the.com/salt pan

means A shallow natural or artificial basin where water evaporates and leaves behind a crust of salt, often used for commercial salt harvesting.

from Straightforward compound English: 'salt' plus 'pan,' the latter used since Old English (panne) for a broad, shallow vessel — the same sense that gives us frying pans and dishpans. The geography simply borrowed the kitchenware logic: a flat, shallow depression that holds liquid until the sun does the cooking, leaving salt behind like residue at the bottom of a dish.