Salt lake in the context of "Mudflat"

Archaea (/ɑːrˈkiːə/ ar-KEE-ə) is a domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea included only its prokaryotic members, but has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even though the domain Archaea cladistically includes eukaryotes, the term archaea (sing. archaeon /ɑːrˈkiːɒn/ ar-KEE-on; from Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖον arkhaîon 'ancient') in English still generally refers specifically to prokaryotic members of Archaea. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (/ˌɑːrkibækˈtɪəriə/, in the Archaebacteria kingdom), but this term has fallen out of use. Archaeal cells have unique properties separating them from Bacteria and Eukaryota, including: cell membranes made of ether-linked lipids; metabolisms such as methanogenesis; and a unique motility structure known as an archaellum. Archaea are further divided into multiple recognized phyla. Classification is difficult because most have not been isolated in a laboratory and have been detected only by their gene sequences in environmental samples. It is unknown if they can produce endospores.

Archaea are often similar to bacteria in size and shape, although a few have very different shapes, such as the flat, square cells of Haloquadratum walsbyi. Despite this, archaea possess genes and several metabolic pathways that are more closely related to those of eukaryotes, notably for the enzymes involved in transcription and translation. Other aspects of archaeal biochemistry are unique, such as their reliance on ether lipids in their cell membranes, including archaeols. Archaea use more diverse energy sources than eukaryotes, ranging from organic compounds such as sugars, to ammonia, metal ions or even hydrogen gas. The salt-tolerant Halobacteria use sunlight as an energy source, and other species of archaea fix carbon (autotrophy), but unlike cyanobacteria, no known species of archaea does both. Archaea reproduce asexually by binary fission, fragmentation, or budding; unlike bacteria, no known species of Archaea form endospores. The first observed archaea were extremophiles, living in extreme environments such as hot springs and salt lakes with no other organisms. Improved molecular detection tools led to the discovery of archaea in almost every habitat, including soil, oceans, and marshlands. Archaea are particularly numerous in the oceans, and the archaea in plankton may be one of the most abundant groups of organisms on the planet.

Butrint Lagoon (Albanian: Liqeni i Butrintit) is a salt lagoon south of Saranda, Albania, located in direct proximity of the Ionian Sea. It is surrounded by dense forested hills, rocky coast and complemented by saltwater and freshwater marshlands. The lake has a length of 7.1 km (4.4 mi) and a width of 3.3 km (2.1 mi), with a surface area of 16 km (6.2 sq mi). The maximum depth of the lake is 24.4 m (80 ft). It is shaped like a giant footprint, pointing north. At its south, the Vivari Channel connects the lagoon to the sea.

Lake Van (Turkish: Van Gölü; Armenian: Վանա լիճ, romanized: Vana lič̣; Kurdish: Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey in the provinces of Van and Bitlis, in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake, receiving water from many small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. It is one of the world's few endorheic lakes (a lake having no outlet) of size greater than 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi) and has 38% of the country's surface water (including rivers). A volcanic eruption blocked its original outlet in prehistoric times. It is situated at 1,640 m (5,380 ft) above sea level. Despite the high altitude and winter averages below 0 °C (32 °F), high salinity usually prevents it from freezing; the shallow northern section can freeze, but rarely.

A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from the ocean, although they may be connected with the ocean by rivers. Lakes, like other bodies of water, are part of the water cycle, the processes by which water moves around the Earth. Most lakes are fresh water and account for almost all the world's surface freshwater, but some are salt lakes with salinities even higher than that of seawater. Lakes vary significantly in surface area and volume of water.

Lakes are typically larger and deeper than ponds, which are also water-filled basins on land, although there are no official definitions or scientific criteria distinguishing the two. Lakes are also distinct from lagoons, which are generally shallow tidal pools dammed by sandbars or other material at coastal regions of oceans or large lakes. Most lakes are fed by springs, and both fed and drained by creeks and rivers, but some lakes are endorheic without any outflow, while volcanic lakes are filled directly by precipitation runoffs and do not have any inflow streams.

The Dead Sea (Arabic: اَلْبَحْر الْمَيِّت, romanized: al-Baḥr al-Mayyit; or اَلْبَحْر الْمَيْت, al-Baḥr al-Mayt; Hebrew: יַם הַמֶּלַח, romanized: Yam hamMelaḥ), also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

As of 2025, the lake's surface is 439.78 metres (1,443 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. It is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, 9.6 times as salty as the ocean—and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

Following are two lists of terrestrial lakes that have surface areas of more than approximately 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi), ranked by area, excluding reservoirs and lagoons.

The area of some lakes can vary over time, either seasonally or from year to year. This is especially true of salt lakes in arid climates.This list therefore excludes seasonal lakes such as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre (maximum area 9,500 km, 3,700 sq mi), Mar Chiquita Lake (Córdoba) (maximum area 6,000 km, 2,300 sq mi), Chott el Djerid (up to 7,000 km, 2,700 sq mi, Lake Torrens (maximum area 5,745 km, 2,218 sq mi) and Great Salt Lake (maximum area, 1988, 8,500 km, 3,300 sq mi).

The Absheron Peninsula (Azerbaijani: Abşeron yarımadası) is a peninsula in Azerbaijan. It is the location of Baku, the most populous city of the country, and the Baku Metropolitan Area, with its satellite cities Sumqayit and Khyrdalan. It extends 60 km (37 mi) eastward into the Caspian Sea, and reaches a maximum width of 30 km (19 mi). Azerbaijan's shape is often compared to an eagle, with the Absheron Peninsula forming its beak as it extends into the Caspian Sea.

Though technically the easternmost extension of the Caucasus Mountains, the landscape is only mildly hilly, a gently undulating plain that ends in a long spit of sand dunes known as Shah Dili, also known as the Shah Spit which is the easternmost point of mainland Azerbaijan, now declared the Absheron National Park. In this part, the peninsula is dissected by ravines and characterized by frequent salt lakes. The peninsula also features four districts, of which two are urban (Baku and Sumqayit) while three are considered suburban (Absheron Rayon, Pirallahi Rayon, and the Khazar Rayon.)

Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is located in the Armenian Highlands, between the provinces of Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in the Middle East. It is the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 6,000 km (2,300 sq mi), a length of 140 km (87 mi), a width of 70 km (43 mi), and a maximum depth of 20 m (66 ft).

By late 2017, the lake had shrunk to 10% of its former size (and 1/60 of water volume in 1998) due to persistent general drought in Iran, but also the damming of the local rivers that flow into it, and the pumping of groundwater from the surrounding area. This dry spell was broken in 2019 and the lake began filling up once again, due to both increased rain and water diversion from the Zab River under the Urmia Lake Research Programme. The trend reversed again in early 2020s, and a combination of drought and administrative mismanagement caused a renewed acute drop in water levels. Based on NASA's satellite imagery, the lake has almost entirely dried up by September 2025.

Lake Texcoco (Spanish: Lago de Texcoco; Nahuatl languages: Tetzco(h)co) was a natural saline lake within the Anahuac or Valley of Mexico. Lake Texcoco is best known for an island situated on the western side of the lake where the Mexica built the city of Mēxihco Tenōchtitlan, which would later become the capital of the Aztec Empire. After the Spanish conquest, efforts to control flooding led to most of the lake being drained.

The entire lake basin is now almost completely occupied by Mexico City, the capital of the present-day nation of Mexico. Drainage of the lake has led to serious ecological and human consequences. The local climate and water availability have changed considerably, contributing to water scarcity in the area; subsequent groundwater extraction leads to land subsidence under much of the city. Native species endemic to the lake region, such as the axolotl, have become severely endangered or extinct due to ecosystem change.