if pumping water would not be the issue, is there an obvious reason not to pump a lot of ocean water to salt plains (that used to be lakes/seas) or other zero/low risk areas to lower sea levels?

Question

if pumping water would not be the issue, is there an obvious reason not to pump a lot of ocean water to salt plains (that used to be lakes/seas) or other zero/low risk areas to lower sea levels?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Aside from various reasons to preserve the relatively unique ecosystems and geographical features of salt pans, along with logistical issues surrounding the amount of water you’d need to pump…

Salt pans tend to be in hot areas that get little rainfall and have dry air. This means water very promptly evaporates and would quickly get cycled back into the oceans through rainfall once the air over the salt pans blows somewhere that has conditions that cause rainfall.

A while back (2010) there were some enormous floods in Australia, where the center is actually a giant basin. So much water got trapped there that sea levels fell by about 7mm (1/4”) but a lot of it made it’s way back into the water cycle soon enough.