCs) in Kutch, which function well. Even if they somehow get access to these PHCs, the women workers will not make use of them, thanks to the stigma surrounding menstruation and unwillingness to consult male doctors Dr Viren Dosi from Bhansali Trust has been serving the salt workers of Santalpur in Patan district for two decades He stresses that providing free water is the duty of state government Agariyas are left parched in most areas of LRK water charges are based on salt production units (paatas) Tankers deliver only 500 litres every five to seven days with inadequate water exacerbating menstrual hygiene struggles,’ says Sahiya from Bhalot village of Kutch’s Anjar taluka ‘Bathing is a once-a-week affair; utensils are washed with the same water for days,’ shares Ramaben from Patdi in Surendranagar the Agariya community is forced to rely on private tankers that charge Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 for 500 litres highlights state’s efforts to improve menstrual health in LRK ‘where a mobile medical van visits salt workers weekly‘ challenges like limited water availability and infrequent visits from health units remain The health workers try to visit at least once in 10 days uncertain temperature and dusty winds pose problems the health department officials simply say that they are spreading awareness When asked about the lag in capacity building they outright refuse to acknowledge the truth The Menstrual Hygiene Scheme under the National Health Mission aims at improving menstrual hygiene by providing free or affordable sanitary pads these provisions are absent in the LRK region Awareness programmes and safe pad disposal initiatives are conducted questions remain about the state’s commitment to these programmes The scheme aims at reducing unhealthy practices improving health and eliminating menstruation stigma yet environmentalist Mudita Vidrohi highlights concerns over its execution ‘A multi-dimensional approach is essential It should include information and education to address gender equality standards and the stigma surrounding menstruation,‘ she says ‘There must be an adequate number of safe and private toilets easily accessible water facility for hygiene purposes culturally appropriate menstrual products and materials [such as cloth socially and environmentally suitable methods for the disposal of used sanitary materials private washing/drying facilities for clothes practical information on maintaining hygiene during menstruation and supportive healthcare services,’ Harinesh Pandya of Agariya Heet Rakshak Manch tells 101Reporters Ahmedabad-based writer Preeti Jain Agyat stresses the importance of linking anganwadi centres and midday meal workers to a system of providing sanitary napkins for women and girls. Ahmedabad-based writer Preeti Jain Agyat stresses the importance of linking anganwadi centres and midday meal workers to a system of providing sanitary napkins for women and girls ‘Regular supply of sanitary pads is essential Corporate Social Responsibility can play a crucial role in eliminating these issues in Kutch Activating panchayats and involving non-governmental organisations in this campaign could also make a significant impact‘ says Jog a social activist based at Patdi in Surendranagar district water was supplied through pipes over a limited distance of five to eight km in LRK There is a need to revive and expand this pipeline the daily water supply needs to be ensured and the amount of water per household should be increased.’ Asked if it is possible to effectively address the issues of water supply and women’s health in Kutch If the vibrant Rann Utsav flourishes in the desert What is required is the resolve of our leaders and bureaucracy.’ (Amarendra Kishore is a freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.) 101Reporters is a pan-India network of grassroots reporters that brings out unheard stories from the hinterland Feminism in India is an intersectional feminist media platform that has emerged as one of the biggest voices for young people from diverse sociopolitical backgrounds to write their lived experiences thought-provoking and informative feminist platform requires a lot of time A few hundred rupees or a few thousand would go a long way in helping us stay paywall free and keep serving you the fresh feminist content that you love By Priya Verma By Anushka Bharadwaj By Devrupa Rakshit By Dipavali Hazra By Lakshmi Yazhini By Shirisha Amme By Reeba Khan By 101Reporters Feminism In India is an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media organisation to learn educate and develop a feminist sensibility among the youth © FII Media Private Limited | All rights reserved Metrics details Microplastics (MP) were recognized as an emergent pollution problem due to their ubiquitous nature and bioaccumulative potential Those present in salt for consumption could represent a human exposure route through dietary uptake reports microplastics contamination in coarse salt prepared for human consumption Sea salt samples were collected from eight representative salt pans located in the country's largest salt farming area Microplastics were detected in all samples with mean concentrations ranging from 78 ± 9.33 to 137 ± 21.70 particles kg−1 mostly white and ranging in size from 500–1000 µm The prevalent types were: fragments (48%) > films (22%) > fibers (15%) > granules and lines (both 9%) Fourier transform mid-IR and near-IR spectra (FT-MIR-NIR) analysis registered terephthalate (48%) These results contribute to the MP's pollution knowledge in sea salts to understand and reduce this significant human exposure route and environmental pollution source in the future the significant percentage of the world's ocean plastics pollution is from Asia with China contributing 28% of the mismanaged plastic waste About 25% of the raw salt is transformed as waste during processing while the remaining 75% is crushed and packed as iodide salt and distributed throughout the country there has been a lack of data on the presence of MP in table salt from Bangladesh Therefore the present study seeks to analyze for the first time the abundance and polymer composition of MP pollution in commercial salts obtained from salt pans along the Bangladesh coast It is expected that this study will form a baseline for MP salt pollution for the country also enhancing knowledge about this emergent pollutant issue The geographic location of the sampling points along the Maheshkhali Channel coast This map was constructed using ArcGIS 10.7 A total of eight representative salt pans (large in terms of relative size or hosting the greatest numbers of salt pans in a particular location) were selected to collect the samples for this study. Unrefined sea salt for consumption samples were collected from the selected natural salt pans along the southeast coast of MC (S1-S8) (Fig. 1) Sampling was performed between August (2020) and September (2021) (the post-monsoon period) Approximately 500 g of salts were collected using a metal spoon at each site placed in a clean labeled 1 L glass bottle Procedural steps for microplastics analysis in sea salts samples This diagram was constructed using PowerPoint 2016 All liquids were filtered using 0.45 μm pore size filter paper before use to avoid MP contamination all the glass material was rinsed three times with purified water The samples were kept covered when they were not under analysis Lab staff used cotton lab coats and nitrile gloves to avoid any source of extraneous plastic contamination Three blank samples without salt were analyzed simultaneously to correct for any possible MP contamination from sample processing The filters were visually inspected using an Olympus SZX16 stereomicroscope Visual assessment was performed in order to identify the shape and color of MP particles were randomly selected from each site (approximately 30%) for Fourier Transform Mid- and Near-Infra Red (FT-MIR-NIR) polymer analysis using a Perkin Elmer FT-MIR-NIR system MP abundance was calculated based on visual observation and FT-MIR-NIR plastic polymer confirmation the spectrum range was set to 4000–675 cm−1 with a 3 s and 8 cm−1 resolution collection for all samples All the spectra were then compared with the spectra library to identify the polymer type Results were presented as boxplot and p-values Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 it could be applied to different types of environments the conclusions from it are limited and should be considered with caution Photographs of different MP shapes found in salt samples: (a) red fragment; (b) blue fragment; (c) pellet; (d) line. Box plot of MP abundance (particles kg−1) for the sampling sites S1 to S8 including seawater and atmospheric MP samples should be considered to confirm these assumptions These studies detected the presence of MP of smaller size than those registered here supporting the observation of the higher values It could be expected that the fragmentation of MP particles during salt processing for commercial salts could also be contributing to the increasing number of particles found in salt samples Microplastics abundance (particles kg−1) by shape category registered at the sampling sites S1 to S8 Microplastics abundance (particles kg−1) by color in sea salt samples from stations S1 to S8. Microplastics abundance (particles kg−1) by size range in sea salt samples from stations S1 to S8 Microplastics abundances (particles kg−1) by polymer composition in sea salt samples from stations S1 to S8 Polymeric risk indices for MP types in salts from stations S1 to S8 Microplastics in salt have become a critical issue of environmental pollution and public health The present study has provided the first report on MP contamination in coarse salt samples from Bangladesh A total of eight salt pans along the Maheshkhali Channel of the Bay of Bengal were selected for this study all samples showing the presence of MP concentrations in the range from 78 ± 9.33 to 137 ± 21.70 particles kg−1 Most MPs were white and in the size range 500–1000 µm The predominant shapes were fragments and films (70%) and near-IR spectrum (FT-MIR-NIR) analysis registered the presence of polyethylene terephthalate (48%) The plastic cover used for salt desiccation urbanization including household effluents were the primary potential plastic pollution sources The results contribute to a better knowledge of MP presence in sea salts in Bangladesh and may help to prompt actions to reduce human exposure to MP in the future Isobe, A., Iwasaki, S., Uchida, K. & Tokai, T. Abundance of non-conservative microplastics in the upper ocean from 1957 to 2066. Nat. Commun. 10, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08316-9 (2019) Pathways for degradation of plastic polymers floating in the marine environment Micro- and nanoplastic pollution of freshwater and wastewater treatment systems Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean Cole, M. et al. Isolation of microplastics in biota-rich seawater samples and marine organisms. Sci. Rep. 4, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04528 (2014) Microplastic abundances in the sediment of coastal beaches in Badung Microplastics in Fresh Water Resources (Global Water Research Coalition Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Bohai Sea Land Use Zoning for Integrated Coastal Zone Management Remote Sensing Non-target screening of organic contaminants in marine salts by gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution time of flight mass spectrometry The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries Global pattern of microplastics (MPs) in commercial food-grade salts: Sea salt as an indicator of seawater MP pollution Dynamics of coastal circulation and sediment transport in the coastal ocean off the Ganges-Brahmaputra river mouth (Doctoral dissertation Aktar, M., Azam, M. A. K. & Siddique, M. A. M. Trace metal concentrations in the green-lipped mussel perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758) collected from Maheshkhali channel, Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh. J. Fish. https://doi.org/10.3153/jfscom.2014005 (2014) Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution driven by the COVID-19 pandemic in Cox’s Bazar Nature of the tide induced flow field along the East Coast of India Application of index models for assessing freshwater microplastics pollution Microplastic pollution in table salts from China Contamination of Indian sea salts with microplastics and a potential prevention strategy Enyoh, C. E., Verla, A. W., Verla, E. N., Ibe, F. C. & Amaobi, C. E. Airborne microplastics: A review study on method for analysis, occurrence, movement and risks. Environ. Monit. Assess. 191, 668. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7842-0 (2019) Enyoh, C. E. et al. Microplastics exposure routes and toxicity studies to ecosystems: An overview. EAHT 35(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5620/eaht.e2020004 (2020) Rahman, S. M. A., Robin, G. S., Momotaj, M., Uddin, J. & Siddique, M. A. M. Occurrence and spatial distribution of microplastics in beach sediments of Cox’s Bazar. Bangladesh. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 160, 111587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111587 (2020) Abundance and characteristics of microplastics in sediments from the world’s longest natural beach Litter & microplastics features in table salts from marine origin: Italian versus Croatian brands Contamination of table salts from Turkey with microplastics Microplastic pollution: From continental sources to marine systems Contributor Copy Brahney, J., Hallerud, M., Heim, E., Hahnenberger, M. & Sukumaran, S. Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States. Science 368, 1257–1260. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz5819 (2020) Evangeliou, N. et al. Atmospheric transport is a major pathway of microplastics to remote regions. Nat. Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17201-9 (2020) Quantifying temporal trends in anthropogenic litter in a rocky intertidal habitat Yee, M. S. L. et al. Impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on human health. Nanomaterials 11, 496. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11020496 (2021) Detection of microplastics in human colectomy specimens Microplastic serves as a potential vector for Cr in an in-vitro human digestive model Influence of the digestive process on intestinal toxicity of polystyrene microplastics as determined by in vitro Caco-2 models Environmental exposure to microplastics: An overview on possible human health effects Download references The authors gratefully acknowledge the Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute for providing the laboratory facilities for this study; also to Taif University Researchers Supporting Project number (TURSP-2020/163) Department of Fisheries and Marine Science Noakhali Science and Technology University Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO-CONICET-UNS) Centre for Applied Physics and Radiation Technologies Environment and Climate Change (GRACE & CC) The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02457-y Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (2025) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (2025) Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Save my name and email in this browser for future comments Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Monday approved the acquisition of 255.9 acres of ecologically fragile salt-pan land from the Centre on lease to house people who were ineligible to get homes under the Adani Group-led Dharavi Redevelopment Project 2024: Saltpan land at mulund ,in mumbai,in Mumbai ( Praful ÊGangurde /HT Photo ) The Centre had approved the transfer on September 2 after the Maharashtra government requested it to allocate three salt-pan land parcels in Kanjurmarg Bhandup and Mulund on lease for the redevelopment project The move was opposed by Dharavi residents who are insisting on an in-situ rehabilitation along with environmental activists who termed it “an ecologically disastrous decision” which are low-lying tracts of land parcels act as a sponge to absorb rain and prevent excessive flooding in Mumbai The state government plans to use the acquired salt-pan land to develop rental and affordable housing for residents who were ineligible to get redeveloped homes in Dharavi Residents whose tenements were constructed before January 1 and those living on the ground floor were eligible for homes within Dharavi while others will be accommodated in rental housing projects in other areas of the city Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL) a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by the state government and the Adani Group will be responsible for implementing the rehabilitation of ineligible residents on the acquired salt-pan land DRPPL will pay the lease amount for the salt-pan land parcels compensate the lessees against the scrapping of the lease agreement if it so happens and meet the cost of rehabilitating salt-pan workers from the land said a senior official from the state housing department On September 18, Valsa Nair Singh, the additional chief secretary of the state housing department, wrote to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry requesting it “to take necessary steps to facilitate [the] early transfer of 255.9 acres of salt pan land” for utilisation in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project “The letter was written following the directives of chief minister Eknath Shinde,” said an official working for the state government Environmental activists slammed the decision warning that it could lead to a deluge similar to the one on July 26 when a cloudburst led to 944mm of rainfall in 24 hours “The very areas that protect Mumbai from drowning will be carpeted with cement-concrete,” said environmentalist Rishi Aggarwal “All of us are aware what happened to Mumbai during the 2005 deluge after the area between Bandra and Kurla were reclaimed to make it into a central business district A repeat of this will be inevitable going ahead as Mumbai will become less climate resistant and more flood-prone.” Also Read: Dharavi redevelopment project: Construction work may start in 6-8 months, says CEO The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) also opposed the decision and criticised the state government “This proves that what Devendra Fadnavis said about the government’s ability to take back the Dharavi redevelopment project from Adani Reality was a farce,” said Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe “The state and the central government all are working for Gautam Adani We strongly oppose the decision and will not allow Mumbai Maharashtra and the country to be handed over to the rich.” We want the people of Dharavi to be rehabilitated in Dharavi itself The government should also clarify how much land they are willing to give for the project.” The third party in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi the Shiv Sena (UBT) did not comment on the decision the undivided Shiv Sena and BJP government had approved a proposal to earmark 321 acres of salt-pan land in Mumbai to be used for affordable housing This was part of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations 2034 (DCPR 2034) Also Read: Mumbai real estate market: 5 things you need to know about Dharavi redevelopment project Maharashtra has nearly 13,000 acres of salt-pan land out of which 1,781 acres can be developed as per the DCPR 2034 offices and residential buildings exist on 88.365 acres of salt-pan land 44.563 acres are under dispute and 5.822 acres are encroached There are smaller land parcels in the city that are under dispute and encroachment July 5, 2020JPEG blue-hued ponds have lower salt levels than red or orange ponds the Great Salt Lake has since experienced significant reductions in water levels View this area in EO Explorer mineral-rich salt flats are nestled between the Promontory Mountains and the Great Salt Lake The lake and surrounding landscape are characterized by many flavors and mixtures of salt Great Salt Lake serves as a striking visual marker for astronauts orbiting over North America A sharp line across its center is caused by the restriction in water flow from the railroad causeway The eye-catching colors of the lake stem from the fact that Great Salt Lake is hypersaline typically 3–5 times saltier than the ocean and the high salinities support sets of plants and animals that affect the light-absorbing qualities of the water Space Station astronauts have recorded the decline in lake levels in response to a regional 5-year drought taking both detailed views and broad views of the entire lake As lake levels have declined the salt works have become islands in the middle of a dry lakebed one of America’s largest lakes reached its lowest level on record This detailed astronaut photograph shows the salt ponds of one of Africa’s major producers of soda ash (sodium carbonate) and salt The image shows a small part of the great salt flats of central Botswana known as the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans Feb 7- Goa govt will undertake 6 month survey of all salt pans in the state through Goa State Biodiversity Board by taking experts in the field on board He said the govt aims to notify all salt pans in the state to ensure that conservation and also explore the possibility of industrial use of the salt as its consumption for food has been significantly reduced over the years He also assured of a scheme to support salt farmers CM was responding to the issue after it was raised by Revolutionary Goans Party MLA Viresh Borkar When CM informed that as per list prepared by the govt from hundreds of salt panes once functioning in Goa Viresh pointed out that several salt panes in his constituency were not listed In order to further industrial and maritime infrastructure projects and Waterways (MoPSW) proposed to purchase 5,195.894 acres of salt pan lands in Maharashtra These salt pan lands are located in the Mumbai suburbs of Ghatkopar and Waterways proposed to purchase 5,195.894 acres of salt pan lands in Maharashtra It is a component of the Union ministry’s larger strategy to redevelop vast areas of land for important port and industrial projects like the planned Vadhvan Port in Palghar district The Ministry asked the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to transfer these lands in a letter dated September 20 The ministry then provided updates on October 1 and October 14 The Palghar area is strategically significant which is set to increase India’s capability for maritime trade As many as 256 acres of salt pan land in Mumbai are all set to be transferred to the Maharashtra government for the benefit of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project The Union government will lease the land for 99 years to the Maharashtra government which will sublease it to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL) a joint venture between the Maharashtra government and the Adani Realty environmentalists are unhappy and the Opposition in the state is crying foul over the transfer of salt pan lands for the Dharavi project Salt pans are naturally occurring flat and vast expanses of land covered with salt and other minerals They usually occur in dry or desert areas in coastal regions where brackish water evaporates faster from land compared to the rainfall that fills those up If all the water cannot drain into the ground Some of the famous salt pans of India include Gujarat’s Dandi where MK Gandhi led his foot march in 1930 in protest against the salt tax imposed by the British Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch is also known for its salt pans that turn into salt marshes in monsoon The salt pans being transferred for Dharavi project and Mulund in the eastern parts of the city are owned by the Salt Commissioner Organisation a body under the central commerce and industries ministry The state government had earlier sought approval for 283 acres though the Centre has okayed the transfer of 256 acres The salt-pan plots to be handed over reportedly include the Arthur Salt Works Land (120.5 acres) Jenkins Salt Works Land (77 acres) at Kanjurmarg Jamasp Salt Works Land (58.5 acres) at Mulund and Suleman Shah Land (28 acres) at Wadala The state government had identified these as defunct where the lease has long expired What do salt pans have to do with Dharavi project The salt pans are the only surviving open spaces in Mumbai The state government will reportedly build transit camps for slumdwellers on the salt pan lands when the Dharavi Redevelopment Project takes off Those who are not eligible for free tenements will reportedly be offered rental accommodation on these lands The state had initially planned to allocate two plots in Mulund for the resettlement of slumdwellers But the plan had to be axed after locals protested These salt pans are Mumbai’s natural protection from floods These act as pools of rainwater in the monsoon and dry up and turn into salt pans in the dry seasons An environmentalist had told Hindustan Times in February when the state had decided on the proposal that many of the eastern suburbs of Mumbai were protected during the 2005 floods as the floodwater had been soaked up by the salt pans Another environmentalist had told the newspaper that it would be misleading to think of salt pans as empty spaces that can be used for housing He had pointed out that these come under the provisions of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and wetland rules the Opposition has claimed that the Modi government can do anything for the benefit of the Adani Group Four-time former Dharavi MLA and currently Mumbai North Central MP Varsha Gaikwad took to X to slam the government for gifting “Mumbai’s future…to the government’s favourite corporate group” “Facing resistance from ordinary residents on selling off Mumbai’s green spaces and public lands they’re now targeting our precious salt pans—Mumbai’s natural flood shields Any blanket permission to develop these lands is not just reckless—it’s criminal greed-fueled land grab which could spell disaster for the city,” wrote Gaikwad Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that the Centre had steadfastly denied salt pan space to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for 10 years “for a pumping station that would help reduce flooding in the eastern suburbs” of the city “Salt pan land area that was a complete NDZ [no development zone] for builders is being given to its favourite builder/ industrialist A city that bjp [sic] hates,” he posted on X the Opposition is also upset over certain slumdwellers being dubbed as “ineligible” and we’ll say it again - We reject this outrageous classification Dharavikars have built Dharavi brick by brick with their blood and sweat Every single one of them has the right to be rehabilitated within Dharavi—NO exceptions “If societies of ‘ineligible’ residents from Dharavi are coming up in Mulund NO resident of Dharavi should be made in ineligible Coordinates: -23.026816314419552, 14.464431525720594 Why it's incredible: The salt pans look like a colorful patchwork quilt from above Walvis Bay is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Namibia that is home to an enormous sea salt production plant The plant has been operating for more than 60 years thanks to the region's arid climate and coastal winds which are ideal for evaporating seawater containing the salt The saltworks are located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) southwest of Walvis Bay city center. The plant covers an area of 12,350 acres (5,000 hectares), according to Walvis Bay Salt Holdings making it roughly half as big as Disney World in Florida Salt production at Walvis Bay relies on Atlantic seawater that is pumped at a rate of 8,500 cubic feet (240 cubic meters) per minute into artificial ponds, according to the guided tour operator Desert, Dunes and Dust Tours The plant is fed by the Benguela Current — a cold northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern limb of the South Atlantic subtropical gyre Evaporation via a combination of the sun's warmth and wind increases the salt content in the ponds from about 2.9% to 3.5% These creatures and microorganisms can turn the ponds so colorful the plant looks like a tile mosaic from above Related: Before and after satellite images show lakes appearing across Sahara after deluge of rain soaks desert Pumps transfer the brine resulting from this initial evaporation stage to concentration ponds Another set of pumps then siphons this water into crystallization ponds that each span about 50 acres (20 hectares) in size each pond contains a 4- to 6-inch-thick (10 to 15 centimeters) salt crust which mechanical harvesters remove and dump into huge bins A conveyor belt then takes these bins to a facility where the salt crystals are washed with a mixture of seawater and gypsum that dissolves impurities such as magnesium and potassium Around 240 tons (220 metric tons) of salt are washed and dried every hour at Walvis Bay amounting to a total annual production of more than 1.1 million tons (1 million metric tons) of salt —Salar de Uyuni: The world's largest salt desert and lithium reservoir surrounded by volcanoes —Lake Kivu: The ticking time bomb that could one day explode and unleash a massive, deadly gas cloud —Eye of the Sahara: Mauritania's giant rock dome that towers over the desert The company exports chemical-grade salt used in industries like animal feed production water treatment and pharmaceuticals to Nigeria It also exports table salt for human consumption to several countries in Africa Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo Walvis Bay's saltworks are also a feeding ground for shrimp and larval fish, which in turn attracts birds. Together with the nearby Walvis Bay Lagoon and a bird sanctuary, the salt production plant provides coastal wetland habitat for birds like flamingos and pelicans, according to the website Birdingplaces Discover more incredible places, where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. Volume 14 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1230929 This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series-Extremophiles: Microbial Genomics and Taxogenomics, Volume IIView all 16 articles salt production from the local salt pans is an age-old practice These salt pans harbor a rich diversity of halophilic microbes with immense biotechnological applications as they tolerate extremely harsh conditions Detecting the existence of these microbes by a metabarcoding approach could be a primary step to harness their potential and Nerul adjoining prominent estuaries of Goa were selected based on their unique geographical locations The sediments of these salt pans were examined for their bacterial community and function by 16S rRNA amplicon-sequencing These salt pans were hypersaline (400–450 PSU) and alkaline (pH 7.6–8.25) with 0.036–0.081 mg/L nitrite The relative abundance revealed that the Pseudomonadota was dominant in salt pans of Nerul (13.9%) and Agarwado salt pan sediments were Rhodopirellula (1.12%) The highest alpha diversity (Shannon-diversity Index) was observed in the Nerul salt pan (4.8) followed by Curca (4.3) and Agarwado (2.03) Beta diversity indicated the highest dissimilarity between Agarwado and the other two salt pans (0.73) viz Nerul and Curca and the lowest dissimilarity was observed between Nerul and Curca salt pans (0.48) and in Curca 28 distinct genera were noted The presence of these exclusive microorganisms in a specific salt pan and its absence in the others indicate that the adjacent estuaries play a critical role in determining salt pan bacterial diversity the functional prediction of bacterial communities indicated the predominance of stress adaptation genes involved in osmotic balance This is the first study to report the bacterial community structure and its functional genes in these three salt pans using Next-Generation Sequencing The data generated could be used as a reference by other researchers across the world for bioprospecting these organisms for novel compounds having biotechnological and biomedical potential and Nerul salt pans and its comparative analysis has not been elucidated previously by next-generation sequencing the present study is the first report accomplished to understand the diversity and abundance with a comparative analysis of the bacterial community in these salt pans Goan Salt pans in study (A) Location of Agarwado Aerial image of (B) Agarwado salt pan (C) Curca salt pan (D) Nerul salt pan [Source: Google earth pro 2023] (E) Image of crystallizer pond under solar evaporation at Agarwado salt pan Environmental DNA was extracted from 1 g of each sediment sample using DNeasy PowerSoil Kit (Qiagen) The DNA obtained was checked for its concentration and quality using NanoDrop The amplicon library was prepared using Nextera XT Index Kit (Illumina inc.) using bacterial specific forward primer 341F (GCCTACG GGNGGCWGCAG) and reverse primer 805R (ACTACHV GGGTATCTAATCC) for V3-V4 hypervariable region of 16S rRNA gene followed by adding Illumina adapters required for cluster generation Amplicon libraries were purified by AMPureXP beads and quantified using a Qubit Fluorometer Libraries were then loaded on MiSeq at 10–20 pM concentration for cluster generation and sequencing The libraries were sequenced at Eurofins Genomics India Pvt India on the Illumina MiSeq platform using 2×300 bp chemistry to obtain paired-end reads The relative abundance of functional protein profiles in the three salt pans was represented in a heatmap constructed using PRIMER7 The physical parameters of sediment samples collected from Agarwado (AC) and Nerul (NC) salt pans possessed temperatures of 35°C (in CC) and 36°C (AC and NC) Salinity observed was 450 PSU in AC and 400 PSU in CC and NC whereas the pH of the sediment samples was found to be 8.25 (AC) The environmental DNA extracted from sediment samples AC and NC were measured by Nanodrop for its concentration and was found to be 28.6 ng/μl A total of 95,299, 104,637, and 240,563 reads were obtained in sediment samples of the Agarwado (AC), Curca (CC), and Nerul (NC) salt pan, respectively. The rarefaction curve of all three samples reached a plateau at this sequencing depth (Figure 2) indicating the information contained in the three samples captured the majority of abundant phylotypes Sequencing depth for three salt pan samples namely Agarwado salt pan (AC) Relative abundance of bacterial communities at (A) phyla level and (B) genus level in sediment samples of Agarwado salt pan (AC) The effect of environmental parameters such as temperature, pH, salinity, nitrite, nitrate, sulfate, and sulfide were assessed on the bacterial genera using CCA. The CCA tripod explained 88.67% of the variation in bacterial genera by environmental parameters (Figure 4) The result revealed the positive correlation between genera Blastopirellula Pirellula and Bacillus with sulfide and sulfate Planococcus and Sphingobacterium found abundant in AC were positively correlated with nitrite Of all the environmental parameters sulfide and sulfate contributed significantly to bacterial genera in NC Canonical Correspondence Analysis ordination diagram of bacterial communities at generic-level at Agarwado salt pan (AC) India associated with environmental parameters The alpha diversity indices such as Simpson diversity index, Shannon diversity index (Shannon-Wiener index), Dominance, Menhinick’s richness index, and Pielou’s evenness (equitability) were calculated and depicted in Table 1. Similarly, the beta diversity and its pair-wise comparison presented in Table 2 were performed using the mathematical expression S/ā-1 where S is the total number of genera and ā is the average number of genera The beta diversity was found highest and equal between AC and NC and AC and CC The lowest beta diversity was observed between CC and NC (0.48) Venn diagram showing common and unique bacterial taxa at (A) phyla and (B) genus level between Agarwado salt pan (AC) Rare bacterial genera (≤ 0.2% relative abundance) found common in all three sediment samples of Agarwado salt pan (AC) Heatmap showing the abundant functional genes predicted by using PICRUST2 algorithm in the sediment samples of Agarwado salt pan (AC) Traditional salt-making is one of the major and unique occupations of Goa due to its lengthy coastline of 107 Km and Nerul salt pans were selected based on their unique geographical locations The Agarwado salt pan is in Pernem taluka adjoining the pristine Chapora estuary in the extreme north of Goa The Nerul and Curca salt pans are connected to the two major lifeline estuaries of Goa Mandovi in Bardez taluka and Zuari in Tiswadi taluka Seawater from the estuary gushes into the salt pans through a sluice gate during high tide and is evaporated to produce salt these three distinct salterns have been conventionally used to produce local salt by traditional methods in Goa The temperature of 35°C - 36°C noted from these salt pans during the salt harvesting period favors the evaporation process in the crystallizer pond to achieve the salinity required for salt production The salinity of these salt pans was found to be in the range of 400–450 PSU and pH 7.6–8.25 indicating a halophilic and alkaline nature The diversity of any ecosystem depends on two components “richness and evenness” (Soininen et al., 2012) an equal richness value was observed for NC and CC and was higher in comparison to AC evident for higher community richness in Nerul and Curca salt pans the Pielou’s evenness index for NC and CC was found to be higher as compared to AC which indicates the distribution of an equal number of taxa in both salt pan (NC and CC) ecosystems than in the Agarwado salt pan demonstrating the presence of a more dominant taxon in the Agarwado salt pan community Lower evenness and higher dominance observed in AC indicate lower alpha diversity in Nerul and Curca salt pans high evenness and lower dominance indicate high alpha diversity A similar observation was shown by the Shannon diversity index which considers both the richness and evenness of a community The alpha diversity measured by the Shannon index was NC > CC > AC which illustrates that the movement of nutrients necessary to support the persistent life in these man-made salt pan ecosystems are governed by the presence of its indigenous microbes profound knowledge and discovery of halophilic bacteria in such an ecosystem will help us to disclose numerous properties and proteins of halophiles that could be substantially important to different biotechnological industries are dynamic habitats of the resident bacteria potentially capable of tolerating extremely stressful environmental factors high alkalinity (pH 7.6–8.25) and fluctuating temperatures (20°C – 45°C) This is the first study profiling the bacterial communities in the Agarwado The data reveals that the highest bacterial genera prevail in the Nerul salt pan sediment (250) as compared to Agarwado (201) and Curca (143) followed by Nerul (119) and Curca (28) which were exclusively unique to these salt pans These hypersaline natives are resistant to osmotic stress demonstrated by the presence of genes in the predicted functional gene profile that allows them to actively participate in the carbon and sulfur cycles in these hypersaline environments A wide microbial community and its function remains unknown as “unculturable” as it is impractically impossible to mimic these diverse physical and mechanical factors which contribute to simulating the salt pan ecosystem in a laboratory The high throughput sequencing has made it possible to provide an insight of the bacterial community and most of its functions in the salt pans a deep understanding of their functional mechanisms in this habitat will help us to assess the existence of these unique bacterial communities and the adaptive cellular machinery/ biomolecules involved in making this hypersaline environment a conducive environment to thrive in The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/Supplementary material All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research This work was supported by a Junior Research Fellowship for a Ph.D scholar (award letter number: 19/06/2016(i) EU-V) funded by University Grant Commission (UGC) The authors are thankful to the School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology (Discipline of Biotechnology) and Goa Business School (Discipline of Computer Science and Technology) Goa University for the necessary facilities India for the technical assistance provided The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1230929/full#supplementary-material Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water Google Scholar Isolation and characterization of moderately halophilic Bacteria from Tunisian solar Saltern and nitrogen cycling in the sediments of the Barents Sea scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2 DADA2: high-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data Standard methods for examination of water and wastewater Google Scholar Spectrophotometric determination of hydrogen sulfide in natural waters1 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar da Conceição Marinho Assessment of Rhodopirellula rubra as a supplementary and nutritional food source to the microcrustacean Daphnia magna Effects of iron nanoparticles on iron-corroding bacteria 7 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PICRUSt2 for prediction of metagenome functions Salinity influence on soil microbial respiration rate of wetland in the Yangtze River estuary through changing microbial community Probiotic role of salt Pan Bacteria in enhancing the growth of Whiteleg shrimp García-López Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology (Elsevier) CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Mining havoc: Impact of mining on water resources in Goa - article from dams Google Scholar Spatio-temporal variation of the bacterial communities along a salinity gradient within a Thalassohaline environment (saline di Tarquinia Salterns Past: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis Google Scholar Structure of the rare archaeal biosphere and seasonal dynamics of active ecotypes in surface coastal waters 16S rRNA gene sequencing for bacterial identification in the diagnostic laboratory: pluses Stimulation of sulfate-reducing activity at salt-saturation in the salterns of Ribandar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar a sulfur-oxidizing bacterium isolated from a brackish lake sediment Seasonal patterns of dominant microbes involved in central nutrient cycles in the subsurface The Fe(II)-oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria: historical Anaerobic metabolism: linkages to trace gases and aerobic processes Google Scholar Culture-independent exploration of the hypersaline ecosystem indicates the environment-specific microbiome evolution Ecological role of Bacteria involved in the biogeochemical cycles of mangroves based on functional genes detected through GeoChip 5.0 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Environmental characteristics of the Mandovi-Zuari estuarine system in Goa CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The SILVA ribosomal RNA gene database project: improved data processing and web-based tools Ramos-Cormenzana The Biology of Halophilic Bacteria Edition (CRC Press) CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Physiological and Biotechnological Aspects of Extremophiles Google Scholar Structure of the 4-hydroxy-tetrahydrodipicolinate synthase from the thermoacidophilic methanotroph Methylacidiphilum fumariolicum SolV and the phylogeny of the aminotransferase pathway Depth profile of nitrifying archaeal and bacterial communities in the remote oligotrophic waters of the North Pacific Bacterial osmoadaptation: the role of osmolytes in bacterial stress and virulence The relationship between species richness and evenness: a meta-analysis of studies across aquatic ecosystems Salinity gradient controls microbial community structure and assembly in coastal solar Salterns Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria Google Scholar mediate sulfur-oxidation coupled to Sb(V) reduction Pharmaceutical potentials of bacteria from saltpans of Goa Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Update on glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferases: the roles in the development of insulin resistance Bacterial diversity in Bohai Bay solar Saltworks Citation: Gawas P and Kerkar S (2023) Bacterial diversity and community structure of salt pans from Goa Received: 29 May 2023; Accepted: 17 November 2023; Published: 04 December 2023 Copyright © 2023 Gawas and Kerkar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Savita Kerkar, ZHJzYXZpdGFrZXJrYXJAZ21haWwuY29t Salt flats around the world — such as these in Badwater Basin in Death Valley Rudy Sulgan/The Image Bank/Getty Images Plus By Matthew R. Francis similarly sized polygons of salt form in playas all over the world — and subterranean fluid flows might be the key to solving the long-standing puzzle of why Geometric shapes such as pentagons and hexagons spontaneously form in a wide range of geologic settings but these patterns tend to vary dramatically in size computer simulations and experiments performed at Owens Lake in California the team connected what they saw on the surface with what is going on beneath We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday By subscribing, you agree to our Terms & Privacy Policy. You must be 13 or older to sign up For full digital access, consider a $2.99 per month subscription “Fluid flows and convection underground are uniquely able to explain why the patterns form,” says Lasser of the Graz University of Technology in Austria This 3-D approach was key to explaining the universality of salty polygons Salt flats form in places where rainfall is scarce and there’s a lot of evaporation (SN: 12/5/07) Groundwater seeping up to the surface evaporates leaving a crust of salts and other minerals that had been dissolved in the water this process results in low ridges of concentrated salt that divide the playa into polygons: mostly hexagons with a smattering of pentagons and other geometric shapes The type of salt varies from one playa to another And the salt crusts themselves range in thickness from a few millimeters to several meters That variation seems to be why previous attempts to describe the playas’ patterns failed Whether the crusts are meter- or millimeter-thick salt pans feature polygons that are 1 to 2 meters across expansion and other phenomena that describe how mud and rock fracture instead produce polygons with sizes that vary according to crust thickness As groundwater evaporates from the surface it concentrates salt in the remaining groundwater Lasser and colleagues showed that over time tends to push the descending plumes of saltier water into a network of vertical sheets The surface above these sheets accrues more salt spontaneously making the characteristic polygons shared by playas around the world The equations the researchers used describe the relative salinity of the groundwater the pressure within the fluid and the speed at which the water circulates Computer simulations that embraced the full complexity of the 3-D problem started with no salt crust or polygons and produced something that looks very much like real playas “This fluid dynamical model makes much more sense than a model that ignores what’s happening beneath the surface,” says physicist Julyan Cartwright of the Spanish National Research Council who is based in Granada and was not involved in the research Tests at Owens Lake helped the team verify and refine the model “Physics is so much more than just sitting in front of a computer,” Lasser says “and I wanted to do something that involves experiments.” The lake dried up in the 1920s as water was diverted to Los Angeles. The deposited minerals on the remaining salt flat include large natural concentrations of arsenic, which blows away with the dust kicked up by wind — creating serious health hazards. Among other remediation efforts brine has been pumped onto the lake bed to try to create a more stable salt crust (SN: 11/28/01) That human intervention gave the researchers the opportunity to test their ideas in a controlled way “The whole area is destroyed,” Lasser says “but for us it was the perfect research environment.” Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ J. Lasser et al. Salt polygons and porous media convection the Chinese rover Zhurong found intriguing polygon-like structures buried dozens of meters below its landing site in Utopia Planitia The forms are reminiscent of similar polygonal patterns on Earth that are carved by ice Viewing sea urchin skeleton “tubercles” (one shown) using a scanning electron microscope shows that they follow a common geometric pattern it leaves behind dust with a higher oxidative potential This material forms irregular patterns in which the molecules inside one triangle are rotated 60 degrees with respect to those in neighboring triangles. That results in nonrepeating triangular patterns Ne’Kiya Jackson (left) and Calcea Johnson (right) recently published 10 new trigonometry-based proofs of the Pythagorean theorem that they developed while in high school This maze of spirals and spikes is a path that touches every vertex in an Ammann-Beenker tiling without crossing itself Researchers have found a bacterial protein that links up to form a type of fractal called a Sierpiński triangle (illustrated) It’s the first known case of a naturally occurring regular fractal on the molecular level The primes contain infinitely many arithmetic progressions a simulated material based on the hat tile shows electrons becoming trapped as the magnetic field is increased (Warmer colors indicate a higher probability to find an electron with zero energy in a given location.) Electrons get trapped around the tiles that are mirror-images of the hat apples and other types of fruit can come tumbling down once about 10 percent of the produce is removed shock waves along filaments emit radio light (pink) as they ripple through magnetic fields (cyan) Scientists have now spotted the radio glow Science News was founded in 1921 as an independent nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of science our mission remains the same: to empower people to evaluate the news and the world around them It is published by the Society for Science a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education (EIN 53-0196483) enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions August 22, 2021JPEG February 19, 2022JPEG Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat (or playa) in the world. For much of the year, it stretches out in a seemingly endless expanse of white with a salt crust covering 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 square miles) water can fill part of the salt flat and give it a stunning that watery mirror grew larger and lingered longer than it has in several years “The extent of the filling of Salar de Uyuni this year is above normal. The rainy season started earlier than previous years, and rainfall was well above average over the southern Altiplano,” said hydrologist Jorge Molina Carpio of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. “This was probably related to the onset of a significant La Niña event Strong La Niñas during the rainy season are related to positive rainfall anomalies in the southern Altiplano.” The false-color images above were acquired by NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 22, 2021, and NASA’s Terra satellite on February 19, 2022. Each satellite used its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) The images were composed from a combination of visible light and shortwave infrared (MODIS bands 7-2-1) to better distinguish standing water (blue and dark blue) from clouds (white) and the salt flats (shades of teal) January 31, 2022JPEG The natural-color images above were acquired on January 31, 2022, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 Note the discoloration of the water and the salt flat which could be due to a combination of runoff and microbes or algae thriving in the water precipitation is largely concentrated in austral summer when transient periods of intense convection are fueled by moisture from the Bolivian lowlands and Amazon basin The rest of the year is bone dry,” said René Garreaud a climate scientist at the University of Chile which vary from season to season and with La Niña and El Niño events control when and how much moist air rides up onto the plateau “The stronger and more persistent the easterly wind the more precipitation you get over the Altiplano.” Garreaud noted that there was a strong easterly flow over the central Andes in December 2021 and early January 2022, leading to abundant rain in the Uyuni-Potosi region. “This area is a closed basin, so all of the precipitation—as rain at the valley floor and snow over the surrounding peaks—contributes to the filling of the Uyuni and Coipasa dry lakes,” he added Salar de Uyuni is rich in minerals—especially lithium (used in batteries) and ulexite and gypsum (for fertilizer and plaster)—some of which have been harvested here since at least the 1600s The stunningly flat landscape draws many tourists who come to see the salty crust in the dry season and the mirror lakes in the wet season The salt flat is also popular with remote sensing scientists who use the landscape to calibrate satellite imagers and altimeters NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA Earth Observatory image by NAME, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Michael Carlowicz View this area in EO Explorer Abundant rains filled the Salar de Uyuni salt flats with water in early 2022 The west-central state of Gujarat accounts for nearly three-quarters of India’s annual salt production The salt produced from tidal marshes in southern France is the product of ideal climate conditions and careful management Much of Utah is beautiful, but much of it is also ruddy or yellow. The state is home to ochre-hued canyons, knobby sandstone monuments, and a grove of bright, quaking aspens with canary-colored canopies and white trunks near the Promontory Mountains and the edge of the Great Salt Lake taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in July 2020 depicts some salt pans that abut the Great Salt Lake One portion looks like melted raspberry sherbet and something like the hue of military fatigues It looks as if a giant went to an appropriately gargantuan Home Depot for paint samples and has a chemical composition similar to that of typical ocean water (The lake’s salinity fluctuates as the water level rises and falls but swimmers can typically float like buoys on the surface.) The water is rich in sodium and chloride On the ground, these ponds and others like them can kick up murky questions about land use, sustainability, and access to natural resources. But they sure look lovely from above. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. The local salt-making industry is reeling from the impact of unseasonal rains that struck in March and April, leaving both local producers and migrant workers grappling with severe losses. This unexpected weather event has disrupted the delicate process of salt production, leading to a sharp decline in output and threatening the livelihoods of thousands who depend on this seasonal work. One of the hardest-hit groups is the migrant workers from Gokarna, Karnataka who travel to Goa annually to work in the salt pans of Batim. While salt pans in Sanikatta, Gokarna, offer pensions and post-retirement benefits, the wages and overall working conditions in Goa are preferred by many workers. “We prefer coming to Goa because the wages are higher, and the benefits are far better compared to our home region, even though we receive a pension in Gokarna. But in Goa, the salt pan owners take care of us in ways that make it worthwhile,” said Ganesh, a migrant worker from Gokarna. However, the unseasonal rains have significantly impacted the salt production process. Excess moisture has slowed evaporation and disrupted the crystallization of salt, leading to a substantial dip in production. As a result, many workers, like Ganesh, are facing financial uncertainty, with their expected earnings drastically reduced. “Agorkar samke losant” (the salt workers are in total loss), said one worker from Batim. In recent years, a new policy has been adopted in the salt-making industry, where whatever salt is produced is divided equally between the migrant workers and the tenants who now own the salt pans. This arrangement has replaced the fixed salary system that was previously in place. While this division has been generally favourable during years of good production, the unseasonal rains and reduced yield have meant that both the workers and the tenants are facing significant financial losses. “Earlier, it was a better deal. We would receive a guaranteed salary, and the essentials were provided to us. Now, with this new system, we share the salt produced. But this year, the production is down, and our earnings have suffered drastically,” said Rajesh, another migrant worker. Local businesses in Batim, which supply food, equipment and other necessities to the workers, are also seeing significant drops in sales. Transport services have been curtailed as fewer w(orkers remain in the area. (Dr Reyna Sequeira is the Associate Professor, Government College, Quepem) Porvorim: The Goa government will initiate a survey on traditional salt pans in the coastal state, which are on the verge of extinction. Responding to a question on the floor of the House on Friday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that farmers continuing salt production would be covered under central government schemes. He also stated that the salt produced by them would be procured for industrial use. Revolutionary Goans Party MLA Viresh Borkar raised the issue in the House during the ongoing winter session of the Assembly, demanding justice for salt farmers. He pointed out that the industries department, which had submitted a report on salt pans in the state, had missed some important villages where salt farming was traditionally practiced. Borkar highlighted that those involved in salt farming were not covered under central government schemes designed for the sector. Sawant informed the House that the state government is conducting a survey on salt pans in association with the Goa Biodiversity Board. Experts from Goa University have been onboarded to conduct the study. He further stated that the state government has partnered with an industry located at Verna Industrial Estate in South Goa, which will procure salt from local farmers. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. FiiRE Business Incubation Centre Don Bosco College of Engineering 403602, Fatorda, Margao, Goa 403602 Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.715678 Massive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has been the main strategy used to cope with the rising crop demands in the last decades The indiscriminate use of chemicals while providing a temporary solution to food demand has led to a decrease in crop productivity and an increase in the environmental impact of modern agriculture A sustainable alternative to the use of agrochemicals is the use of microorganisms naturally capable of enhancing plant growth and protecting crops from pests known as Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) Aim of the present study was to isolate and characterize PGPB from salt-pans sand samples with activities associated to plant fitness increase salt-tolerant microbes produce a broad range of compounds with heterogeneous biological activities that are potentially beneficial for plant growth A total of 20 halophilic spore-forming bacteria have been screened in vitro for phyto-beneficial traits and compared with other two members of Bacillus genus recently isolated from the rhizosphere of the same collection site and characterized as potential biocontrol agents Whole-genome analysis on seven selected strains confirmed the presence of numerous gene clusters with PGP and biocontrol functions and of novel secondary-metabolite biosynthetic genes which could exert beneficial impacts on plant growth and protection The predicted biocontrol potential was confirmed in dual culture assays against several phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria the presence of predicted gene clusters with known biocontrol functions in some of the isolates was not predictive of the in vitro results supporting the need of combining laboratory assays and genome mining in PGPB identification for future applications we present the results of the screening of 20 halophilic Bacilli isolated from salt-pan sand samples All the strains were characterized for PGP traits and five strains emerged for their high potentiality as biofertilizers and biocontrol agents Comparative genomic analysis of the five sand strains and the previously characterized rhizospheric strains RHFS10 and RHFS18 revealed the presence of known genes involved in plant growth promotion and protection this work suggests a strategy for the selection of potential PGP candidates belonging to Bacillus genus using combined in silico and in vitro approaches The temperature tolerance of isolates was tested incubating the cultures at 37 (control) The growth (+) or no growth (−) in comparison with the controls after 24–48h was recorded The phosphate solubilization activity was evaluated by spot inoculation of 3μl of the freshly grown bacterial culture (107 cells/ml) onto Pikovaskya’s agar medium (Pikovskaya, 1948). The plates were incubated at 28°C for 10days. The formation of transparent zones around the bacterial colonies indicates a positive result (Schoebitz et al., 2013) The siderophores production was determined by the Chrome Azurol S (CAS) assay as described by Pérez-Miranda et al. (2007) Three milliliter of freshly-grown bacterial cultures was spot-inoculated on CAS agar plates and incubated at 28°C The formation of a yellow-orange halo zone around the bacterial colony was a positive indicator of siderophore production and the halo zone diameters were measured after 4days of incubation To detect the ability to produce biofilm, bacterial isolates were grown in 24-well culture plates in TY broth for 48h without agitation at 37°C in according to O’Toole (2011) adhered cells were rinsed three times with distilled water and 1ml of a 0.1% crystal violet (CV) solution was added to stain the adhered biomass Plates were incubated for 30min at room temperature washed carefully three times with distillated water and patted dry Dye attached to the wells was extracted with 1ml of 70% ethanol and quantified at an absorbance of 570nm Data were normalized by total growth estimated by OD600 nm and the experiment was performed in triplicate Swarming motility was tested according to the method adopted by Adler (1966) TY agar 0.7% plates were spot inoculated with 3μl of the freshly grown bacterial culture (107 cells/ml) After an overnight incubation at 37°C Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) values between the sequenced genomes and the closest bacterial species identified from the 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis (see below) were obtained using the OrthoANI algorithm of EZBioCloud (Yoon et al., 2017) An ANI similarity of 95% was considered as a cut-off for species delineation The 16S rRNA genes were extracted from the sequenced genomes using Anvi’o v2.3.3 (Eren et al., 2021). and compared to 76 reference 16S rRNA genes from closely related strains identified using the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB)1 taxonomy and retrieved from the NCBI database. All sequences were aligned using Seaview 4.4.0 software (Corrado et al., 2021) and the phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Maximum-likelihood algorithm with model GTR+I+G4 Statistical support was evaluated by the approximate likelihood-ratio test (aLRT) and is shown at the corresponding nodes of the tree Clostridium difficile is used as an outgroup to root the tree Bacterial pathogens were streaked on TY plates and incubated at 25°C overnight Single colonies were suspended in TY broth and incubated at 25°C Approximately 1×10−6CFU/ml were mixed with melted 0.8% TY agar medium before pouring plates 5μl of bacterial isolates solution (OD600=1.0) was spot inoculated onto the plates and incubated at 28°C for 48h before measuring the diameters of inhibition halos All experiments were performed in triplicate List of the phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria used in this study Obtained genomes were analyzed by antiSMASH 5.0 (Blin et al., 2019) and BAGEL 4 (van Heel et al., 2018) to identify biosynthetic gene clusters (BCGs) of potential antimicrobial compounds such as non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) hybrid lipopeptides (NRPS-PKS) and bacteriocins Biosynthetic Gene Clusters that shared less than 70% amino acid identity against known clusters were regarded as novel the highest hydrolytic activity was observed for RHF12 comparable with that exerted by rhizosphere strains RHFS10 and RHFS18 Summary of plant growth-promoting and biocontrol traits exhibited by 20 spore-forming bacteria isolates Further analysis will be required to fill this classification gap Phylogenetic tree of the spore-forming bacteria isolated from salt-pans The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Maximum-likelihood algorithm with model GTR+I+G4 The gene sequences of the isolated bacteria were aligned to reference bacteria belonging to the Bacillaceae family according to Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) Node support represents the approximate likelihood-ratio test (aLRT) and is shown at the corresponding node of the tree Clostridium difficile is used as an outgroup Classification of the seven selected strains exhibited different adaptations to NaCl concentration and pH range subtilis RHF2 were able to grow at higher salt concentrations than their representative species suggesting an adaptive phenotypic variation to the high salinity condition of salt-pans Whole genome representations of the seven isolates showing the location of the identified PGP trait genes Plant-Growth-Promoting traits-associated proteins identified in the proteome of the selected strains and their abundance All the strains were predicted to be potentially able to fix nitrogen and produce nitric oxide, both useful features in agricultural practices (Ahmad et al., 2013), and to synthesize polyamines, as spermidine and putrescine, and the ACC deaminase, involved in lateral root development and plant growth enhancement under abiotic stress (Xie et al., 2014; Gupta and Pandey, 2019) The predicted production of osmotically active metabolites reflects the ability of the selected strains to survive in extreme environments as salt-pans and to potentially alleviate abiotic stress in agricultural system all the isolates possessed in their genomes genes encoding for hydrolases involved in fungal cell-wall and starch degrading pathways confirming the results obtained with the in vitro analysis frigoritolerans RHFB whose genome did not carry α-amylase or cellulase genes The diversity observed in the antimicrobial activity against plant pathogens highlighted the phenotypic diversity of sand and rhizosphere isolated Bacilli suggesting that in nature plant-associated bacteria may encounter different phytopathogens that may induce the acquisition of different antagonistic activity Representative photographs of dual culture assay for in vitro mycelial growth inhibition of fungal phytopathogens Number of biosynthetic gene clusters harbored by the strains and the percentage contribution of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters (BGCs) to the total genome size (A) Total number of BGCs; (B) number of reported BGCs in the genomes; (C) number of unknown BGCs BGCs that have different numbers of genes or show less than 70% protein identity to the reported ones were regarded as novel; and (D) the percentage contribution of BGCs to the genomes The bacterial isolates harbored BGCs coding for NRPSs, polyketide synthases (PKSs), post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), hybrid lipopeptides (NRPS-PKS; Figure 5A), and the majority of the BGCs are assigned to known products (Figure 5B; Supplementary Table S4). The unknown BGCs are type 3 polyketide synthase (T3PKS), RiPPs and terpenes (Figure 5C; Supplementary Table S4) This allows us to speculate on the potential antimicrobial activity of the compound produced by this novel BGC Novel NRP Biosynthetic gene Clusters identified from the isolate Bacillus amyloliquefaciens RHF6 Novel bacteriocins identified from the isolated Bacillus strains (A: B The BGCs identified from BAGEL4 analysis are shown and compared to the most similar available in BAGEL4 database Their precursor peptides share 42.1 and 33.4% similarity with UviB This will need to be validated by further experiments Antimicrobial activity of the seven selected strains against phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria In a historic moment in which the increasing population coupled with land degradation aggravates crop production, the use of plant growth promoting bacteria to ensure agricultural productivity has a huge impact on our society. These soil microorganisms enhance plant performance and represent an eco-friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides (Hashem et al., 2019) PGPB enhance plant growth by different action mechanisms such as the production of different phytohormones accelerating the mineralization of organic matter and improving the bioavailability of the nutrients and protecting plants from pests’ damages The beneficial activity exerted by PGPB is in part mediated by a broad spectrum of secondary metabolites and enzymes play important physiological and protective roles in plants these key metabolites were uncovered only by systematic investigation or by serendipity often understating the PGPB potentiality during their screening could be silent under standard laboratory conditions due to the absence of appropriate natural triggers or stress signals the onset of the genomic era has facilitated the discovery of these ecologically important metabolites and novel strategies became available for PGPR characterization genome mining allows to look over the whole genome of a PGPB strain and highlights genes encoding beneficial enzymes involved in the enhancement of plant nutritional uptake or modulation of hormone levels as well as for antimicrobial-encoding BGCs In this work, we have isolated soil halophilic Bacilli and performed their screening for PGP traits by using standard laboratory procedures and whole-genome analysis. Bacilli represent a significant fraction of the soil microbial community and some species are categorized as PGPB (Cazorla et al., 2007). They are also able to produce endospores, which besides enduring harsh environmental conditions fatal for other cell forms (Petrillo et al., 2020) permit easy formulation and storage of commercial PGPB-based products salt-tolerant PGPB can easily withstand several abiotic stresses and ameliorate plant growth in degraded soil Seven Bacillus strains have been selected for in vitro PGP traits and identified at the species level by genome analysis not only have we confirmed the beneficial activities PGP found by in vitro analysis identifying the involved genes but also we have highlighted their strong potentiality by the discovery of novel biosynthesis gene clusters Our results demonstrated that the genomic analyses allow a full investigation of PGPB biosynthetic capacity for secondary metabolites and proteins and represent useful tools in the characterization of plant beneficial bacteria the divergences observed between the predicted biocontrol functions by found gene clusters and the results obtained by in vitro analysis highlight the need of combining laboratory-assays and genome-mining in identification of new PGPB for future applications The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Rachele Isticato, aXN0aWNhdG9AdW5pbmEuaXQ= †These authors share first authorship Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish. The Financial Express The central government has amended its policy on disposal of its 60,000 acres of unused and unproductive salt pan lands across the country allowing their transfer on easy terms for “various national development” projects including affordable housing and industrial use The surplus salt land can now be transferred for biodiversity conservation be transferred only to central government departments state governments and public enterprises of states The transfer will be on lease of 99 years and only state governments will have the power to sub-lease these lands to the beneficiaries in case of slum redevelopment projects housing projects for economically weaker sections and industrial plots The land use for the plots will be fixed at the time of transfer and cannot be changed Private parties can only acquire salt land which is under litigation and government entities are unwilling to take Auction will be carried out for land that is under litigation or involved in some other legal tangle. only government entities were eligible to get salt land but it had put central government departments at the top of priority list followed by central PSEs and then state government and its PSEs The new guidelines prescribe no order of priority The new guidelines have also reduced the cost of salt land for central PSEs, state governments and state PSEs. As per earlier guidelines the lands to these entities could be transferred only at market value eco-tourism the salt land will be made available at 50% of the guideline value or circle rate of the state sea water cultivation and agriculture innovation the land will be available at 25% of the cost affordable housing and other housing projects under the different government schemes hostels and other social infrastructure the land will be available at 25% of the cost For public infrastructure and utilities like roads sewerage plans the land will be available at 10% of the guideline value or circle rate On land under litigation 20% discount over the discounted rate will be offered If there are no buyers for the disputed land Central government departments will continue to get the land at token payment of Rs 1 Land will be free for conservation and water management projects The central government owns 59793 acres of salt lands across the country through the Salt Department of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Around 5000 acres of this land is in Mumbai and its suburbs The total area under salt production in the country is about 6.57 lakh acres The larger interest is in the salt land of Mumbai but it cannot be made available for commercial use Other salt land parcels are available in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu Sea salt accounts for 82% of the total salt production in the country Gujarat accounts for 85.8% of the production followed by Tamil Nadu at 6.47% and Rajasthan 6.35% Market has been range-bound for the past seven days with potential for trending activity in either direction Bank Nifty expected to remain within a specific range The Maharashtra government has given the green light to transfer 256 acres of salt pan land in Mumbai to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL) a joint venture between Adani Realty Group and the Maharashtra government This land will be used to build rental housing for slum dwellers providing them with a better place to live with environmentalists and opposition leaders expressing concerns about the potential harm to Mumbai's fragile ecosystem the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had sought salt pan land for the construction of an elevated Metro Line 6 depot which was put on hold due to environmentalists protests. Mumbai's salt pan lands have become a contentious battleground sparking intense debate between environmentalists and developers The recent transfer of 256 acres of salt pan land to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd has fueled the controversy This joint venture between Adani Realty Group and the Maharashtra government aims to build rental housing for slum dwellers but environmentalists are concerned about the ecological impact where seawater flows in and leaves behind salt and minerals play a crucial role in protecting the city from flooding salt pans are being eyed for development projects Mumbai is home to an impressive 5,378 acres of salt pan lands a staggering nine times the size of the Dharavi slum these valuable ecosystems are under threat around 480 acres have already been encroached upon according to a 2014 state government study The fate of Mumbai's salt pan lands hangs in the balance. Speaking to Realty+, City-based environmentalist who is a member of the Bombay high court-appointed wetlands protection committee,said, "Reclamation and construction on salt pans is a suicidal mission undertaken by the Govt Sadly this is being done to accommodate the desires of one powerful real-estate company Putting lakhs of people in peril due to floods is not sustainable development." Mansha Group share the factors how women homebuyers are claiming their space in the market with confidence an exchange4media group publication is one of the most respected real estate magazines in India with offices in Delhi tripti@exchange4media.comrealtyplus@exchange4media.com MUMBAI: A lawyer on Monday filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay high court challenging the transfer of salt-pan land in Mulund from the Centre to the Maharashtra government which is partly to be used for the rehabilitation of some Dharavi residents A salt pan in Mulund(Praful Gangurde) In his petition stated that salt-pan lands are a highly sensitive part of the coastal ecosystem and the livelihood of many salt harvesters depends on them The petition was filed days after the Centre approved the transfer of three salt-pan land parcels in Kanjurmarg Bhandup and Mulund on lease to the Maharashtra government for the Dharavi redevelopment project a special-purpose vehicle formed by the state government and the Adani Group had requested the transfer in October 2023 an office memorandum (OM) issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on August 23 regarding the transfer of certain land owned by the salt commissioner to DRPPL was in contravention of the Environment (Protection) Act It further alleged that the OM was issued without public consultation and lacked statutory backing The petition claimed that as per earlier guidelines issued by the DPIIT salt-pan land could only be transferred to the central government state governments or their public sector enterprises the government body had informed the Maharashtra government that since the Adani Group had an 80% stake in DRPPL the land could not be transferred to the special-purpose vehicle DPIIT told the state government that the Slum Rehabilitation Authority should instead apply for the transfer of the salt-pan land The petition further stated that the salt-pan land that was transferred to DRPPL is classified as Coastal Regulation Zone 1B (inter-tidal areas) and It added that the transfer of the land and other policies surrounding the development project were also in contravention of judgments of the Supreme Court and the Bombay high court the Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules and the Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules Devre claimed that after he came to know about the OM that was uploaded on the website of the salt commissioner on September 24 he wrote to various authorities the following day The lawyer is pushing for the PIL to get an urgent hearing on Wednesday May 7, 2022JPEG An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photograph of Salar de Coipasa and neighboring Salar de Uyuni in the Bolivian Andes. Visible from low Earth orbit, the salt flats display stark white hues that contrast with the darker surrounding rock. Various volcanic cones are scattered through the image which divides the two salt lakes; Wila Pukarani located within the Coipasa Salt Flat; and Paryani In recent years, Andean salt flats have been the subject of climate and space-based analog studies, serving as a proxy for Earth’s climate history and the Martian environment Salt textures tell the story of the landscape’s climatic and geologic history while saltwater brines and hydrated clays beneath the salt crust are of interest to both Earth and Mars scientists View this area in EO Explorer An otherworldly landscape on a plateau in the Andes provides a natural laboratory for scientists studying Earth and Mars One of the world’s largest salt flats sits atop the high plateau of northwest Argentina One of the largest salt pans in the world spreads across northern Botswana offering critical seasonal oases for mammals and birds landscape patterns reveal the intermingling of older geologic formations and more recent landforms in this region You are not permitted to download, save or email this image. Visit image gallery to purchase the image One example is what looks like barren wasteland alongside Chapman Rd Despite being almost as far from the sea as possible in New Zealand the area is a sea-salt pan teeming with small rare plants and a myriad of native invertebrates including native bees University of Otago geology department lecturer Sophie Briggs will unravel the mystery of the jeopardised inland saline ecosystems which have been classified as threatened – nationally critical Dr Briggs said while efforts to protect and enhance the unique ecosystems had increased a citizen science initiative involving schools the Department of Conservation and Otago Regional Council would be shared at the first of this year’s Central Otago Heritage talks Most information about Central Otago salt pans was revealed by Otago University geology department researchers Cathy Rufaut Dr Briggs’ talk on February 26 would summarise that work and oceans intertwined as well as highlighting the surprising role historic gold mining played in the extraordinary geo-ecological story "When I learned about where the salt at Chapman Road came from people should know about this!’ That’s how Project Salt came about This one site offers so many opportunities for learning about the connections between Earth’s systems if you know what to look for," Dr Briggs said The following morning’s guided tour of the Chapman Road scientific reserve was fully booked Book for the talk at www.heritagecentralotago.org.nz/events A Tuareg nomad standing next to an exposed sandstone fold in Algeria's Tassili N'Ajjer National Park to the north of the Tanezrouft Basin A 2017 satellite image of the Sahara's Tanezrouft Basin shows the abstract beauty in ancient rock folds and colorful salt flats that have been sculpted in this terrifying region over millions of years Where is it? Tanezrouft Basin, the Sahara . [26.2089113, 2.27090884] Exposed paleozoic rock folds and colorful salt pans This 2017 satellite photo shows the abstract beauty of one of the world's most terrifyingly hostile environments The basin is almost completely devoid of life apart from some Tuareg nomads who occasionally make the treacherous journey through the region on a caravan route that dates back more than 1,500 years But this can be a deadly trip due to the region's lack of visible landmarks which can cause even the most experienced travelers to get lost the basin is colloquially known as the "Land of Terror." Thousands of years of sandstorms have eroded sediment and sand from parts of the basin, which has revealed ancient concentric folds in the region's undulating sandstone bedrock that date to the Paleozoic era (541 million to 252 million years ago) Flashes of green are pitted around these folded rocks which are salt flats often located in steep canyons When viewed from space, "the exposed geologic features create an arresting work of abstract art," NASA representatives wrote Related: 12 amazing images of Earth from space The dramatic landscape also reveals that Tanezrouft Basin hasn't always been so hostile to life Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox —Rare phenomenon transforms African thunderstorm into giant ethereal 'jellyfish' —Shapeshifting rusty river winds through Madagascar's 'red lands' —Trio of multicolor lakes look otherworldly in Africa's Great Rift Valley This suggests the region could have once been a more luscious environment potentially capable of supporting a diverse ecosystem the salt flats and their canyons either lie within or intersect with the exposed sandstone folds "These patterns are striking and reminiscent of landscapes formed on folded strata in the Red Desert of southern Wyoming and even parts of the heavily forested Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States," House said El Cono: The mysterious sacred 'pyramid' hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest Yellowstone holds potentially untapped cache of 'carbon-free' helium for rockets May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon The dry and hot weather does not favor farmers but it helps salt farmers - the people who mine salt near the Black Sea coast Salt production is one of the oldest activities in Pomorie The Pomorie salt pans has been existing since the 5th century BC Salt was extracted from the Pomorie salt pans until 1951 A special railway line was built between Burgas and Pomorie to transport the salt Literally every fishing family in the town was involved in salt production until a century ago They used the salt for preserving fish as well as for trade Due to the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the last salt production company in Pomorie has ceased operations. Against the backdrop of rising electricity prices, salt production has become unprofitable. Currently, the only operational salt pans in the coastal town are part of the Salt Museum- Pomorie. It is part of the 100 National Tourist Sites of Bulgaria The Pomorie Museum is the only specialized museum in Bulgaria and in Eastern Europe to produce salt through solar evaporation of sea water The Salt Museum in Pomorie The best time for harvesting salt from the salt pans in Pomorie is during the hot summer days when not a single drop of rain falls for a month the museum’s director Iliya Kusev told visitors Pomorie has always produced the best salt on the Balkans This product has beneficial nutritional properties Even the Turkish sultans ordered it to make their food more delicious Pomorie – a treasure trove of black and white gold Another valuable resource of the Pomorie Lake is the healing mud as well as the lye obtained from salt production clean air and the authentic fishing spirit of the town makes Pomorie an attractive destination for people who like cultural tourism If you are looking for a destination for a pleasant walk in the heart of the mountain you can choose the Lakatitsa section of the Rila Mountain We suggest you start from the village of Govedartsi near Samokov the village of Dobarsko attracts tourists from all corners of the country year-round A legend has it that some of the first settlers in the area of today's village were the blinded soldiers of Tsar Samuel The 31 st edition of the international mummer festival Surva has asserted its standing as the biggest masquerade festival in Europe There were more than 12,000 participants in the festival this year english@bnr.bg The world's largest salt desert is Salar de Uyuni which boasts the spectacular honeycomb pattern found on salt deserts across the world Physicists have finally uncovered the mechanism behind the spectacular patchwork of hexagons on salt flats The answer lies hidden beneath the crust and works like a donut-shaped radiator The mesmerizing honeycomb patterns found in salt deserts such as Badwater Basin in California's Death Valley and Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia have perplexed tourists and inspired sci-fi movie-makers for decades have struggled to elucidate the mechanism behind the iconic shapes physicists think they've finally solved this natural puzzle The answer lies in the groundwater beneath the salt crust, according to a study published Feb. 24 in the journal Physical Review X researchers describe how layers of salty and less salty water circulate up and down in donut-shaped currents which are squeezed together horizontally to form the regular pattern Previously, scientists suggested that the cracks and ridges form as the salt crust expands and dries out the researchers note that previous attempts to understand the iconic landscape didn't account for the uniform size of the hexagons which are always 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) across Related: What's the largest desert in the world? The new study confirms the widely accepted idea that the geometric patterns are formed by a mechanism rooted in basic thermodynamics similar to the movement of hot and cold water in a radiator or in a pot of boiling water "The surface patterns reflect the slow overturning of salty water within the soil a phenomenon somewhat like the convection cells that form in a thin layer of simmering water," Goehring said Salt deserts aren't as bone-dry as they seem. Beneath the salt crust sits a layer of extremely salty water, which can be reached by digging with your hands. The water evaporates in the hot summer months some of which dissolves into the next layer of water This layer is then more dense than the one below it and the salty water sinks in a ring that surrounds fresher The water evaporates and leaves a salt residue which dissolves into the top water layer again The cycle repeats itself to form what scientists call a convection roll Research on salt deserts has focused either on these subsurface currents or on the crust. The new study argues that the two features interact and mirror each other to form the tessellations salt accumulates on the crust to form ridges The salt crust grows more rapidly around the edges of each hexagon because it is in contact with saltier water than the middle a convection roll would adopt a circular donut shape Because there are so many of them packed closely together on a salt flat the rolls are squeezed against each other to form hexagons —Utah's Great Salt Lake is on the verge of collapse, and could expose millions to arsenic laced dust —Strange ice formations may have tricked physicists into seeing mysterious particles that weren't there —25 strangest sights on Google Earth The authors present a convincing explanation for the striking pattern, Stuart King a researcher at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland who did not participate in the study "It is well known that hexagonal patterns arise from convection and evaporation processes [but] this paper connects that with the penetrative convection of the porous layer underneath which seems very plausible as a wider mechanism driving the whole salt formation." The scientists say their work was driven purely by curiosity. "Nature presents us with an obvious and fascinating puzzle that stimulates our curiosity and thereby prompts us to solve it — even without any direct further possibility of application in mind," study first author Jana Lasser a postdoctoral researcher at Graz University of Technology in Austria Sascha PareSocial Links NavigationStaff writer Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems 'Dramatic revision of a basic chapter in algebra': Mathematicians devise new way to solve devilishly difficult equations Mathematicians just solved a 125-year-old problem