The colorful Potash

The colorful potash evaporation ponds located along the Colorado River near Moab city, Utah, United States.

700 and 1,000 tons of salt are mined per day in this location alone. Much of the earth's potassium reserves come from ancient oceans that once covered areas now made up of land. Here, potash that formed 300 million years ago is buried 1,200 m below the ground. Wells are drilled into the mine and hot water is pumped down to dissolve the potassium. The resulting brine is then directed to the evaporation ponds. These ponds measure 1.5 km2 and are lined with rubber to keep the salts in.

While other salt evaporation ponds obtain a naturally reddish tinge due to the presence of certain algae, the bright colors of these potash ponds are due to an artificially added dye that aids the absorption of sunlight and evaporation. This evaporation process usually takes about 300 days. After the crystals of potassium and other salts are left behind, they are gathered and sent off for processing.

#study of nature,,!