The high salt content of Yuncheng Salt Lake in Shanxi Province evolved from its specific historical reasons and geographical location. Yuncheng Salt Lake is an ancient inland saltwater lake. Geological research shows that Yuncheng Salt Lake was born during the Cenozoic Tertiary Himalayan tectonic movement, with a history of about 5,000 years. Extending from northeast to southwest, it is about 30 kilometers long, 3 to 5 kilometers wide, 324.5 meters above sea level, and the deepest part is about 6 meters, with a total area of 132 square kilometers.

The salt lake was formed due to the previous large-scale orogeny. Zhongtiaoshan in the south, Gushan and Jiwangshan in the north of Yuncheng Basin folded, and other plates sank, forming a large-scale sedimentary depression. A large number of salty minerals have gathered here, and after long-term precipitation and evaporation, a natural salt lake has been formed, so it contains a variety of mineral elements, and the salt content is naturally high.

Yuncheng Salt Lake is rich in sodium sulfate, which is one of the three largest inland salt lakes of sodium sulfate type in the world. At the same time, it is also rich in chemical raw materials such as barium sulfate and magnesium sulfate, which was once the main chemical export place in China. Now, the government department has proposed? Put the salt back in the lake? Decision-making, has gradually abandoned industrial mining, mineral mining, and turned to eco-environmental tourism.

Salt lake minerals are so high, why not continue chemical mining? There are several reasons.

1. Yuncheng Salt Lake, due to the high altitude and dry natural climate, the annual evaporation is much greater than the precipitation, and the water level of the salt lake is constantly decreasing. In the long run, bare saline-alkali land will be formed, which will have a great impact on this big ecological environment.

2. The local residents seriously discharged sewage and dumped domestic garbage. Now the ecological lake is gone forever, and there are too many illegal buildings by the lake.

3. Due to years of mining, a large amount of powder is produced, which has an irreversible impact on local vegetation and green plants.

Salt lake is rich in minerals, and there are a lot of chemical components of potassium and sodium. Under the irradiation of high temperature and strong light, it will present very bright and colorful colors. Relevant departments will focus on protecting and restoring the original appearance of salt lakes. Put the salt back in the lake? It has also had a positive impact on the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.