page_title: Soda lake
hierarchical_section_title: Soda lake
caption_attribution_description: English: The coast of Lake Shala, with a thermal creek running into it from the nearby hot springs. Lake Shala is a large soda lake located in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, located in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park.
context_page_description: A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate, giving rise to their alkalinity. In addition, many soda lakes also contain high concentrations of sodium chloride and other dissolved salts, making them saline or hypersaline lakes as well. High pH and salinity often coincide, because of how soda lakes develop. The resulting hypersaline and highly alkalic soda lakes are considered some of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth.
  In spite of their apparent inhospitability, soda lakes are often highly productive ecosystems, compared to their freshwater counterparts. Gross primary production rates above 10 g C m⁻² day⁻¹, over 16 times the global average for lakes and streams, have been measured. This makes them the most productive aquatic environments on Earth. An important reason for the high productivity is the virtually unlimited availability of dissolved carbon dioxide.
context_section_description: A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt complexes), giving rise to their alkalinity. In addition, many soda lakes also contain high concentrations of sodium chloride and other dissolved salts, making them saline or hypersaline lakes as well. High pH and salinity often coincide, because of how soda lakes develop. The resulting hypersaline and highly alkalic soda lakes are considered some of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth.
  In spite of their apparent inhospitability, soda lakes are often highly productive ecosystems, compared to their (pH-neutral) freshwater counterparts. Gross primary production (photosynthesis) rates above 10 g C m⁻² day⁻¹ (grams of carbon per square meter per day), over 16 times the global average for lakes and streams (0.6 g C m⁻² day⁻¹), have been measured.  This makes them the most productive aquatic environments on Earth. An important reason for the high productivity is the virtually unlimited availability of dissolved carbon dioxide.
  Soda lakes occur naturally throughout the world (see Table below), typically in arid and semi-arid areas and in connection to tectonic rifts like the East African Rift Valley. The pH of most freshwater lakes is on the alkaline side of neutrality and many exhibit similar water chemistries to soda lakes, only less extreme.
caption: Lake Shala, in the East African Rift Valley
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