Brine lakes, like the Dead Sea, develop as a result of high evaporation rates in a desert climate and lack of an outlet to the ocean. The salt in these bodies of water comes from either minerals washed out of the surrounding watershed or from a geologically old, previous connection to the ocean. Another example is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Man-made brine ponds, usually located along an ocean shore, are the source of commercial table salt sodium chloride, which is obtained by evaporating and purifying seawater.