It has been suggested that Playa lake be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The playa and shore of Lake Hart, an endorheic desert lake in South Australia

Salt harvesting in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, the world's largest salt flat.

Playa, also known as alkali flat or sabkha, is a dry lakebed, generally the shore of, or remnant of, an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Their surface is generally very dry, hard and smooth in the summer months, but wet and very soft in the winter months. While the playa itself will be devoid of vegetation, they are commonly ringed by shadscale, saltbrush and other salt-tolerant plants that provide critical winter fodder for livestock and other herbivores. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Playas are small, round depressions in the surface of the ground. ... Playa or playas (Spanish for beach) when used in English may refer to one of the following: A playa, also known as an alkali flat or sabkha, is a shallow depression with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake. ... Lake Hart, South Australia, Novenber 2003 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Lake Hart, South Australia, Novenber 2003 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Lake Hart can refer to: Lake Hart, Florida Lake Hart, Indiana This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Capital Adelaide Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Premier Mike Rann (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 11  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $59,819 (5th)  - Product per capita  $38,838/person (7th) Population (End of September 2006)  - Population  1,558,200 (5th)  - Density  1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 528 pixel Image in higher resolution (2000 × 1320 pixel, file size: 892 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Tilt corrected (skewed vertically 12px, cropped) Background noise reduced (1px median, faded 40% normal with gradient tool) Green fringe removed File links The... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 528 pixel Image in higher resolution (2000 × 1320 pixel, file size: 892 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Tilt corrected (skewed vertically 12px, cropped) Background noise reduced (1px median, faded 40% normal with gradient tool) Green fringe removed File links The... Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. ... The shores of Lake Hart, an endorheic desert lake in South Australia In geography, an endorheic basin—also called a terminal or closed basin—is a watershed from which there is no outflow of water, either on the surface as rivers, or underground by flow or diffusion through rock or... A man-made lake in Keukenhof, Netherlands A lake is a body of water or other liquid of considerable size contained on a body of land. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... In chemistry, an alkali (from Arabic: al-qalyالقلوي, القالي ) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkali earth metal element. ... For other uses, see Salt (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Atriplex confertifolia Torr & Frem Atriplex confertifolia (Shadscale) is a species of evergreen shrub in the Amaranthaceae family, which is native to the western United States. ... Species About 100-200 species, including: Atriplex alaskensis Atriplex amnicola Atriplex californica Atriplex calotheca Atriplex canescens Atriplex confertifolia Atriplex coronata Atriplex glabriuscula Atriplex halimus Atriplex heterosperma Atriplex hortensis Atriplex hymenelytra Atriplex laciniata Atriplex lentiformis Atriplex littoralis Atriplex longipes Atriplex nitens Atriplex nummularia Atriplex nuttallii Atriplex oblongifolia Atriplex patula Atriplex polycarpa... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage A herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats only plants[1]. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. ...

Many playas contain shallow lakes in the winter, especially during wet years. If the layer of water is thin and is moved around the playa by the wind, an exceedingly hard and smooth surface can develop. Thicker layers of water can result in a "cracked-mud" surface and "teepee" structure dessication features. Too little water can result in dune formation.

A closeup photograph of salt growths on the crust of a playa lake

The extremely flat, smooth, and hard surfaces of playas make them ideal surfaces for motor vehicles. Large-sized playas are further excellent spots for pursuing land speed records, as the smoothness of the surface allows low-clearance vehicles to travel very fast without risk of disruption by surface irregularities, and the course of travel does not need to be too precise to avoid obstacles. The playas at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and Black Rock Desert in Nevada have both been used for setting land speed records. The latter is also the site of the annual Burning Man art and music festival. Image File history File links A closeup photograph of salt growths on the crust of a desert playa lake. ... Image File history File links A closeup photograph of salt growths on the crust of a desert playa lake. ... Ralph DePalma in his Packard 905 Special at Daytona Beach in 1919, courtesy Florida Photographic Collection For the album Land Speed Record by the band Hüsker Dü, see Land Speed Record (album). ... Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a 121 km² (47 mi²) salt flat in northwestern Utah. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area  Ranked 13th  - Total 84,876 sq mi (219,887 km²)  - Width 270 miles (435 km)  - Length 350 miles (565 km)  - % water 3. ... The Black Rock Desert is a dry lake bed in northwestern Nevada in the United States. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Burning Man is an eight-day-long festival organized by Black Rock City, LLC, under the guidance of founder Larry Harvey. ...

Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, near Potosí, is the largest salt flat in the world at 4,085 square miles (10,582 square km), which is about 25 times bigger than the Bonneville Salt Flats. However, you can not see the Earth's curvature at the Bolivia flats. Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. ... Potosí is a city, the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. ...

Terminology

The Spanish word playa (/ˈplaʝa/) literally means "beach". Alkali flats are known by this name in some parts of Mexico and the western United States (pronounced /ˈplaɪə/). On the Llano Estacado and other parts of the Southern High Plains, playa refers to a playa lake, a smaller seasonal depression. The Beach in Calella, Spain. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... Shaded Relief Image of the Llano Estacado Llano Estacado (or Staked Plains) is a region in the southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. ... This article is about the High Plains of North-Eastern Victoria and South-Eastern New South Wales, Australia. ... Playas are small, round depressions in the surface of the ground. ...

In Arabic, an alkali flat is called a sabkha (also spelled sabkhah, sometimes sebkha) or shott. n.b. that this term can only be applied to marine environments. Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ...

External links

• The Bibliography of Aeolian Research

See also

• Salt lake
• Salt pan