salt pan

plural salt pans

1. Synonym of salt flat: a natural dry lake or playa whose bed contains abundant salt.

   Synonyms: salt flat

2. Synonym of saltern: a man-made pond where salty water is evaporated to recover salt and/or other minerals.

   1 more example

   In order to provide a market for the coal, four salt pans were constructed a third of a mile south-east of the harbour. […] Thereafter the route of the original line was followed to the harbour, beyond which an extension, a third of a mile long, led to the salt pans and a newly constructed inn, the "Stafford Arms", where Lady Stafford tried unsuccessfully to educate the locals to drink beer instead of a strong whisky. […] The prosperity was short-lived, and in 1828 the salt pans closed and the railway extension was lifted.

   1960 January 28, Iain D. O. Frew, “The Brora Colliery Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, pages 55, 56

   Synonyms: saltern, pan