Lakes are often thought of as calm bodies of water with clear inflows and outflows, part of a continuous cycle that eventually connects back to the ocean. Some lakes sit in closed basins where water enters but never leaves through rivers or streams. These are known as endorheic lakes. The water simply collects, then slowly disappears through evaporation. It sounds simple, yet the behaviour of these lakes is quite different from that of typical freshwater systems. Many of them are large, highly saline, and shaped by climate more than anything else. A few are well known across continents, and each tells a slightly different story about geography, isolation, and environmental balance.
