Which Is the Saltiest Body of Water?

Don Juan Pond, a small hypersaline lake in the Wright Valley of Antarctica, has a salinity of about 40% (400 grams of dissolved salts per litre), dominated by calcium chloride. By comparison, the ocean averages about 3.5% salinity and the Dead Sea about 34%. The pond is so salty that it remains liquid even at temperatures below -50 °C. It measures only about 100 metres by 300 metres and is very shallow (typically less than 10 cm deep), fed by small streams and groundwater seeping through the surrounding rock. Scientists study it as an analogue for possible briny water on Mars.