#HTE

The Strange Beauty of Salt Mines (23 photos)

Although salt is abundant here on Earth, it still requires extraction from stone deposits or salty waters. The process of mining that salt can produce interesting landscapes, including deep, stable caverns, multicolored pools of water, and geometric carvings. Some of these locations have even become tourist destinations, serving as concert halls, museums, and health spas. Collected here are images of salt mines and evaporation ponds across the world, above and below ground.

image
Multicolored walls of an salt mine located 1,380 feet (420 meters) underground, near the town of Soligorsk, south of Minsk, Belarus. Parts of this mine have been converted into a speleotherapy clinic for treatment of respiratory illnesses such as asthma or bronchitis. ( Sergey Mikhalenko / Shutterstock)
image
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/04/photos-strange-beauty-salt-mines/586417/