Lake Bakhtegan is a salt lake

Salt lake

A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water which has a concentration of salts and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes . In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water, but such lakes would also be termed hypersaline lakes...

 in Fars Province, southern Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, about 160 km (99.4 mi) east of Shiraz

Shiraz

Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...

 and 15 km (9.3 mi) west of the town of Neyriz

Neyriz

Neyriz is a city in and the capital of Neyriz County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 45,180, in 11,970 families....

.

Bakhtegan, with a surface area of 3500 square kilometres (1,351.4 sq mi), is Iran's second-largest lake. It is fed by the Kor River. Several dams on the Kor River have significantly reduced waterflow into the lake, increasing its salinity

Salinity

Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...

 and endangering the lake's populations of flamingo

Flamingo

Flamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...

s and other migratory birds.

External links

• Columbia Encyclopedia entry