Humanity is messing with the Earth’s “salt cycle,” with potentially dangerous consequences for drinking water supplies, crop production, and ecosystems. That’s according to a new study published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment on Tuesday. It’s the first time that scientists have documented the extent to which humans have changed the salt content of the land, water, and air across the globe.
Researchers in Maryland and four other states found that 2.5 billion acres of soil around the world have gotten saltier, an area roughly the size of the entire United States, and it’s stressing out plants. Salt is even getting kicked up into the air: In arid regions, “lakes are drying up and sending plumes of saline dust into the atmosphere,” such as the Aral Sea in Central Asia, the study says.
Salt pollution presents an…