Maharloo Lake (Persian: دریاچه مهارلو) is a salt lake located 27 kilometres southeast of shiraz, Iran. the lake has an area of 600 sq.km
This is a salty lake, which is the winter habitat for many Northern birds.
The water body is an exclusive home only for the crustacen 'Artemia', and the unicellular algae Dunaliella. The original Artemia species was nearly completely replaced by Artemia Franciscan, introduced by the provincial Fisheries department.
The lake is exploited as a mine of different chemicals, maily by shiraz Petrochemical Company.
At the Fire Celebration (Chahar shanbe soory, the last wednesday night of the year) the lake shore is a place for aggregation of people from shiraz to spend a happy night out.
The lake water is used for extraction of normal salt. Maharlu Lake is the most eastern side of shiraz's plain. Its deepest point in the spring has water less than one meter and its height above sea level is 1460 m.
Reference:
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