Traces of destruction along the almost empty, fully exploited natural salt lake at the end of the summer season on Lake Mirzaladi, in Azerbaijan.

Lake Mirzaladi, north of the capital Baku, covers an area of 10 km2. Because it is an endorheic or closed basin lake, there is no opportunity for regulation. Hence, salt production has occurred by natural evaporation since 1813. As the water dries up, the salt crystals are harvested by raking. The estimated amount of recoverable salt is 1,735 million tonnes, which is processed in a refinery built in 2010 for 2 different brands of Azeri salt.

At the end of the summer, the leftover salt provides an opportunity for cunning local entrepreneurs who collect this commodity for themselves. Their heavy trucks destroy the protective and sensitive layers of mud which are essential for maintaining the microbiological balance in shallow evaporation ponds and lakes of this type.

By the numbers:
TIME: 12:56
DATE: sep/15
FILE SIZE: 53MP