<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/9c1f6821-117a-4828-a541-8c071d7d7e4c/F17A2632-B411-4085-946C-D3C220F37CDB/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109" href="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109" style="font-size: 11px;">www.environmentalgraffiti.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.environmentalgraffiti.com/img/F2256D64-1022-4745-973D-B63CFC6223EA" alt="Dramatic colours of the salt ponds." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><P>‘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 <A href="http://www.killerdirectory.com/blog/nature/salt-ponds.html">salt ponds</A> 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…</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.environmentalgraffiti.com/img/A6E330E1-EA6E-492E-8095-783836B43D95" alt="Colours here resemble a stained glass window." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><P>The San Francisco Bay is a shallow bay surrounded by the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, through which almost half the <A id="KonaLink0" href="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109#" ><FONT color="#0000ff"><SPAN>water</SPAN></FONT></A> 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.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.environmentalgraffiti.com/img/6D8DAE22-FD31-4A50-88D3-9963071A6403" alt="These colours will soon vanish to make way for wetlands." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109">The dramatic colours are produced by varying concentrations of algae, brine shrimp and&nbsp;other pond life, making the ponds appear as if they have been dyed. These micro-organisms change colour according to the salinity of </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/san-francisco-incredible-stained-glass-salt-ponds/14109"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.environmentalgraffiti.com/img/4598DF12-8197-4F07-8089-495D4CCE171B" alt="The colours are created by micro-organisms." /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F17A2632-B411-4085-946C-D3C220F37CDB/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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