<p>The water in any river draining the sea is infinitely recycle-able (from rain replenishment), whereas the salt from any terrestrial source is not. So salty rivers, if any, won't exist permanently. Saltwater lakes gain their salinity precisely because they have no outlet, so salt just gets concentrated by evaporation. I don't think there are any truly saline rivers throughout their entire length.</p>

<p>The nearest approximations I can think of are:</p>

<ul>
<li>Rare ephemeral runoff from emergent salt domes in desert areas.</li>
<li>Freshwater rivers that drain into arid areas where combined evaporation and infiltration gradually reduces the flow to zero. These are more 'very brackish' than truly saline. The Amu Darya in Uzbekistan is one such example. I don't know the salinity of the Jordan as it enters the Dead Sea, but the river is reduced to almost nothing, whilst there are hypersaline springs, and sewage effluent from Amman draining into it.</li>
<li>The only river I can think of that is very highly mineralized from source to sea is only about 3 kilometres long. It is an unnamed river from the volcanic crater on Savo Island, in the Solomon Islands (Southwest Pacific). It is also acidic and boiling hot - quite literally, for most of it's length. </li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T08:45:41.330Z
Great answer especially due to all those examples. Thanks.
DrZ214
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2016-10-03T10:39:34.537Z
One more category of *not properly a river* would be tidal flows, which can be pretty strong and appear like rivers in some areas.
gerrit
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T14:35:03.287Z
Do the undersea saline flows like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_undersea_river count?
Tim Brigham
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-04T22:42:31.537Z
@TimBrigham For the purposes of this question, they don't count. I'll make an edit to the OP. I'm interested in "regular surface rivers" only.
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T01:32:15.380Z
This is a great answer, but I unaccepted it because there are so many other answers with at least one good example too.
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T07:50:10.097Z
2016-10-04T11:21:42.523Z
2016-10-04T11:21:42.523Z
Gordon Stanger
<p>The already accepted answer is already covering the &quot;real&quot; answer as far as I'm concerned, and while you won't find many (any?) saline rivers in the traditional sense, we do have underwater &quot;rivers&quot; that <em>kiiiiind of but not quite</em> fit the bill. They're not saline rivers as I expect you envision, but I figure they could be an interesting &quot;by the way though&quot; answer to the question anyway.</p>
<p>One good example is The Black Sea undersea river. The actual article in which it is originally posted seems to be unaccessible right now, so adding a more &quot;prosaic&quot; description of it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It stems from salty water spilling through the Bosphorus Strait from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea, where the water has a lower salt content. This causes the dense water from the Mediterranean to flow like a river along the seabed, carving a channel and deep banks. 'It flows down the sea shelf and out into the abyssal plain much like a river on land,&quot;</p>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cHZDh.jpg" alt="A 3-D radar image, using false color, of the undersea river channel where it enters the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait." title="A 3-D radar image, using false color, of the undersea river channel where it enters the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait." /></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So much water flows through the Black Sea undersea river that it is estimated to possibly being the sixth largest river in the world.</p>
<hr />
<p>Another, perhaps more visually impactful example might be the Cenote Angelita in Mexico, and although this isn't a river at all, it <em>looks</em> very much like one. The Cenote Angelita is a heavily saline mass of water found at the bottom of a fresh water cave, with a layer of Hydrogen Sulfate separating the two watermasses, snaking around in cracks and layers that make it look like a river. As far as I understand it, the waters here are essentially static and unmoving, which has caused the heavier saline water to sink to the bottom, while the fresh water lies on top. Essentially the same as when you put oil in a cup of water.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/oQKLc.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oQKLc.jpg" alt="Cenote Angelita" /></a></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T07:54:18.090Z
According to other [sources](https://sciencedummy.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/the-peculiar-underwater-river-mexicos-cenote-angelita/) it's an HSO₄- (hydrogen sulfate, an aion) layer and not H₂S (hydrogen sulphide, a poisonous gas)
klanomath
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T08:12:06.383Z
Hum. Seems there's a lot of confusion on what it is, googling it around a bit i see some sources claim it's Sulfate, others it's sulphide. I can't imagine you would be wrong though, sulfate is a liquid and sulphide is a gas (at those temperatures), so I will amend the answer. Certainly seems overwhelmingly likely that sulfate is correct.
Kim André Kjelsberg
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-08T10:29:51.983Z
As a chemical oceanographer I can respond to the sulfate/sulfide debate. Stagnant high-salinity (dense) bottom water loses sulfate (normally 0.028 molar, or 8% by weight of sea salt) to sulfate-reducing bacteria, who want its oxygen. The reaction is H2SO4 -> 2 O2 + H2S (although the actual mechanism is much more complicated). This means that below ~200 m the Black Sea is poisonous to everything but anoxic bacteria. See [Oxic, Suboxic and Anoxic Conditions in the Black Sea](http://www.ocean.washington.edu/people/faculty/jmurray/BlackSeaOverview.pdf) for oceanography.
becula
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2016-10-08T23:07:46.077Z
This place looks surreal... thanks for posting!!
user541686
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2016-10-03T14:49:57.060Z
2016-10-05T08:12:47.320Z
2020-06-18T08:25:19.090Z
Kim André Kjelsberg
<p>The Pecos River in Texas, USA may arguably fit the description of a &quot;saltwater river&quot;. A point of argument is what is considered to be &quot;saltwater&quot;. For comparison, here are some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodies_of_water_by_salinity" rel="noreferrer">bodies of water and their salinity</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>35,000 ppm Pacific and Atlantic Ocean</li>
<li>13,000-23,000 ppm Black Sea</li>
<li>12,500 ppm Caspian Sea</li>
<li>10,000 ppm Baltic Sea</li>
</ul>
<p>Note though, that salinity varies based on where, and at what depth you measure it. For example, the Baltic Sea has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea#Salinity" rel="noreferrer">salinity as low as 5,000 to 8,000 ppm</a> at the surface of the central basin.</p>
<p>At its saltiest, the Pecos River is reaching the lower end of the range above. Different sources give different threshold between the definitions of freshwater, brackish water, and saline water. Most would probably deem the Pecos as brackish (which would describe the Baltic Sea by the same standard), but it is salty enough to be a problem for human use. There are a number of sources that discuss the issue of the Pecos River and its salinity, but I'll <a href="http://twri.tamu.edu/media/574249/tr-470.pdf" rel="noreferrer">direct you to this one</a>, and quote a little from it</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Pecos River is among the saltiest rivers in North America with
salinity levels regularly exceeding 7,000 ppm at the Texas and New
Mexico border and 12,000 ppm near Girvin, Texas. High salinity in the
river has adversely affected the stability and biodiversity of the
riparian ecosystems, as well as, the economic uses of the river and
reservoirs.</p>
<p>In general, natural sources of salt throughout the watershed cause the
Pecos to be salty.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you look at the slides in <a href="http://docslide.us/documents/salinity-control-on-the-pecos-river.html" rel="noreferrer">this presentation</a> you'll see that different measurement locations range from around 1,000 ppm to 12,000 ppm (it gives measurements in mg/l, but that is roughly equivalent to ppm). It also gives historical measurement graphs for some select stations. The presentation also highlights that there is a history of efforts to engineer a reduction of the river's salinity.</p>
<p>The source of the Pecos River's saltiness is not so much surface salt as it is subsurface sources in the form of saline aquifers that feed the river through salt springs, for example. <a href="http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1993&amp;context=greatplainsresearch" rel="noreferrer">This research paper</a> suggests that although the Pecos was naturally salty, the activities of man have increased the salinity. The major activity is irrigation, through two mechanisms. One is the diversion of water for irrigation, which allows increased evaporation in the fields, and irrigation water that returns to the river with more concentrated salt content. The other is the depletion of freshwater aquifers through pumping. The Pecos watershed overlays both saline and freshwater aquifers, both of which have historically contributed to the riverflow. Man has ignored the saline aquifers, but heavily pumped the freshwater aquifers, reducing their contribution to the river, but not the contribution of the saline aquifers.</p>
<p><a href="http://twri.tamu.edu/reports/2008/tr315.pdf" rel="noreferrer">This report</a> is also good, and goes into much detail about the sources, both natural and human, of the Pecos River's salinity.</p>
<p>The upper reaches of the Red River in Texas overlay the same formation that creates saline conditions in the Pecos River. The streams and springs that form the source of the Red River are quite salty, and it is only further downstream, after dilution from other freshwater inputs that the Red River loses its high salinity. As <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-170-97/FS_170-97.htm" rel="noreferrer">this USGS fact sheet</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Salinity is the greatest limitation on water use in the Red River
Basin and is largely the result of naturally occurring salt springs in
parts of the upper reaches of the basin (Keller and others, 1988). The
salt sources contribute water with large (relative to potable water)
concentrations of dissolved solids, principally chloride. At certain
times and locations, the salinity of streams in the basin exceeds that
of seawater (Keller and others, 1988).</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/3Xj23.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/3Xj23.jpg" alt="Salty bed of Little Red River, a tributary of Red River, Texas (Wikipedia)" /></a></p>
<p>Salty bed of Little Red River, a tributary of Red River, Texas (Wikipedia)</p>
<p>There are salty rivers in various places on Earth, but they are primarily found in arid regions. Since much of their flow comes from groundwater (which may be much saltier than rainfall), and evaporation from the river surface is high, it seems reasonable to me that they would be more likely to be saltier than rivers in wet regions that have large contributions from rainfall, and less net evaporation. These factors are magnified by human activities such as irrigation which happens in arid regions, but less so in areas of ample rainfal.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T01:35:54.363Z
Thanks. `natural sources of salt throughout the watershed cause the Pecos to be salty.` Can you elaborate on this because it seems to be an antidote or counterexample as to why saltyrivers hardly exist. Maybe a good follow up question is why surface salt seems to be so rare or just doesnt wash into rivers via their watersheds for some reason.
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T19:50:45.373Z
@DrZ214 - I've added some additional information that may at least partially address the points in your comment. I added another source which I've summarized, although it may understate the salinity of the river prior to human development, as it provides little more than slim anecdotal evidence to support that point. Nevertheless, the case that irrigation can increase river salinity is hard to dispute.
hatchet - done with SOverflow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T18:57:53.943Z
2016-11-29T20:30:04.293Z
2020-06-18T08:25:19.090Z
hatchet - done with SOverflow
<p>Water from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea">Caspian sea</a>, with a salinity of 1.2%, is constantly flowing into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabogazk%C3%B6l">Garabogazköl</a>, where the water eventually evaporates and leaves the salt behind. Of course, the situation is not indefinitely stable, as the depression is eventually going to be filled with salt. But at the time writing, water is still flowing like a river through the very narrow inlet:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kGjJB.png"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kGjJB.png" alt="Garabogazköl"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-04T12:34:52.763Z
2016-10-04T12:34:52.763Z
SE - stop firing the good guys
<p>There are salt water rivers in different places of the world where ground water flows in contact with salt layers.</p>

<p>There is a river in Catalonia named <a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribera_Salada" rel="noreferrer">Ribera Salada</a> (meaning salty river in Catalan). My translation from Catalan Wikipedia:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>It gets its name because one of its originating currents - Fred river - comes from sources in Triassic lands with a high content of salts. The river is salty enough that its waters had been used for long time in Cambrils to obtain salt.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>However, Ribera Salada is actually salty just in part of its course, since mixing with other freshwater currents makes it brackish or nearly freshwater.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4aXQF.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4aXQF.jpg" alt="Ribera Salada in Castellar de la Ribera. "></a>
Image from Wikimedia Commons. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ribera_Salada_-_(%C3%80rea_Recreativa_de_Castellar_de_la_Ribera).JPG" rel="noreferrer">Credits here</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T22:18:07.400Z
2016-10-06T22:18:07.400Z
Pere
<p>Here in Western Australia we have many salt water streams running through farmland affected by dry land salinity. It's a huge problem where land cleared for agriculture has experienced rising water tables effectively bringing salt to the surface. This salt is washed into the creeks by rain and these streams are essentially salt saturated - far saltier than seawater. The streams generally only flow during winter though. Huge tracts of land are no longer arable because of the extreme salinity.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-07T16:15:04.730Z
Interesting.  Are you saying that clearing land leads to rising water tables?  Why would that be?
AllInOne
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-08T04:21:06.280Z
The trees that previously occupied the land consumed vast amounts of groundwater. With the imbalance of ingress vs consumption with many millions of trees cleared, the water table rose. It's a well documented situation here in Western Australia and also South Australia. To be honest I assumed it'd be a world-wide issue but I guess it's not. Our wheat farms are typically on a very large scale (like 10000 acres or more for the larger ones) and when these areas were initially cleared they were virtually completely stripped of all trees in huge tracts. We now have millions of acres of bare land.
cogsy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-07T11:14:40.887Z
2016-10-07T11:14:40.887Z
cogsy
<p>There is an area with several salt rivers and wide salt streams that exists in Russia - it's in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakutsk" rel="nofollow">Yakutia</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakha_Republic" rel="nofollow">Sakha Republic</a>), part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia" rel="nofollow">Siberia</a>.</p>

<p>Water of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyanka_River" rel="nofollow">Solyanka River</a> (flowing in to the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_River" rel="nofollow">Lena River</a>) contains 21&nbsp;g of salt per liter, some neighboring streams can contain up to 70&nbsp;g of salt per liter of their water...</p>

<p>According to science, millions years ago this territory was covered by a large sea. Later, due to uplift of the crust it was divided into many salt lakes in numerous cavities. And after the water has dried up - large stratum of salt remained inside the earth. So modern rivers and streams flowing through this stratum are fully saturated with salt.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T19:53:12.963Z
Could you add some references please?
L.B.
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2016-10-06T01:37:36.890Z
I would like to read more about River Solyanka too. The wiki aticles (in both english and russian) dont mention its salinity.
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T07:16:01.233Z
@DrZ214 [Solyanka's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyanka) salinity would range somewhere betweem 5000 and 10000 ppm, depending on the cook.
the-wabbit
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T16:15:59.237Z
@DrZ214 There are references to at least 13 rivers named 'Solyanka'   (also some High/Low/Midlle Solyanka named exists) in Russian Wiki...
Sergey
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T16:22:42.063Z
@L.B. Unfortunately I can't find any good English language reference about this, only in russian. 
It's hard to find source of something in Internet but all russian references to this story presents it as 'well known fact'.
Sergey
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T18:45:29.280Z
@Sergey I see. Could you add one or two of the Russian references? Then if someone wants to read about it they could use a translator. :)
L.B.
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2016-10-05T18:47:07.293Z
2016-10-08T12:35:35.023Z
2016-10-08T12:35:35.023Z
Sergey
<p>Here in New York City we have a salt "river".  It is called the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_River" rel="noreferrer">East River</a>" and it separates part of Long Island (Brooklyn and Queens) from the island of Manhattan and the mainland (The Bronx).</p>

<p>Indeed it looks a lot like a salt river:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vETmP.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vETmP.jpg" alt="East River"></a></p>

<p>From a hydrology perspective it is not a river tho, it is actually a saltwater estuary.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-16T23:48:16.013Z
The East River isn't even a "river", its just called that, because it connects to the ocean at both ends.  Other tidal estuaries such as Chesapeake Bay are better candidates, because they actually have a river at one end.
Spencer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T15:16:37.313Z
2016-10-04T18:18:09.127Z
2016-10-04T18:18:09.127Z
AllInOne
<p>I live near a river named Salz, flowing both warm and salty on the north slope of the Pyrenees south of Carcassonne. In historical times it was boiled dry for salt. See <a href="http://www.odeaanaude.eu/catalogaude2/les-sources-de-salz-sougraigne-p-928.html?language=en" rel="noreferrer">Les Sources de Salz</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-08T10:29:51.983Z
2016-10-13T10:48:52.387Z
2016-10-13T10:48:52.387Z
becula
<p>There is also a hypersaline periodic water flow, which although a few times more saline than sea water, I might be hesitant to call a river.  However, due to its high salinity (well above everything else mentioned here), I thought it was worth mentioning.</p>

<p>It is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Falls" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blood Falls</a>. It is the periodic <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/04/28/mystery-of-antarcticas-blood-falls-is-finally-solved/#2904f6992ef8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">draining</a> of a brine reservoir under the Tylor glacier in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Dry_Valleys" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dry Valleys</a> of Antarctica.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/wRw9H.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wRw9H.jpg" alt="blood falls"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T00:08:48.417Z
@Imtherealsanic Thanks for the edits. It is much appreciated and help me to learn too :-)
Camilo Rada
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2018-02-26T00:09:54.773Z
No problem! Anything for the benefit of another! :D
Eevee
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2018-02-26T06:23:01.910Z
Tried to make additional improvements.  Note that you link to the Dry Valleys file appears to have been a local link on your hard drive and not a web link?  I changed it to Wikipedia for the time being.  Thanks for good/interesting answer :-)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-22T00:59:10.227Z
2018-02-26T06:22:00.523Z
2018-02-26T06:22:00.523Z
Camilo Rada
<p>Beyond the answers above, here is a small river near Berca, Romania, where active mud volcanism and salt diapirism are widespread, explaining the high salinity of this water. </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BNpMX.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BNpMX.jpg" alt="my own picture">Salty river. Note box for scale. (My own picture, geotagged)</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T13:37:08.960Z
2017-02-09T14:59:13.767Z
2017-02-09T14:59:13.767Z
DrGC
<p>There are specific rivers that sometimes flow inward called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_bore" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tidal Bores</a>. </p>

<p>A great example of a Tidal Bore is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Amazon River</a>. </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/xPFpP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/xPFpP.png" alt="pororoca"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T17:59:59.627Z
2018-02-27T02:28:15.097Z
2018-02-27T02:28:15.097Z
Takahiro Waki
<p>Here in Norway we are mighty proud of "Saltstraumen"(meaning Salt Stream)</p>

<p>Again, not technically a river, but a narrow strait connecting the ocean to a wider fjord behind it.</p>

<p>As the tides go in and out, Saltstraumen does too.  It is the world's strongest tidal current.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltstraumen" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia link.</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-04T09:32:13.143Z
2016-10-04T09:32:13.143Z
Stig Hemmer
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werra" rel="noreferrer">Werra</a> – a natural river – had and up to a certain degree still has at least a brackish water body. A portion of the salt content of the river comes from natural leaching, the greater part is passed by nearby potash industry.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jEzek.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jEzek.jpg" alt="Heringen"></a>
(<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/50%C2%B053&#39;14.0%22N+10%C2%B000&#39;20.0%22E/@50.8967781,10.0000872,9781a,20y,46.55h/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d50.887222!4d10.005556" rel="noreferrer">Heringen with the Werra between mine and city</a>. The picture was shot from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Kali_(Heringen)" rel="noreferrer">Monte Kali</a>)</p>

<p>The legal threshold value in the 1940s was a salinity of about 0.5%. The value was often exceeded. Later in the 1960's the underground dumping of the by-products was ceased and all the brine ended in the Werra. The salinity rose up to 4.0%.</p>

<p>The ocean like salinity terminated the former (almost) freshwater habitat and changed it to brackish water habitat with a very low  biodiversity: e.g. only one invertebrate (of former 60 -100) survived and two invertebrate halophile aliens were introduced.</p>

<p>After the German reunification potash mining (a lot of mines were in the former GDR) declined and stricter limits were introduced. The salinity limits now are ~0.5 % and will be reduced to ~0.3% until 2019. The actual salinity seems to be ~0.33% (Source: <a href="http://www.bund.net/fileadmin/bundnet/pdfs/wasser/lebendige_fluesse/20111108_Wasser_WerraVersalzung_Gutachten.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Werra-Versalzung Gutachten p44/45</a>).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T13:37:51.407Z
2016-10-07T16:43:51.187Z
2016-10-07T16:43:51.187Z
klanomath
<p>Świna (note that while english wikipedia lists it as a river, both german and polish wikipedias are more ambiguous, for example polis wiki descirbes it as  a "strait" of the Baltic sea): <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awina" rel="nofollow">Świna (Wikipedia)</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-10T15:32:29.317Z
2016-10-12T07:55:26.080Z
2016-10-12T07:55:26.080Z
Łukasz Grabowski
<p><em><strong>NOTE:</strong> Okay, I'm trying again to answer this question. I'll make sure to back it up with accurate information this time :)</em></p>

<p>There is a river in Arizona called the <a href="https://saltriverraftingarizona.com/arizona-salt-river-actually-salty/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Salt River</a>. In the article linked, it states the river is 'special' because It's salty.</p>

<p>There are known to be more than just the Salt River; but there's an example of a saltwater river for you :)</p>

<p><em>If you're still questioning my response, please read the article liked for more information.</em></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T20:40:56.640Z
@gansub I don't just create good posts just for the reputation, I post them for the benefit of others willing to learn from them. Although I do try to keep my reputation from falling as much as I possibly could.
Eevee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-26T16:06:15.173Z
2018-02-26T16:26:05.327Z
2018-02-26T16:26:05.327Z
Eevee
<p>I know two salty or brackish rivers</p>
<p>The Desaguadero river in Bolívia and La Sorgente in Paestum, Italy.</p>
<p>Desaguadero gets salty because the Titicaca lake has some salt in it, however when its waters reach the Poopo lake, which is a huge salt plain then the water gets hyper saline. That area is Rich with salt just like any desert. All deserts have huge amounts of salt, that's exactly why they have become deserts. Due to salt.</p>
<p>La Sorgente is brackish from the Source at Capo di Fiume, in Paestum. It springs out already brackish. There must be contact of the water with the salt mines underground.</p>
<p>It is a fallacy of pseudo scientists that rivers carry salt to lakes and oceans, salt is already there! There are huge salt mines underground,  like the ones under the Great Lakes. The springs located on the bottom of these Lakes inject fresh water, just like most springs on Earth, including the springs under the ocean! Nearly all springs inject freshwater. The water of rivers, Lakes and oceans become salty due to contact with salt mines.</p>
<p>Most salt mines have been exposed after the big flood described in the bible. However many of them resisted the flood and remain underground. According to the bible , water was injected into Earth from underneath,  by springs. All that pressure of water must have burst open many salt mines , like the Dead Sea or any other salt depression. The ones under the great lakes resisted the pressure, and remain springing freshwater and collecting water from the drain on the niagara river without contact with the salt mines underground.  Those salt mines are considered the biggest on Earth and if there were collapse of that area and the water came into contact with the salt, then the whole of the USA and Canada could become a desert just like the west of the USA  where the salt was visibly exposed and salt lakes are abundant and the land is dry. There are lots of salt depressions in the West of the USA,  some dry and some still covered by lakes.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-15T07:50:31.003Z
2023-07-26T01:29:26.643Z
2023-07-26T01:29:26.643Z
Rafael Garcia
<p>There is a saltwater River in India called Luni river
Luni (also known as Lonari, Lavanavari, Lavanavati, Salt river) is a river in Rajasthan. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer, passes through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 495 km.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-11T03:53:20.367Z
2019-11-11T03:53:20.367Z
Himanshu Mahesh Shete
<p>The Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and the Dirty Devil River in Utah are two more rivers which have considerable salinity,</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-20T16:12:20.697Z
Hi Richard, welcome to Earth Science.  The Salt Fork was already mentioned in [Eevees answer](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/a/13465/6).  Can you please [edit] your answer to add some sources for the Dirty Devil River and how it is special?  As it is, your answer is very short and at risk of being removed.  I see your answer ends in a comma, did you mean to continue it?
gerrit
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-16T05:20:21.120Z
@gerrit Eevee mentioned a river in Arizona, Richard talks of a river in Oklahoma, different ones (hatchet's mention of the SF of the Red River is more proximate, but still different by ~ 200 miles).  But I do agree that more details on how salty these rivers are would be vitally useful to this answer!
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-19T23:46:07.233Z
2020-04-19T23:46:07.233Z
Richard B. Walker
<blockquote>
  <p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimarron_River_(Arkansas_River_tributary)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cimarron River</a>, a salt river, extends 698 miles (1,123 km)
  across New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas. The headwaters flow
  from Johnson Mesa west of Folsom in northeastern New Mexico. Much of
  the river's length lies in Oklahoma, where it either borders or passes
  through eleven counties. There are no major cities along its route.
  The river enters the Oklahoma Panhandle near Kenton, Oklahoma, crosses
  the southeastern corner of Colorado into Kansas, reenters the Oklahoma
  Panhandle, reenters Kansas, and finally returns to Oklahoma where it
  joins the Arkansas River at Keystone Reservoir west of Tulsa,
  Oklahoma, its only impoundment. The Cimarron drains a basin that
  encompasses about 18,927 square miles (49,020 km2).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Edit:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Cimarron's water quality is rated as poor because the river flows through natural mineral deposits, salt plains, and saline springs, where it dissolves large amounts of minerals.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-16T05:43:03.480Z
[This report](https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wri954066) seems to suggest up to 16,600 mg/L of primarily sodium chloride in the Cimarron, which seems to be 5,110 ppm... so not too dissimilar form the Pecos River.
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-30T11:05:07.590Z
2019-12-30T17:10:11.160Z
2019-12-30T17:10:11.160Z
David W.
<p>I'm curious if there are any saltwater rivers on Earth. These would presumably arise if a saltwater lake had a river outlet to the ocean.</p>

<p>However, all the saltwater lakes I looked at (Caspian Sea, Dead Sea, Great Salt Lake Utah), apparently don't have any river outlets.</p>

<p>Do any exist? And the obvious follow up, why or why not?</p>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong> For the purposes of this question, undersea flows don't count. They are fascinating, but I'm interested if any "regular surface rivers" exist as saltwater rivers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T12:00:15.960Z
Well, if the saltwater lakes leaked water, they would get progressively less and less salty. To get a salty lake, you need a mechanism to increase the concentration of salt, which means more salt must be coming in than leaking out - which means most of the water must be lost through something that doesn't lose the salt as well; in the cases you mentioned, this is evaporation. However, there are salty marine currents, if you count those as "rivers" :)
Luaan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-03T18:00:39.313Z
Define "saltwater". There are some fairly salty rivers in the western U.S., but none as salty as seawater. For instance, the Pecos River measures as high as 5,000 ppm in places, whereas seawater is 35,000 ppm.
hatchet - done with SOverflow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-04T22:46:28.297Z
@hatchet That's starting to sound more like it. For comparison, what is the salinity of a more "normal" river like the Mississippi or Nile?
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T00:10:02.930Z
Midwest rivers would be in the 100 to <400 ppm. The Nile is 250 ppm at Aswan Dam (higher at the delta). This is according to various reports you can google up on the web.
hatchet - done with SOverflow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T01:12:24.520Z
@hatchet Okay I just looked up the Caspian Sea too, which says salinity 1.2% (1200 ppm?). If that's the case then definitely the Pecos River would count. However, you said "in places"? What places along the river are 5000 ppm? Is it like that for a majority of its length?
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-05T18:09:31.477Z
@DrZ214 - I'll make an answer rather than comment more, to address your questions.
hatchet - done with SOverflow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-06T18:11:14.257Z
@DrZ214 1.2% = 12‰ = 12000 ppm
Urhixidur
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-16T18:10:38.323Z
There are a couple of answers that cover tidal estuaries. I'd like to see something about why OP does or does not think them suitable.
Spencer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-16T18:59:25.557Z
@Spencer AFAIK, estuaries are not fed by gullies like rivers are, and estuaries are always right next to the ocean.
DrZ214
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-16T19:38:28.423Z
@DrZ214 Nothing in the original post says that those are requirements for being considered a 'salt river'. Many estuaries have a net outflow of brackish water due to fresh water being fed in by tributary rivers mixing with ocean water.
Spencer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-09T19:58:01.920Z
Some rivers (notably the Okavango in Botswana) do not flow into oceans or lakes, but simply evaporate from an inland delta. (A small percentage of the Okavango also flows into a lake, it must be said.) Salinity in such a river delta can be high, even giving rise to salt islands in the Okavango delta. However the Okavango isn't nearly salty enough to be an acceptable answer. Could someone perhaps think of another more saline inland delta?
user25972
<hydrology><geography><rivers><salinity><estuary>
Are there any saltwater rivers on Earth?
DrZ214
# Are there any saltwater rivers on Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-03)

I'm curious if there are any saltwater rivers on Earth. These would presumably arise if a saltwater lake had a river outlet to the ocean.

However, all the saltwater lakes I looked at (Caspian Sea, Dead Sea, Great Salt Lake Utah), apparently don't have any river outlets.

Do any exist? And the obvious follow up, why or why not?

**Edit:** For the purposes of this question, undersea flows don't count. They are fascinating, but I'm interested if any "regular surface rivers" exist as saltwater rivers.

**Tags:** hydrology, geography, rivers, salinity, estuary

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Well, if the saltwater lakes leaked water, they would get progressively less and less salty. To get a salty lake, you need a mechanism to increase the concentration of salt, which means more salt must be coming in than leaking out - which means most of the water must be lost through something that doesn't lose the salt as well; in the cases you mentioned, this is evaporation. However, there are salty marine currents, if you count those as "rivers" :)  
> **username_2**: Define "saltwater". There are some fairly salty rivers in the western U.S., but none as salty as seawater. For instance, the Pecos River measures as high as 5,000 ppm in places, whereas seawater is 35,000 ppm.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 That's starting to sound more like it. For comparison, what is the salinity of a more "normal" river like the Mississippi or Nile?  
> **username_2**: Midwest rivers would be in the 100 to <400 ppm. The Nile is 250 ppm at Aswan Dam (higher at the delta). This is according to various reports you can google up on the web.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Okay I just looked up the Caspian Sea too, which says salinity 1.2% (1200 ppm?). If that's the case then definitely the Pecos River would count. However, you said "in places"? What places along the river are 5000 ppm? Is it like that for a majority of its length?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 - I'll make an answer rather than comment more, to address your questions.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 1.2% = 12‰ = 12000 ppm  
> **username_4**: There are a couple of answers that cover tidal estuaries. I'd like to see something about why OP does or does not think them suitable.  
> **username_0**: @username_4 AFAIK, estuaries are not fed by gullies like rivers are, and estuaries are always right next to the ocean.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 Nothing in the original post says that those are requirements for being considered a 'salt river'. Many estuaries have a net outflow of brackish water due to fresh water being fed in by tributary rivers mixing with ocean water.  
> **username_5**: Some rivers (notably the Okavango in Botswana) do not flow into oceans or lakes, but simply evaporate from an inland delta. (A small percentage of the Okavango also flows into a lake, it must be said.) Salinity in such a river delta can be high, even giving rise to salt islands in the Okavango delta. However the Okavango isn't nearly salty enough to be an acceptable answer. Could someone perhaps think of another more saline inland delta?  

---

## 20 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2016-10-03. Score: 86

The water in any river draining the sea is infinitely recycle-able (from rain replenishment), whereas the salt from any terrestrial source is not. So salty rivers, if any, won't exist permanently. Saltwater lakes gain their salinity precisely because they have no outlet, so salt just gets concentrated by evaporation. I don't think there are any truly saline rivers throughout their entire length.

The nearest approximations I can think of are:

* Rare ephemeral runoff from emergent salt domes in desert areas.
* Freshwater rivers that drain into arid areas where combined evaporation and infiltration gradually reduces the flow to zero. These are more 'very brackish' than truly saline. The Amu Darya in Uzbekistan is one such example. I don't know the salinity of the Jordan as it enters the Dead Sea, but the river is reduced to almost nothing, whilst there are hypersaline springs, and sewage effluent from Amman draining into it.
* The only river I can think of that is very highly mineralized from source to sea is only about 3 kilometres long. It is an unnamed river from the volcanic crater on Savo Island, in the Solomon Islands (Southwest Pacific). It is also acidic and boiling hot - quite literally, for most of it's length.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Great answer especially due to all those examples. Thanks.  
> **username_7**: One more category of *not properly a river* would be tidal flows, which can be pretty strong and appear like rivers in some areas.  
> **username_8**: Do the undersea saline flows like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_undersea_river count?  
> **username_0**: @username_8 For the purposes of this question, they don't count. I'll make an edit to the OP. I'm interested in "regular surface rivers" only.  
> **username_0**: This is a great answer, but I unaccepted it because there are so many other answers with at least one good example too.  

---

### Answer by username_9 on 2016-10-03. Score: 35

The already accepted answer is already covering the "real" answer as far as I'm concerned, and while you won't find many (any?) saline rivers in the traditional sense, we do have underwater "rivers" that *kiiiiind of but not quite* fit the bill. They're not saline rivers as I expect you envision, but I figure they could be an interesting "by the way though" answer to the question anyway.

One good example is The Black Sea undersea river. The actual article in which it is originally posted seems to be unaccessible right now, so adding a more "prosaic" description of it:

> It stems from salty water spilling through the Bosphorus Strait from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea, where the water has a lower salt content. This causes the dense water from the Mediterranean to flow like a river along the seabed, carving a channel and deep banks. 'It flows down the sea shelf and out into the abyssal plain much like a river on land,"
>
> ![A 3-D radar image, using false color, of the undersea river channel where it enters the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait.](https://i.sstatic.net/cHZDh.jpg "A 3-D radar image, using false color, of the undersea river channel where it enters the Black Sea from the Bosphorus Strait.")

So much water flows through the Black Sea undersea river that it is estimated to possibly being the sixth largest river in the world.

---

Another, perhaps more visually impactful example might be the Cenote Angelita in Mexico, and although this isn't a river at all, it *looks* very much like one. The Cenote Angelita is a heavily saline mass of water found at the bottom of a fresh water cave, with a layer of Hydrogen Sulfate separating the two watermasses, snaking around in cracks and layers that make it look like a river. As far as I understand it, the waters here are essentially static and unmoving, which has caused the heavier saline water to sink to the bottom, while the fresh water lies on top. Essentially the same as when you put oil in a cup of water.

> [![Cenote Angelita](https://i.sstatic.net/oQKLc.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/oQKLc.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_10**: According to other [sources](https://sciencedummy.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/the-peculiar-underwater-river-mexicos-cenote-angelita/) it's an HSO₄- (hydrogen sulfate, an aion) layer and not H₂S (hydrogen sulphide, a poisonous gas)  
> **username_9**: Hum. Seems there's a lot of confusion on what it is, googling it around a bit i see some sources claim it's Sulfate, others it's sulphide. I can't imagine you would be wrong though, sulfate is a liquid and sulphide is a gas (at those temperatures), so I will amend the answer. Certainly seems overwhelmingly likely that sulfate is correct.  
> **username_11**: As a chemical oceanographer I can respond to the sulfate/sulfide debate. Stagnant high-salinity (dense) bottom water loses sulfate (normally 0.028 molar, or 8% by weight of sea salt) to sulfate-reducing bacteria, who want its oxygen. The reaction is H2SO4 -> 2 O2 + H2S (although the actual mechanism is much more complicated). This means that below ~200 m the Black Sea is poisonous to everything but anoxic bacteria. See [Oxic, Suboxic and Anoxic Conditions in the Black Sea](http://www.ocean.washington.edu/people/faculty/jmurray/BlackSeaOverview.pdf) for oceanography.  
> **username_12**: This place looks surreal... thanks for posting!!  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-10-05. Score: 29

The Pecos River in Texas, USA may arguably fit the description of a "saltwater river". A point of argument is what is considered to be "saltwater". For comparison, here are some [bodies of water and their salinity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodies_of_water_by_salinity).

* 35,000 ppm Pacific and Atlantic Ocean
* 13,000-23,000 ppm Black Sea
* 12,500 ppm Caspian Sea
* 10,000 ppm Baltic Sea

Note though, that salinity varies based on where, and at what depth you measure it. For example, the Baltic Sea has [salinity as low as 5,000 to 8,000 ppm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea#Salinity) at the surface of the central basin.

At its saltiest, the Pecos River is reaching the lower end of the range above. Different sources give different threshold between the definitions of freshwater, brackish water, and saline water. Most would probably deem the Pecos as brackish (which would describe the Baltic Sea by the same standard), but it is salty enough to be a problem for human use. There are a number of sources that discuss the issue of the Pecos River and its salinity, but I'll [direct you to this one](http://twri.tamu.edu/media/574249/tr-470.pdf), and quote a little from it

> The Pecos River is among the saltiest rivers in North America with
> salinity levels regularly exceeding 7,000 ppm at the Texas and New
> Mexico border and 12,000 ppm near Girvin, Texas. High salinity in the
> river has adversely affected the stability and biodiversity of the
> riparian ecosystems, as well as, the economic uses of the river and
> reservoirs.
>
> In general, natural sources of salt throughout the watershed cause the
> Pecos to be salty.

If you look at the slides in [this presentation](http://docslide.us/documents/salinity-control-on-the-pecos-river.html) you'll see that different measurement locations range from around 1,000 ppm to 12,000 ppm (it gives measurements in mg/l, but that is roughly equivalent to ppm). It also gives historical measurement graphs for some select stations. The presentation also highlights that there is a history of efforts to engineer a reduction of the river's salinity.

The source of the Pecos River's saltiness is not so much surface salt as it is subsurface sources in the form of saline aquifers that feed the river through salt springs, for example. [This research paper](http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1993&context=greatplainsresearch) suggests that although the Pecos was naturally salty, the activities of man have increased the salinity. The major activity is irrigation, through two mechanisms. One is the diversion of water for irrigation, which allows increased evaporation in the fields, and irrigation water that returns to the river with more concentrated salt content. The other is the depletion of freshwater aquifers through pumping. The Pecos watershed overlays both saline and freshwater aquifers, both of which have historically contributed to the riverflow. Man has ignored the saline aquifers, but heavily pumped the freshwater aquifers, reducing their contribution to the river, but not the contribution of the saline aquifers.

[This report](http://twri.tamu.edu/reports/2008/tr315.pdf) is also good, and goes into much detail about the sources, both natural and human, of the Pecos River's salinity.

The upper reaches of the Red River in Texas overlay the same formation that creates saline conditions in the Pecos River. The streams and springs that form the source of the Red River are quite salty, and it is only further downstream, after dilution from other freshwater inputs that the Red River loses its high salinity. As [this USGS fact sheet](https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-170-97/FS_170-97.htm) says:

> Salinity is the greatest limitation on water use in the Red River
> Basin and is largely the result of naturally occurring salt springs in
> parts of the upper reaches of the basin (Keller and others, 1988). The
> salt sources contribute water with large (relative to potable water)
> concentrations of dissolved solids, principally chloride. At certain
> times and locations, the salinity of streams in the basin exceeds that
> of seawater (Keller and others, 1988).

[![Salty bed of Little Red River, a tributary of Red River, Texas (Wikipedia)](https://i.sstatic.net/3Xj23.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/3Xj23.jpg)

Salty bed of Little Red River, a tributary of Red River, Texas (Wikipedia)

There are salty rivers in various places on Earth, but they are primarily found in arid regions. Since much of their flow comes from groundwater (which may be much saltier than rainfall), and evaporation from the river surface is high, it seems reasonable to me that they would be more likely to be saltier than rivers in wet regions that have large contributions from rainfall, and less net evaporation. These factors are magnified by human activities such as irrigation which happens in arid regions, but less so in areas of ample rainfal.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks. `natural sources of salt throughout the watershed cause the Pecos to be salty.` Can you elaborate on this because it seems to be an antidote or counterexample as to why saltyrivers hardly exist. Maybe a good follow up question is why surface salt seems to be so rare or just doesnt wash into rivers via their watersheds for some reason.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 - I've added some additional information that may at least partially address the points in your comment. I added another source which I've summarized, although it may understate the salinity of the river prior to human development, as it provides little more than slim anecdotal evidence to support that point. Nevertheless, the case that irrigation can increase river salinity is hard to dispute.  

---

### Answer by username_13 on 2016-10-04. Score: 25

Water from the [Caspian sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea), with a salinity of 1.2%, is constantly flowing into [Garabogazköl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabogazk%C3%B6l), where the water eventually evaporates and leaves the salt behind. Of course, the situation is not indefinitely stable, as the depression is eventually going to be filled with salt. But at the time writing, water is still flowing like a river through the very narrow inlet:

[![Garabogazköl](https://i.sstatic.net/kGjJB.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/kGjJB.png)


---

### Answer by username_16 on 2016-10-03. Score: 18

Here in New York City we have a salt "river". It is called the "[East River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_River)" and it separates part of Long Island (Brooklyn and Queens) from the island of Manhattan and the mainland (The Bronx).

Indeed it looks a lot like a salt river:

[![East River](https://i.sstatic.net/vETmP.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/vETmP.jpg)

From a hydrology perspective it is not a river tho, it is actually a saltwater estuary.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: The East River isn't even a "river", its just called that, because it connects to the ocean at both ends.  Other tidal estuaries such as Chesapeake Bay are better candidates, because they actually have a river at one end.  

---

### Answer by username_11 on 2016-10-08. Score: 15

I live near a river named Salz, flowing both warm and salty on the north slope of the Pyrenees south of Carcassonne. In historical times it was boiled dry for salt. See [Les Sources de Salz](http://www.odeaanaude.eu/catalogaude2/les-sources-de-salz-sougraigne-p-928.html?language=en)


---

### Answer by username_14 on 2016-10-06. Score: 12

There are salt water rivers in different places of the world where ground water flows in contact with salt layers.

There is a river in Catalonia named [Ribera Salada](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribera_Salada) (meaning salty river in Catalan). My translation from Catalan Wikipedia:

> It gets its name because one of its originating currents - Fred river - comes from sources in Triassic lands with a high content of salts. The river is salty enough that its waters had been used for long time in Cambrils to obtain salt.

However, Ribera Salada is actually salty just in part of its course, since mixing with other freshwater currents makes it brackish or nearly freshwater.

[![Ribera Salada in Castellar de la Ribera. ](https://i.sstatic.net/4aXQF.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/4aXQF.jpg)
Image from Wikimedia Commons. [Credits here](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ribera_Salada_-_(%C3%80rea_Recreativa_de_Castellar_de_la_Ribera).JPG).


---

### Answer by username_15 on 2016-10-07. Score: 10

Here in Western Australia we have many salt water streams running through farmland affected by dry land salinity. It's a huge problem where land cleared for agriculture has experienced rising water tables effectively bringing salt to the surface. This salt is washed into the creeks by rain and these streams are essentially salt saturated - far saltier than seawater. The streams generally only flow during winter though. Huge tracts of land are no longer arable because of the extreme salinity.

> **Comments:**
> **username_16**: Interesting.  Are you saying that clearing land leads to rising water tables?  Why would that be?  
> **username_15**: The trees that previously occupied the land consumed vast amounts of groundwater. With the imbalance of ingress vs consumption with many millions of trees cleared, the water table rose. It's a well documented situation here in Western Australia and also South Australia. To be honest I assumed it'd be a world-wide issue but I guess it's not. Our wheat farms are typically on a very large scale (like 10000 acres or more for the larger ones) and when these areas were initially cleared they were virtually completely stripped of all trees in huge tracts. We now have millions of acres of bare land.  

---

### Answer by username_17 on 2016-10-05. Score: 9

There is an area with several salt rivers and wide salt streams that exists in Russia - it's in [Yakutia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakutsk) ([Sakha Republic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakha_Republic)), part of [Siberia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia).

Water of [Solyanka River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyanka_River) (flowing in to the great [Lena River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_River)) contains 21 g of salt per liter, some neighboring streams can contain up to 70 g of salt per liter of their water...

According to science, millions years ago this territory was covered by a large sea. Later, due to uplift of the crust it was divided into many salt lakes in numerous cavities. And after the water has dried up - large stratum of salt remained inside the earth. So modern rivers and streams flowing through this stratum are fully saturated with salt.

> **Comments:**
> **username_18**: Could you add some references please?  
> **username_0**: I would like to read more about River Solyanka too. The wiki aticles (in both english and russian) dont mention its salinity.  
> **username_19**: @username_0 [Solyanka's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyanka) salinity would range somewhere betweem 5000 and 10000 ppm, depending on the cook.  
> **username_17**: @username_0 There are references to at least 13 rivers named 'Solyanka'   (also some High/Low/Midlle Solyanka named exists) in Russian Wiki...  
> **username_17**: @L.B. Unfortunately I can't find any good English language reference about this, only in russian.  It's hard to find source of something in Internet but all russian references to this story presents it as 'well known fact'.  
> **username_18**: @username_17 I see. Could you add one or two of the Russian references? Then if someone wants to read about it they could use a translator. :)  

---

### Answer by username_10 on 2016-10-06. Score: 8

The [Werra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werra) – a natural river – had and up to a certain degree still has at least a brackish water body. A portion of the salt content of the river comes from natural leaching, the greater part is passed by nearby potash industry.

[![Heringen](https://i.sstatic.net/jEzek.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/jEzek.jpg)
([Heringen with the Werra between mine and city](https://www.google.com/maps/place/50%C2%B053'14.0%22N+10%C2%B000'20.0%22E/@50.8967781,10.0000872,9781a,20y,46.55h/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d50.887222!4d10.005556). The picture was shot from the [Monte Kali](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Kali_(Heringen)))

The legal threshold value in the 1940s was a salinity of about 0.5%. The value was often exceeded. Later in the 1960's the underground dumping of the by-products was ceased and all the brine ended in the Werra. The salinity rose up to 4.0%.

The ocean like salinity terminated the former (almost) freshwater habitat and changed it to brackish water habitat with a very low biodiversity: e.g. only one invertebrate (of former 60 -100) survived and two invertebrate halophile aliens were introduced.

After the German reunification potash mining (a lot of mines were in the former GDR) declined and stricter limits were introduced. The salinity limits now are ~0.5 % and will be reduced to ~0.3% until 2019. The actual salinity seems to be ~0.33% (Source: [Werra-Versalzung Gutachten p44/45](http://www.bund.net/fileadmin/bundnet/pdfs/wasser/lebendige_fluesse/20111108_Wasser_WerraVersalzung_Gutachten.pdf)).


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### Answer by username_20 on 2018-01-22. Score: 7

There is also a hypersaline periodic water flow, which although a few times more saline than sea water, I might be hesitant to call a river. However, due to its high salinity (well above everything else mentioned here), I thought it was worth mentioning.

It is called [Blood Falls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Falls). It is the periodic [draining](https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/04/28/mystery-of-antarcticas-blood-falls-is-finally-solved/#2904f6992ef8) of a brine reservoir under the Tylor glacier in the [Dry Valleys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Dry_Valleys) of Antarctica.

[![blood falls](https://i.sstatic.net/wRw9H.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/wRw9H.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_20**: @Imtherealsanic Thanks for the edits. It is much appreciated and help me to learn too :-)  
> **username_21**: No problem! Anything for the benefit of another! :D  
> **username_22**: Tried to make additional improvements.  Note that you link to the Dry Valleys file appears to have been a local link on your hard drive and not a web link?  I changed it to Wikipedia for the time being.  Thanks for good/interesting answer :-)  

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### Answer by username_23 on 2017-02-07. Score: 7

Beyond the answers above, here is a small river near Berca, Romania, where active mud volcanism and salt diapirism are widespread, explaining the high salinity of this water.

[![my own picture](https://i.sstatic.net/BNpMX.jpg)Salty river. Note box for scale. (My own picture, geotagged)](https://i.sstatic.net/BNpMX.jpg)


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### Answer by username_24 on 2016-10-03. Score: 6

There are specific rivers that sometimes flow inward called [Tidal Bores](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_bore).

A great example of a Tidal Bore is the [Amazon River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River).

[![pororoca](https://i.sstatic.net/xPFpP.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/xPFpP.png)


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### Answer by username_25 on 2016-10-04. Score: 6

Here in Norway we are mighty proud of "Saltstraumen"(meaning Salt Stream)

Again, not technically a river, but a narrow strait connecting the ocean to a wider fjord behind it.

As the tides go in and out, Saltstraumen does too. It is the world's strongest tidal current.

[Wikipedia link.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltstraumen)


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### Answer by username_26 on 2016-10-10. Score: 5

Świna (note that while english wikipedia lists it as a river, both german and polish wikipedias are more ambiguous, for example polis wiki descirbes it as a "strait" of the Baltic sea): [Świna (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awina).


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### Answer by username_21 on 2018-02-26. Score: 1

***NOTE:** Okay, I'm trying again to answer this question. I'll make sure to back it up with accurate information this time :)*

There is a river in Arizona called the [Salt River](https://saltriverraftingarizona.com/arizona-salt-river-actually-salty/). In the article linked, it states the river is 'special' because It's salty.

There are known to be more than just the Salt River; but there's an example of a saltwater river for you :)

*If you're still questioning my response, please read the article liked for more information.*

> **Comments:**
> **username_21**: @gansub I don't just create good posts just for the reputation, I post them for the benefit of others willing to learn from them. Although I do try to keep my reputation from falling as much as I possibly could.  

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### Answer by username_30 on 2019-12-30. Score: 1

> The [Cimarron River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimarron_River_(Arkansas_River_tributary)), a salt river, extends 698 miles (1,123 km)
> across New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas. The headwaters flow
> from Johnson Mesa west of Folsom in northeastern New Mexico. Much of
> the river's length lies in Oklahoma, where it either borders or passes
> through eleven counties. There are no major cities along its route.
> The river enters the Oklahoma Panhandle near Kenton, Oklahoma, crosses
> the southeastern corner of Colorado into Kansas, reenters the Oklahoma
> Panhandle, reenters Kansas, and finally returns to Oklahoma where it
> joins the Arkansas River at Keystone Reservoir west of Tulsa,
> Oklahoma, its only impoundment. The Cimarron drains a basin that
> encompasses about 18,927 square miles (49,020 km2).

Edit:

> The Cimarron's water quality is rated as poor because the river flows through natural mineral deposits, salt plains, and saline springs, where it dissolves large amounts of minerals.

> **Comments:**
> **username_22**: [This report](https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/wri954066) seems to suggest up to 16,600 mg/L of primarily sodium chloride in the Cimarron, which seems to be 5,110 ppm... so not too dissimilar form the Pecos River.  

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### Answer by username_27 on 2023-07-15. Score: 0

I know two salty or brackish rivers

The Desaguadero river in Bolívia and La Sorgente in Paestum, Italy.

Desaguadero gets salty because the Titicaca lake has some salt in it, however when its waters reach the Poopo lake, which is a huge salt plain then the water gets hyper saline. That area is Rich with salt just like any desert. All deserts have huge amounts of salt, that's exactly why they have become deserts. Due to salt.

La Sorgente is brackish from the Source at Capo di Fiume, in Paestum. It springs out already brackish. There must be contact of the water with the salt mines underground.

It is a fallacy of pseudo scientists that rivers carry salt to lakes and oceans, salt is already there! There are huge salt mines underground, like the ones under the Great Lakes. The springs located on the bottom of these Lakes inject fresh water, just like most springs on Earth, including the springs under the ocean! Nearly all springs inject freshwater. The water of rivers, Lakes and oceans become salty due to contact with salt mines.

Most salt mines have been exposed after the big flood described in the bible. However many of them resisted the flood and remain underground. According to the bible , water was injected into Earth from underneath, by springs. All that pressure of water must have burst open many salt mines , like the Dead Sea or any other salt depression. The ones under the great lakes resisted the pressure, and remain springing freshwater and collecting water from the drain on the niagara river without contact with the salt mines underground. Those salt mines are considered the biggest on Earth and if there were collapse of that area and the water came into contact with the salt, then the whole of the USA and Canada could become a desert just like the west of the USA where the salt was visibly exposed and salt lakes are abundant and the land is dry. There are lots of salt depressions in the West of the USA, some dry and some still covered by lakes.


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### Answer by username_28 on 2019-11-11. Score: 0

There is a saltwater River in India called Luni river
Luni (also known as Lonari, Lavanavari, Lavanavati, Salt river) is a river in Rajasthan. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer, passes through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 495 km.


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### Answer by username_29 on 2020-04-19. Score: 0

The Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and the Dirty Devil River in Utah are two more rivers which have considerable salinity,

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: Hi username_29, welcome to Earth Science.  The Salt Fork was already mentioned in [Eevees answer](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/a/13465/6).  Can you please [edit] your answer to add some sources for the Dirty Devil River and how it is special?  As it is, your answer is very short and at risk of being removed.  I see your answer ends in a comma, did you mean to continue it?  
> **username_22**: @username_7 username_21 mentioned a river in Arizona, username_29 talks of a river in Oklahoma, different ones (username_2's mention of the SF of the Red River is more proximate, but still different by ~ 200 miles).  But I do agree that more details on how salty these rivers are would be vitally useful to this answer!  

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