Salinity is the correct chemical term for the sum

concentration of all the ionic constituents dissolved in

inland waters, both fresh and saline. Salinity is best
expressed as total ion concentration in mg liter-I or meq
liter-I, which are essentially equivalent as mass or
volume in dilute solutions. In saline lakes, the density
of the waters diverge significantly from unity, and
hence salt lake salinities should be expressed on a mass
per mass basis, such as mass total ions per mass of
solution (g kg-I ), which are temperature independent
(Williams 1994). In open lakes with an outlet, the
chemical composition of the water is governed largely
by the composition of influents from the drainage basin
and the atmosphere. Water salinity in closed basins is
increased by evaporation and modified by precipitation
of salts.
The ensuing summary of the ionic composition of
inland waters views salinity along a gradient of
concentrations from fresh waters of relatively low
salinity to highly saline inland waters with ionic
concentrations in excess of those of sea water. Although
the volume of saline lakes is nearly equivalent to
freshwater lakes (Chap. 1), saline lake ecosystems,
though chemically and biologically fascinating, are of
distinctly less use to