Salt lake forms beautiful sodium sulfate 'flowers'

Flowers of salt "bloom" in Xiechi Lake in Shanxi Province, north China. Xiechi Lake, nicknamed the Dead Lake of China, is a saline lake used for the production of salt. When the temperature drops below -5 ℃ (or 22 ℉) for several days, the sodium sulfate from the lake crystallizes into shapes resembling flowers. Every year, the "blossoms" attract shutterbugs to photograph this beautiful phenomena of nature. [Photo: IC]