February 23, 2015
Monday Geology Picture: Pink Pan
Posted by Evelyn Mervine
Apologies for the recent gap in my blogging. I’ve been busy travelling for work, and our home internet connection was not working for a couple of weeks. We’ve also been suffering from regular power outages here in South Africa.
Anyway, to make up for my recent quietness, I’m sharing a spectacular picture for this week’s “Monday Geology Picture” post. This picture was taken close to the border between South Africa and Namibia near the town of Oranjemund and shows a salt pan that is called “Pink Pan” by locals. The Orange River is in the background of the picture. I took this picture through an airplane window when I was flying from Oranjemund to Windhoek earlier this month.
A salt pan is formed when the rate of evaporation exceeds the rate of precipitation near a lake or river. Usually when this occurs in nature the salt pan should be white or pearly. What caused this one to be pink? 15056971