Definition
The term “soda lake” designates a class of lakes with waters showing an excess of the total alkalinity (TA ≅ [HCO3 −] + 2[CO3 2−], i.e., the sum of the charges of the bicarbonate ion plus carbonate ion) over the charges of the alkaline earth ions magnesium and calcium:
When such water is evaporated, the high [CO3 2−] concentrations will cause a rise in pH and eventually, Na carbonates precipitate. These are soda (or natron , Na2CO3*10H2O, monoclinic), trona (Na2CO3*NaHCO3*2H2O, monoclinic), and thermonatrite (Na2CO3*H2O, orthorhombic). They are commercially used in the glass-, textile-, paint-, soap- and metal-industry, mined worldwide (Garret, 1992).
Occurrence
Soda lakes occur worldwide, albeit in very specific zones: they seem to be associated with active tectonic and volcanic zones (Figure 1). Most of the famous soda lakes occur in East Africa along the East African rift (e.g.,...
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Kempe, S., Kazmierczak, J. (2011). Soda Lakes. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_191
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