San Francisco’s Incredible Stained Glass Salt Ponds
Thu, Aug 6, 2009
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Image by Jerry Ting
‘Art imitates life’ – or so the old saying goes – but when the reverse appears true, as Oscar Wilde noted, the effect can be all the more striking. The vivid hues of the San Francisco Bay salt ponds remind us more of a crafted stained glass window than the sea’s naturally muted colour palette, and they produce some of the world’s most magnificent natural colourways…
Image by apdonovan
The San Francisco Bay is a shallow bay surrounded by the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, through which almost half the water of California is drained into the Pacific ocean. Home to the notorious Alcatraz prison, which housed among others Al Capone, the bay also contains a large number of salt evaporation ponds responsible for producing much of America’s industrial salt.
Image by webmink
The dramatic colours are produced by varying concentrations of algae, brine shrimp and other pond life, making the ponds appear as if they have been dyed. These micro-organisms change colour according to the salinity of their environment, thus the tint of each pond is an indication of its salinity. Low salinity ponds proliferate with green algae, but in high salinity ponds red algae are predominant. Millions of tiny brine shrimp can also cast an orange shade over ponds.
Image by KAP Cris
Unfortunately the salt ponds have recently been purchased by the state of California and will shortly be converted by the South Bay Restoration Project into a mixture of tidal marsh, mudflat and other wetland habitats. So, no longer will you be able to see these wonderful colours from the air on your way into San Francisco International – but at least the new project will provide a habitat for thousands of animals, right on the doorstep of one of the world’s most famous cities.
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“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else.”
August 7th, 2009 at 12:54 am
“Unfortunately the salt ponds have recently been purchased…” Why do you say “Unfortunately”? Cleaning up the hundreds of acres of industrial salt production and returning the habitat to wildlife seems like a good thing, not a bad thing.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:54 am
The are great looking and you can see them on any flight landing in SFO or taking of from SJC. I have to point out that the ponds are actually in San Jose and Milpitas.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:57 am
“These micro-organisms change colour according to the salinity of their environment..”
The red colour is a good indicator of salinity, but I do not believe it is the direct cause. That would be the sole surviving, and flourishing, micro-organisms protecting themselves from the Sun.
August 12th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Perhaps it’s considered “unfortunate” because there is still a demand for industrial salts and now there will be one less place to obtain them. Plus those great color schemes were another thing that made the Bay Area unique. Undoubtedly people lost their jobs over this. But we have no way of knowing, from this brief article, the politics behind the sale, or whether that particular restoration of habitat was even really necessary.
September 11th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Photoshopped i do it for a living you can tell the pixels
November 12th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Actually, not all of the salt ponds have been purchased by the state, and of those that have been, not all are projected for return to tidal flow. As part of the landscape for 150 years, they have become an important habitat for migratory waterbirds and are considered part of the ecosystem, and that habitat will be maintained.