Chott

In geology, a chott, shott, or shatt (/ˈʃɒt/; Arabic: شط, romanized: šaṭṭ, lit.'bank, coast') is a salt lake in Africa's Maghreb that stays dry for much of the year but receives some water in the winter.[1] They are formed—within variable shores—by the spring thaw from the Atlas mountain range, along with occasional rainwater or groundwater sources in the Sahara, such as the Bas Saharan Basin.[3] This salt accumulation can lead chotts to have particularly high albedo, albeit with comparable variability as well.[5] Chotts have also been studied because they are believed to be an Earth analogue to similar features on the planet Mars.