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Great Salt Lake

January 26, 2023

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere[3] and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world.[4] It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah.

Great Salt Lake
Satellite photo from August 2018 after years of drought, reaching near-record lows. Note the difference in colors between the northern and southern portions of the lake, the result of a railroad causeway.
Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
LocationUtah, United States
Coordinates41°10′N 112°32′W / 41.167°N 112.533°W / 41.167; -112.533Coordinates: 41°10′N 112°32′W / 41.167°N 112.533°W / 41.167; -112.533[1]
TypeEndorheic, hypersaline
Primary inflowsBear, Jordan, Weber rivers
Catchment area21,500 sq mi (56,000 km2)
Basin countriesUnited States
Max. length75 mi (121 km)
Max. width28 mi (45 km)
Surface area950 sq mi (2,500 km2) as of 2021[2]
Average depth16 ft (4.9 m), when lake is at average level
Max. depth33 ft (10 m) average, high of 45 ft (14 m) in 1987, low of 24 ft (7.3 m) in 2021
Water volume15,338,693.6 acre⋅ft (18.92 km3)
Surface elevationhistorical average of 4,200 feet (1,300 m), 4,190.5 feet (1,277.3 m) as of 2022 March 14
Islands8–15 (variable, see Islands)
SettlementsSalt Lake and Ogden metropolitan areas

The area of the lake can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet (4.9 m). In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km2), and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the nearby desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles (2,500 km2), falling below the previous low set in 1963.[4][5] Continued shrinkage could turn the lake into a bowl of toxic dust, poisoning the air around Salt Lake City.[6]

The lake's three major tributaries, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year.[3] Since the lake has no outlet besides evaporation, these minerals accumulate and give the lake high salinity (far saltier than seawater) and density. This density causes swimming in the lake to feel similar to floating.

The lake has been called "America's Dead Sea"[7] and provides a habitat for millions of native birds, brine shrimp, shorebirds, and waterfowl, including the largest staging population of Wilson's phalarope in the world.[8]

Origin

 
Map of Pleistocene lakes in the Great Basin of western North America, showing the path of the Bonneville Flood along the Snake River

The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville. At its greatest extent, Lake Bonneville spanned 22,400 square miles (58,000 km2), nearly as large as present-day Lake Michigan, and roughly ten times the area of the Great Salt Lake today.[4] Bonneville reached 923 ft (281 m) at its deepest point[9][10] and covered much of present-day Utah and small portions of Idaho and Nevada during the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch.

Lake Bonneville existed until about 16,800 years ago, when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho, resulting in cataclysmic floods. With the warming climate, the remaining lake began to dry, leaving the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake behind.[9]

History

 
Stansbury's 1852 map of the Great Salt Lake and adjacent country in the Utah Territory

The Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute have lived near the Great Salt Lake for thousands of years. At the time of Salt Lake City's founding, the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone;[11] however, occupation was seasonal, near streams emptying from canyons into the Salt Lake Valley. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water".[12][13]

The Great Salt Lake entered written history through the records of Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, who learned of its existence from the Timpanogos Utes in 1776. No European name was given to it at the time, and it was not shown on the map by Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, the cartographer for the expedition. In 1824, it was observed, apparently independently, by Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost. Shortly thereafter, other trappers saw it and walked around it. However, there are several maps dating all the way back to 1575 that show the Great Salt Lake at the correct latitude and longitude, within an accuracy of only a few degrees. The most obvious example is a map by Nicolas Sanson dated 1650.[14]

Most of the trappers, however, were illiterate and did not record their discoveries. As oral reports of their findings made their way to those who did make records, some errors were made. Escalante had been on the shores of Utah Lake, which he named Laguna Timpanogos. It was the larger of the two lakes that appeared on Miera's map. Other cartographers followed his lead and charted Lake Timpanogos as the largest (or larger) lake in the region. As people became aware of the Great Salt Lake, they interpreted the maps to think that "Timpanogos" referred to the Great Salt Lake. On some maps, the two names were used synonymously. In time, "Timpanogos" was dropped from the maps and its original association with Utah Lake was forgotten.

In 1843, John C. Fremont led the first scientific expedition to the lake, but with winter coming on, he did not take the time to survey the entire lake. That happened in 1850 under the leadership of Howard Stansbury (Stansbury discovered and named the Stansbury mountain range and Stansbury island).[15] John Fremont's overly glowing reports of the area were published shortly after his expedition. Stansbury also published a formal report of his survey work which became very popular. His report of the area included a discussion of Mormon religious practices based on Stansbury's interaction with the Mormon community in Great Salt Lake City, which had been established three years earlier in 1847.[16]

Beginning in November 1895, artist and author Alfred Lambourne spent 4 months living on the remote Gunnison Island, where he wrote a book of musing and poetry, Our Inland Sea. From November 1895 to March 1896, he was alone. In March, a few guano sifters arrived to harvest and sell the guano of the nesting birds as fertilizer. Lambourne included musings about these guano sifters in his work. Lambourne left the island early in the winter of 1896 along with the first group of guano sifters.[17]

Shrinking

Drought conditions and the overuse of snowmelt have caused the Great Salt Lake to shrink considerably.[18] As of July 2022 the Great Salt Lake occupies some 950 square miles.[18][2] In 1987, it occupied some 3300 square miles.[18]

Geography

 
Great Salt Lake from airspace over Salt Lake City

The Great Salt Lake lends its name to Salt Lake City, originally named "Great Salt Lake City" by the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Brigham Young,[19] who led a group of Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley southeast of the lake on July 24, 1847.

The lake lies in parts of five counties: Box Elder, Davis, Tooele, Weber, and Salt Lake. Salt Lake City and its suburbs are located to the south-east and east of the lake, between the lake and the Wasatch Mountains, but land around the north and west shores is almost uninhabited. The Bonneville Salt Flats are to the west, and the Oquirrh and Stansbury Mountains rise to the south.

The Great Salt Lake is fed by three major rivers and several minor streams. The three major rivers are each fed directly or indirectly from the Uinta Mountain range in northeastern Utah. The Bear River starts on the north slope of the Uintas and flows north past Bear Lake, into which some of Bear River's waters have been diverted[20] via a man-made canal into the lake, but later empty back into the river by means of the Bear Lake Outlet. The river then turns south in southern Idaho and eventually flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River also starts on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains and flows into the east edge of the lake. The Jordan River does not receive its water directly from the Uintas; rather, it flows from freshwater Utah Lake, which itself is fed primarily by the Provo River. The Provo River does originate in the Uintas, a few miles from the Weber and Bear.[9] The Jordan flows from the north part of Utah Lake into the south-east corner of the Great Salt Lake.

Due to the lake's shallowness, the water level can fall and rise dramatically during dry years or high-precipitation years, thereby reflecting prolonged drought or wet periods. The change in the level of lake level is strongly modulated by the Pacific Ocean through atmospheric circulations that fluctuate at low frequency.[21] By capturing these climate oscillations while using tree-ring reconstruction of lake level, scientists can predict the lake level fluctuation onward for 5–8 years.[22] The Utah Climate Center provides prediction of the Great Salt Lake's annual lake level. This forecast uses central tropical Pacific Ocean temperature, watershed precipitation, tree-ring data of 750+ years,[23] and the lake level itself.

 
Color difference

A railroad line – the Lucin Cutoff – runs across the lake, crossing the southern end of Promontory Peninsula. The mostly solid causeway supporting the railway divides the lake into three portions: the north-east arm, north-west arm, and southern. The causeway obstructed the normal mixing of the waters of the lake, because there were only three 100-foot (30 m) breaches. Because no rivers, except a few minor streams, flow directly into the north-west arm, Gunnison Bay, it is substantially saltier than the rest of the lake. This saltier environment promotes different types of algae from those growing in the southern part of the lake, leading to a marked color difference on the two sides of the causeway. On December 1, 2016, the opening of a new 180-foot-long (55 m) bridge allowed water to flow from the southern arm of the lake into the north-west arm. At the time of opening of the causeway, the north-west arm was nearly 3 feet (90 cm) lower than the southern arm. By April 2017, the levels of both arms of the lake had risen due to spring runoff, and the north-western arm was within 1 foot (30 cm) of the southern arm.[24]

Islands

Categorically stating the number of islands is difficult, as the method used to determine what is an island is not necessarily the same in each source. Since the water level of the lake can vary greatly between years, what may be considered an island in a high water year may be considered a peninsula in another, or an island in a low water year may be covered during another year. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey, "there are eight named islands in the lake that have never been totally submerged during historic time. All have been connected to the mainland by exposed shoals during periods of low water." In addition to these eight islands, the lake also contains a number of rocks, reefs, or shoals that become fully or partially submerged at high water levels.[25]

The Utah Geological Survey, on the other hand, states "the lake contains 11 recognized islands, although this number varies depending on the level of the lake. Seven islands are in the southern portion of the lake and four in the northwestern portion."[26]

The size and whether they are counted as islands during any particular year depends mostly on the level of the lake. From largest to smallest, they are Antelope Island, Stansbury Island, Fremont Island, Carrington Island, Dolphin Island, Cub Island, and Badger Island, and various rocks, reefs, or shoals with names like Strongs Knob, Gunnison Island, Goose, Browns, Hat (Bird), Egg Island, Black Rock, and White Rock. Dolphin Island, Cub Island, and Strongs Knob are in the northwestern arm. The rest are in the southern portion of the Great Salt Lake.

 
Sunset viewed from White Rock Bay, on the western shore of Antelope Island. Carrington Island is visible in the distance.

Black Rock, Antelope Island, White Rock, Egg Island, Fremont Island, and the Promontory mountain range are each extensions of the Oquirrh Mountain Range, which dips beneath the lake at its southeastern shore. Stansbury, Carrington, and Hat Islands are extensions of the Stansbury mountain range, and Strongs Knob is an extension of the Lakeside Mountains which run along the lake's western shore.[27] The lake is deepest in the area between these island chains, measured by Howard Stansbury in 1850 at about 35 feet (11 meters) deep, and an average depth of 13 feet (four meters).[27] When the water levels are low, Antelope Island becomes connected to the shore as a peninsula, as do Goose Islands, Browns Island,[28] and some of the other islands. Stansbury Island and Strongs Knob remain peninsulas unless the water level rises well-above the average.

Lake-effect precipitation

Main article: Great Salt Lake effect

Due to the warm waters of the Great Salt Lake, lake-effect snowfalls are frequent phenomena in the surrounding area. Cold north, north-west, or west winds generally blow across the lake following the passage of a cold front, and the temperature difference between the warm lake and the cool air can form clouds that lead to precipitation downwind of the lake. It is typically heaviest in Tooele County to the east, and north into central Davis County, and can deposit excessive snowfall amounts, generally within a narrow band which is highly-dependent on the direction the wind is blowing.

The lake-effect snowfalls are more likely to occur in late fall, early winter and spring, due to the higher temperature differences between the lake and the air above it. During summer, the temperature differences can cause thunderstorms to form over the lake and drift eastward along the northern Wasatch Front. Some rainstorms may also be partially attributed to the lake effect in fall and spring. It is estimated that approximately six to eight lake effect snowstorms occur in a year, and that 10% of the average precipitation of Salt Lake City can be attributed to the lake effect.[29]

Hydrology

 
Map of Great Salt Lake

Because of its high salt concentration, the lake water is unusually dense, and most people can float more easily than in other bodies of water, particularly in Gunnison Bay, the saltier north arm of the lake.[30]

Water levels have been recorded since 1875,[4] averaging about 4,200 feet (1,300 m) above sea level. Since the Great Salt Lake is a shallow lake with gently sloping shores around all edges except on the south side, small variations in the water level greatly affect the extent of the shoreline. The water level can rise dramatically in wet years and fall during dry years. The water level is also affected by the amount of water flow diverted for agricultural and urban uses. The Jordan and Weber rivers, in particular, are diverted for other uses.[9] In the 1880s, Grove Karl Gilbert predicted that the lake – then in the middle of many years of recession – would virtually disappear except for a small remnant between the islands.[31]

A 2014 study used tree rings collected in the watershed of the Great Salt Lake to create a 576-year record of lake level reconstruction.[23] The lake level change is strongly modulated by Pacific Ocean-coupled ocean/atmospheric oscillations at low frequency and therefore reflects the decadal-scale wet/dry cycles that characterize the region.[32][33] By capturing these climate oscillations[34] as well as utilizing the tree-ring reconstruction of lake level change,[35] researchers were able to predict the lake level fluctuation onward for as long as 5–8 years.[36]

The Great Salt Lake differs in elevation between the south and north parts. The causeway for the Lucin Cutoff divides the lake into two parts. The water-surface elevation of the south part of the lake is usually 0.5 to 2 feet (15–61 cm) higher than that of the north part because most of the inflow to the lake occurs from the south.[4][24]

Salinity

Most of the salts dissolved in the lake and deposited in the desert flats around it reflect the concentration of solutes by evaporation; Lake Bonneville itself was fresh enough to support populations of fish.[37][38] More salt is added yearly via rivers and streams, though the amount is much less than the relict salt from Bonneville.[37]

The salinity of the lake's main basin, Gilbert Bay, is highly variable and depends on the lake's level; it ranges from 5 to 27% (50 to 270 parts per thousand).[30] For comparison, the average salinity of the world ocean is 3.5% (35 parts per thousand)[39] and 33.7% in the Dead Sea. The ionic composition is similar to seawater, much more so than the Dead Sea's water; compared to the ocean, the Great Salt Lake's waters are slightly enriched in potassium and depleted in calcium.[30] Dissolved ions do not necessarily increase or decrease in step with changes of total dissolved solids. For example, in October 1903, dissolved solids tallied 27.72% and by February 1910 they were down to 17.68%, with chlorine, sodium and sulfate levels substantially lower, but over the same time calcium, magnesium and potassium increased, with the increase of magnesium especially pronounced.[40]

1930s Fresh Water Project

In the early 1930s, there was a project to dam off a third of the lake with dikes on the east side north of Salt Lake City to make a freshwater reservoir for drinking and irrigation. The project was abandoned before it got beyond the planning stage.[41]

Willard Bay Reservoir

Main article: Willard Bay

Willard Bay, also known as Willard Bay Reservoir or Arthur V. Watkins Reservoir is a freshwater reservoir completed in 1964, which separated, drained, and subsequently filled with fresh water from the Weber River a portion of the Great Salt Lake's northeastern arm.

West Desert Pumping Project

Record high water levels in the 1980s caused a large amount of property damage for owners on the eastern side of the Great Salt Lake, and the water started to erode the base of Interstate 80. In response, the State of Utah built the West Desert Pumping Project on the western side of the lake. It began operation on April 10, 1987. This project consists of a pumping station (41°15′9.28″N 113°4′53.31″W / 41.2525778°N 113.0814750°W / 41.2525778; -113.0814750) at Hogup Ridge, containing three pumps with a combined capacity of moving 1,500,000 US gallons per minute (95 m3/s), an inlet canal, and an outlet canal. Also, there are 25 miles (40 km) of dikes and a 10-mile (16 km) access road between the town of Lakeside and the pumping station.[42]

This pumping project was designed to increase the surface area of the Great Salt Lake and thus increase the rate of water evaporation. The pumps drove some of the water of the Great Salt Lake into the 320,000-acre (1300-square kilometer) Newfoundland Evaporation Basin in the desert west of the lake. A weir in the dike at the southern end of the Newfoundland Mountains regulated the level of water in the basin and it sometimes returned salty water from the evaporation basin into the main body of the Great Salt Lake.[42]

At the end of their first year of operation, the pumps had removed about 500,000 acre-feet (620,000,000 m3) of water from the Great Salt Lake. The project was shut down in June 1989, as the level of the lake had dropped by nearly six feet (1.8 meters) since reaching its peak levels during June 1986 and March 1987. The Utah Division of Water Resources credits the project with "over one-third of that decline".[42] In total, the pumps removed 2,730,000 acre-feet (3.37 km3) of water while they operated.[43]

Although the pumps are no longer in use, they have been kept in place in case the level of the Great Salt Lake ever rises that high again.[44]

Ecosystem

 
American avocets at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
 
Mountains of the Great Salt Lake in winter.
 
Modern stromatolites (cyanobacteria) growing along the western shore of Antelope Island near Elephant Head.

The high salinity in parts of the lake makes them uninhabitable for all but a few species, including brine shrimp, brine flies, and several forms of algae. The brine flies have an estimated population of over one hundred billion and serve as the main source of food for many of the birds which migrate to the lake.[45] However, the fresh- and salt-water wetlands along the eastern and northern edges of the Great Salt Lake provide critical habitat for millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl in western North America. These marshes account for approximately 75% of the wetlands in Utah.[46] Some of the birds that depend on these marshes include:[47] Wilson's phalarope, red-necked phalarope, American avocet, black-necked stilt, marbled godwit, snowy plover, western sandpiper, long-billed dowitcher, tundra swan, American white pelican, white-faced ibis, California gull, eared grebe, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, plus large populations of various ducks and geese.

There are twenty-seven private duck clubs, seven state waterfowl management areas, and a large federal bird refuge on the Great Salt Lake's shores.[48] Wetland/wildlife management areas include the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge; Gillmor Sanctuary; Great Salt Lake Shore lands Preserve; Salt Creek, Public Shooting Grounds, Harold Crane, Locomotive Springs, Ogden Bay, Timpie Springs, and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Areas.

Several islands in the lake provide critical nesting areas for various birds. Access to Hat, Gunnison, and Cub islands is strictly limited by the State of Utah in an effort to protect nesting colonies of American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).[49] The islands within the Great Salt Lake also provide habitat for lizard and mammalian wildlife and a variety of plant species. Some species may have been extirpated from the islands. For example, a number of explorers who visited the area in the mid-1800s (e.g. Emmanuel Domenech, Howard Stansbury, Jules Rémy) noted an abundance of yellow-flowered "onions" on several of the islands, which they identified as Calochortus luteus. This species today occurs only in California; however, at that time the name C. luteus was applied to plants that later were named C. nuttallii[50][51] A yellow-flowered Calochortus was first named as a variety of C. nuttallii but was later separated into a new species, C. aureus. This species occurs in Utah today, though apparently no longer on the islands of the Great Salt Lake.[52]

Because of the Great Salt Lake's high salinity, it has few fish, but they do occur in Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay when spring runoff brings fresh water into the lake. A few aquatic animals live in the lake's main basin, including centimeter-long brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Their tiny, hard-walled eggs or cysts (diameter about 200 micrometers)[53] are harvested in quantity during the fall and early winter. They are fed to prawns in Asia,[45] sold as novelty "Sea-Monkeys," sold either live or dehydrated in pet stores as a fish food, and used in testing of toxins, drugs, and other chemicals.[8] There are also two species of brine fly,[54] as well as protozoa, rotifers, bacteria and algae.

Salinity differences between the sections of the lake separated by the railroad causeway result in significantly different biota. A phytoplankton community dominated by green algae or cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) tint the water south of the causeway a greenish color. North of the causeway, the lake is dominated by Dunaliella salina, a species of algae which releases beta-carotene, and the bacteria-like haloarchaea,[55] which together give the water an unusual reddish or purplish color.[54] The dense, high-salinity water of the North Arm flows back through the causeway into the Southern portion of the lake, creating a deep brine layer there.[56]

 
Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake

Although brine shrimp can be found in the arm of the lake north of the causeway, studies conducted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources indicate that these are likely transient.[55] Populations of brine shrimp are mostly restricted to the lake's south arm.

In the two bays that receive most of the lake's freshwater inflows, Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay, the diversity of organisms is much higher. Salinities in these bays can approach that of fresh water when the spring snow melt occurs, and this allows a variety of bacteria, algae and invertebrates to proliferate in the nutrient-rich water. The abundance of invertebrates such as gnat larvae (chironomids) and back swimmers (Trichocorixa) are fed upon extensively by the huge shorebird and waterfowl populations that utilize the lake. Fish in these bays are fed upon by diving terns and pelicans.

Pink Floyd the flamingo

A solitary Chilean flamingo, named Pink Floyd after the English rock band, wintered at the Great Salt Lake. He escaped from Salt Lake City's Tracy Aviary in 1987 and lived in the wild, eating brine shrimp and socializing with gulls and swans. (Pink Floyd is often referred to as a "he", although the bird's sex is not actually known.)[57] A group of Utah residents suggested petitioning the state to release more flamingos in an effort to keep Floyd company and as a possible tourist attraction.[58] Wildlife biologists resisted these efforts, saying that deliberate introduction of a non-native species would be ecologically unsound and might have detrimental consequences.[59] Pink Floyd was last seen in Idaho, in the area of Camas National Wildlife Refuge (where he was known to migrate), in 2005.[60][61]

Elevated mercury levels

During a survey in the mid-1990s, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers discovered a high level of methylmercury in the Great Salt Lake with 25 nanograms per liter of water. For comparison, a fish consumption advisory was issued at the Florida Everglades after water there was found to contain 1 nanogram per liter.[62] The extremely high methylmercury concentrations have been only in the lake's anoxic deep brine layer (monimolimnion) below a depth of 20 feet (6.1 m), but concentrations are also moderately high up in the water column where there is oxygen to support brine shrimp and brine flies.

The toxic metal shows up throughout the lake's food chain, from brine shrimp to eared grebes and cinnamon teal.

The finding of high mercury levels prompted further studies,[63] and a health advisory warning hunters not to eat common goldeneye or northern shoveler, two species of duck found in the lake. It has been stated that this does not pose a risk to other recreational users of the lake.[64]

After later studies were conducted with a larger number of birds, the advisories were revised and another was added for cinnamon teal. Seven other species of duck were studied and found to have levels of mercury below EPA guidelines, thus being determined safe to eat.[65]

A study in 2010 suggested that the main source of the mercury is from atmospheric deposition from worldwide industry, rather than local sources. As water levels rise and fall, mercury accumulation does as well. About 16% of the mercury is from rivers, and 84% is from the atmosphere as an inorganic form, which is converted into more toxic methyl mercury by bacteria which thrive in the more saline water of the North arm affected by the causeway.[56]. A 2020 study found high concentrations of mercury in the lake's sediments, a consequence from smelting and mining activities in the surrounding mountains. [66]. The mercuy and other metals can contaminate the overlying water, and in turn, move into brine shrimp and other organisms.[67]

Commerce

 
Solar evaporation ponds in the Northeast portion of the lake. Fremont Island is visible to the South (top of image)

Great Salt Lake contributes an estimated $1.3 billion annually to Utah's economy,[68] including $1.1 billion from industry (primarily mineral extraction), $136 million from recreation, and $57 million from the harvest of brine shrimp.[69]

Solar evaporation ponds at the edges of the lake produce salts and brine (water with high salt quantity). Minerals extracted from the lake include: sodium chloride (common salt), used in water softeners, salt lick blocks for livestock, and to melt ice on local roadways (food-grade salt is not produced from the lake, as it would require costly processing to ensure its purity); potassium sulfate, used as a commercial fertilizer; and magnesium-chloride brine, used in the production of magnesium metal, chlorine gas, and as a dust suppressant. US Magnesium operates a plant on the southwest shore of the lake, which produces 14% of the worldwide supply of magnesium, more than any other North American magnesium operation.[69] Mineral-extraction companies operating on the lake pay royalties on their products to the State of Utah, which owns the lake.[70]

The harvest of brine shrimp cysts during fall and early winter has developed into a significant local industry, with the lake providing 35% to 45% of the worldwide supply of brine shrimp,[69] and cysts selling for as high as $35 per pound ($77/kg).[71] Brine shrimp were first harvested during the 1950s and sold as commercial fish food. In the 1970s, the focus changed to their eggs, known as cysts, which were sold primarily outside the US as food for shrimp, prawns, and some fish.[53] Today, these are mostly sold in East Asia and South America.[72] The amount of cysts and the quality are affected by several factors, but salinity is most important. The cysts will hatch at 2 to 3% salinity, but the greatest productivity is at salinities above about 10%. If the salinity drops near 5% to 6%, the cysts will lose buoyancy and sink, making them more difficult to harvest.[53]

The lake's north arm contains deposits of oil, but it is of poor quality and it is not economically feasible to extract and purify it.[19] As of 1993, approximately 3,000 barrels (480 m3) of crude oil had been produced from shallow wells along the shore.[73] The oil field at Rozel Point produced an estimated 10,000 barrels (1,600 m3) of oil from 30 to 50 wells, but has been inactive since the mid-1980s. Oil seeps in the area had been known since the late 19th century, and attempts at production began in 1904.[74] Industrial debris from this field remained in place near Spiral Jetty until a cleanup effort by the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining and the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands was completed in December 2005.[75]

Causeway

The causeway across the lake was built in the 1950s by the Morrison-Knudsen construction company for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a replacement to a previously built wooden trestle, which was the major component of the Lucin Cutoff. The route is now owned and operated by Union Pacific.[76] About 15 trains cross the 20 mi (32 km) causeway each day.[68] Prior to December 2, 2016, the causeway constrained the flow of water between northern and southern parts, which has a significant impact on various industries surrounding the lake. With the construction of a 180-foot-long (55 m) bridge, creating an opening of the causeway for water to flow between the arms of the lake, water levels have begun to equalize. The full impact of the flow of water from the southern arm of the lake to the northern is yet to be seen.

The northern arm of the lake has a much higher salinity, to the point that the native brine shrimp cannot survive in its waters. In the southern portion of the lake, where the vast majority of the fresh water inlets are found, the salt level can dip below what is necessary for the brine shrimp to survive. With the opening of the bridge, the salinity of the northern arm of the lake will likely drop as less saline water from the southern arm of the lake flows into the northern arm. The brine shrimp harvesting industry could benefit from the freer flow of water.[68] There were concerns from the brine shrimp harvesting industry that the conditions in the southern arm of the lake were becoming too saline for the brine shrimp, following several years of lower precipitation in the lake's watershed. The precipitation in the watershed was above normal for the water year beginning on October 1, 2016. The additional water allowed the levels of both arms of the lake to rise,[24] and at least for the near future the conditions for a healthy brine shrimp population seem good.

Great Salt Lake Minerals Company (a subsidiary of Compass Minerals) extracts minerals from the northern bay. The company potentially benefited from the higher salinity of the north-west arm of the lake but had difficulty accessing water from the lake because of lower water level. Prior to the opening of the causeway, the intake channels had to be extended to reach the water.

Morton Salt, Cargill Salt, Broken Arrow Salt and the Renco Group's U.S. Magnesium each extract minerals from the southern bay and could benefit from a more natural mixture of water between the two sides of the lake.[76]

Recreation

Dramatically fluctuating lake levels have inhibited the creation and success of tourist-related developments. There is also a problem with pollution from industrial and urban effluent, as well as a natural "lake stink" caused by the decay of insects and other wildlife, particularly during times of low water.

Despite these issues, the lake remains one of Utah's largest tourist attractions.[77] Antelope Island State Park is a popular tourist destination that offers panoramic views of the lake, hiking and biking trails, wildlife viewing and access to beaches.

The State of Utah operates a marina on the south shore of the lake at Great Salt Lake State Park and another in Antelope Island State Park. With its sudden storms and expansive spread, the lake is a great test of sailing skills.[78] Single mast, simple sloops are the most popular boats. Sudden storms and lack of experience on the part of boaters are the two most dangerous elements in boating and sailing on the Great Salt Lake.[79]

Saltair

 
The original Saltair, c. 1900
Main article: Saltair (Utah)

Three resorts, each called Saltair, have been operated on the southern shore of the lake since 1893, each one built as a successor to the previous one. Rising and lowering water levels have affected each iteration, and the first two were destroyed by fire.[80]

The first Saltair pavilion was destroyed by fire on April 22, 1925. A new pavilion was built and the resort was expanded at the same location by new investors, but after being closed for several years, it was destroyed by arson in 1970.[81]

The second Saltair included a fun house and a dancing venue.

The current Saltair serves as a concert venue.[82] The new resort was completed in 1981, approximately a mile (1600 m) west of the original.

Garfield Beach Resort

 
Garfield Beach Resort, 1888

The Garfield Beach Resort was established by Captain Thomas Douris in 1881 and was originally called Garfield Landing. The resort was located near Black Rock outside of the town of Corinne, and patrons traveled to it via the steamboat General Garfield.[83] After the expansion of the resort, the General Garfield was replaced by two steamers, the Susie Riter and the Whirlwind. The iconic General Garfield was moored to the dock as a landmark.[84] The main attraction of the resort was a massive pavilion 400 feet from shore. It covered 165 by 400 feet (50 by 122 m) and included 300 feet (91 m) of covered deck.[84] The success of Garfield Beach eventually overtook the neighboring Black Rock resort.[84] In 1887, the resort was purchased by the Utah and Nevada railroad. They improved the site by adding an array of bathhouses, a restaurant, and other amenities, including a bowling alley.[83] The resort was the Salt Lake's first to have an electric generator, which powered its many concerts, and parties held atop the pavilion tower.[84] Garfield Beach was the most popular Salt Lake resort until Saltair was built in 1893.[85] The resort was put out of service by a fire in 1904.[83][86]

Legends and unusual features

 
Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty
Spiral Jetty
The northwest arm of the lake, near Rozel Point, is the location for Robert Smithson's work of land art, Spiral Jetty (1970), which is only visible when the level of Great Salt Lake drops below 4,197.8 feet (1,279.5 m) above sea level.[87]
Oolitic sand
The lake and its shores contain oolitic sand, small, rounded, or spherical grains of sand that are made up of a nucleus (generally a small mineral grain) and concentric layers of calcium carbonate (lime) and look similar to very small pearls.[88]
Whales in the Great Salt Lake
Local legend maintains that in 1875, entrepreneur James Wickham had two whales released into the Great Salt Lake, with the intent of using them as a tourist attraction.[89][90] The whales are said to have disappeared into the lake and been subsequently sighted multiple times over a number of months, but there have never been any confirmed sightings of the whales since the time of their supposed release.[91]
Lake monster
In mid-1877, J.H. McNeil was with many other Barnes and Co. Salt Works employees on the lake's north shore in the evening. They claimed to have seen a large monster with a body like a crocodile and a horse’s head in the lake. They claimed this monster attacked the men, who quickly ran away and hid until morning. This creature is regarded by some to have simply been a buffalo in the lake. Thirty years prior, "Brother Bainbridge" claimed to have sighted a creature that looked like a dolphin in the lake near Antelope Island. This monster is called by some the North Shore Monster.[19]

See also

References

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Works cited

External links

External images
  map (FWS.gov)
  map (Friends of GSL
  map (USGS.gov)
  daily surface level
 
 
 
 
  boating images (UTAH.com)
 
  •   Media related to Great Salt Lake at Wikimedia Commons
  •   Texts on Wikisource:
  • State of Utah: Official Great Salt Lake Site
  • Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
  • at University of Utah Department of Meteorology
  • at Utah Division of Water Resources
  • Commonly Asked Questions About Utah's Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville at Utah Geological Survey
  • Utah Museum of Fine Arts

January 26, 2023
great, salt, lake, largest, saltwater, lake, western, hemisphere, eighth, largest, terminal, lake, world, lies, northern, part, state, utah, substantial, impact, upon, local, climate, particularly, through, lake, effect, snow, remnant, lake, bonneville, prehis. The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere 3 and the eighth largest terminal lake in the world 4 It lies in the northern part of the U S state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate particularly through lake effect snow It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah Great Salt LakeSatellite photo from August 2018 after years of drought reaching near record lows Note the difference in colors between the northern and southern portions of the lake the result of a railroad causeway Great Salt LakeShow map of UtahGreat Salt LakeShow map of the United StatesLocationUtah United StatesCoordinates41 10 N 112 32 W 41 167 N 112 533 W 41 167 112 533 Coordinates 41 10 N 112 32 W 41 167 N 112 533 W 41 167 112 533 1 TypeEndorheic hypersalinePrimary inflowsBear Jordan Weber riversCatchment area21 500 sq mi 56 000 km2 Basin countriesUnited StatesMax length75 mi 121 km Max width28 mi 45 km Surface area950 sq mi 2 500 km2 as of 2021 2 Average depth16 ft 4 9 m when lake is at average levelMax depth33 ft 10 m average high of 45 ft 14 m in 1987 low of 24 ft 7 3 m in 2021Water volume15 338 693 6 acre ft 18 92 km3 Surface elevationhistorical average of 4 200 feet 1 300 m 4 190 5 feet 1 277 3 m as of 2022 March 14Islands8 15 variable see Islands SettlementsSalt Lake and Ogden metropolitan areasThe area of the lake can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet 4 9 m In the 1980s it reached a historic high of 3 300 square miles 8 500 km2 and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the nearby desert In 2021 after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles 2 500 km2 falling below the previous low set in 1963 4 5 Continued shrinkage could turn the lake into a bowl of toxic dust poisoning the air around Salt Lake City 6 The lake s three major tributaries the Jordan Weber and Bear rivers together deposit around 1 1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year 3 Since the lake has no outlet besides evaporation these minerals accumulate and give the lake high salinity far saltier than seawater and density This density causes swimming in the lake to feel similar to floating The lake has been called America s Dead Sea 7 and provides a habitat for millions of native birds brine shrimp shorebirds and waterfowl including the largest staging population of Wilson s phalarope in the world 8 Contents 1 Origin 2 History 2 1 Shrinking 3 Geography 3 1 Islands 3 2 Lake effect precipitation 4 Hydrology 4 1 Salinity 4 2 1930s Fresh Water Project 4 3 Willard Bay Reservoir 4 4 West Desert Pumping Project 5 Ecosystem 5 1 Pink Floyd the flamingo 5 2 Elevated mercury levels 6 Commerce 6 1 Causeway 6 2 Recreation 6 2 1 Saltair 6 2 2 Garfield Beach Resort 7 Legends and unusual features 8 See also 9 References 9 1 Works cited 10 External linksOrigin Edit Map of Pleistocene lakes in the Great Basin of western North America showing the path of the Bonneville Flood along the Snake River The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville At its greatest extent Lake Bonneville spanned 22 400 square miles 58 000 km2 nearly as large as present day Lake Michigan and roughly ten times the area of the Great Salt Lake today 4 Bonneville reached 923 ft 281 m at its deepest point 9 10 and covered much of present day Utah and small portions of Idaho and Nevada during the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch Lake Bonneville existed until about 16 800 years ago when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho resulting in cataclysmic floods With the warming climate the remaining lake began to dry leaving the Great Salt Lake Utah Lake Sevier Lake and Rush Lake behind 9 History Edit Stansbury s 1852 map of the Great Salt Lake and adjacent country in the Utah Territory The Shoshone Ute and Paiute have lived near the Great Salt Lake for thousands of years At the time of Salt Lake City s founding the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone 11 however occupation was seasonal near streams emptying from canyons into the Salt Lake Valley One of the local Shoshone tribes the Western Goshute tribe referred to the lake as Pi a pa meaning big water or Ti tsa pa meaning bad water 12 13 The Great Salt Lake entered written history through the records of Silvestre Velez de Escalante who learned of its existence from the Timpanogos Utes in 1776 No European name was given to it at the time and it was not shown on the map by Bernardo Miera y Pacheco the cartographer for the expedition In 1824 it was observed apparently independently by Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost Shortly thereafter other trappers saw it and walked around it However there are several maps dating all the way back to 1575 that show the Great Salt Lake at the correct latitude and longitude within an accuracy of only a few degrees The most obvious example is a map by Nicolas Sanson dated 1650 14 Most of the trappers however were illiterate and did not record their discoveries As oral reports of their findings made their way to those who did make records some errors were made Escalante had been on the shores of Utah Lake which he named Laguna Timpanogos It was the larger of the two lakes that appeared on Miera s map Other cartographers followed his lead and charted Lake Timpanogos as the largest or larger lake in the region As people became aware of the Great Salt Lake they interpreted the maps to think that Timpanogos referred to the Great Salt Lake On some maps the two names were used synonymously In time Timpanogos was dropped from the maps and its original association with Utah Lake was forgotten In 1843 John C Fremont led the first scientific expedition to the lake but with winter coming on he did not take the time to survey the entire lake That happened in 1850 under the leadership of Howard Stansbury Stansbury discovered and named the Stansbury mountain range and Stansbury island 15 John Fremont s overly glowing reports of the area were published shortly after his expedition Stansbury also published a formal report of his survey work which became very popular His report of the area included a discussion of Mormon religious practices based on Stansbury s interaction with the Mormon community in Great Salt Lake City which had been established three years earlier in 1847 16 Beginning in November 1895 artist and author Alfred Lambourne spent 4 months living on the remote Gunnison Island where he wrote a book of musing and poetry Our Inland Sea From November 1895 to March 1896 he was alone In March a few guano sifters arrived to harvest and sell the guano of the nesting birds as fertilizer Lambourne included musings about these guano sifters in his work Lambourne left the island early in the winter of 1896 along with the first group of guano sifters 17 Shrinking Edit Drought conditions and the overuse of snowmelt have caused the Great Salt Lake to shrink considerably 18 As of July 2022 the Great Salt Lake occupies some 950 square miles 18 2 In 1987 it occupied some 3300 square miles 18 Geography Edit Great Salt Lake from airspace over Salt Lake City The Great Salt Lake lends its name to Salt Lake City originally named Great Salt Lake City by the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church Brigham Young 19 who led a group of Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley southeast of the lake on July 24 1847 The lake lies in parts of five counties Box Elder Davis Tooele Weber and Salt Lake Salt Lake City and its suburbs are located to the south east and east of the lake between the lake and the Wasatch Mountains but land around the north and west shores is almost uninhabited The Bonneville Salt Flats are to the west and the Oquirrh and Stansbury Mountains rise to the south The Great Salt Lake is fed by three major rivers and several minor streams The three major rivers are each fed directly or indirectly from the Uinta Mountain range in northeastern Utah The Bear River starts on the north slope of the Uintas and flows north past Bear Lake into which some of Bear River s waters have been diverted 20 via a man made canal into the lake but later empty back into the river by means of the Bear Lake Outlet The river then turns south in southern Idaho and eventually flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake The Weber River also starts on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains and flows into the east edge of the lake The Jordan River does not receive its water directly from the Uintas rather it flows from freshwater Utah Lake which itself is fed primarily by the Provo River The Provo River does originate in the Uintas a few miles from the Weber and Bear 9 The Jordan flows from the north part of Utah Lake into the south east corner of the Great Salt Lake Due to the lake s shallowness the water level can fall and rise dramatically during dry years or high precipitation years thereby reflecting prolonged drought or wet periods The change in the level of lake level is strongly modulated by the Pacific Ocean through atmospheric circulations that fluctuate at low frequency 21 By capturing these climate oscillations while using tree ring reconstruction of lake level scientists can predict the lake level fluctuation onward for 5 8 years 22 The Utah Climate Center provides prediction of the Great Salt Lake s annual lake level This forecast uses central tropical Pacific Ocean temperature watershed precipitation tree ring data of 750 years 23 and the lake level itself Color difference A railroad line the Lucin Cutoff runs across the lake crossing the southern end of Promontory Peninsula The mostly solid causeway supporting the railway divides the lake into three portions the north east arm north west arm and southern The causeway obstructed the normal mixing of the waters of the lake because there were only three 100 foot 30 m breaches Because no rivers except a few minor streams flow directly into the north west arm Gunnison Bay it is substantially saltier than the rest of the lake This saltier environment promotes different types of algae from those growing in the southern part of the lake leading to a marked color difference on the two sides of the causeway On December 1 2016 the opening of a new 180 foot long 55 m bridge allowed water to flow from the southern arm of the lake into the north west arm At the time of opening of the causeway the north west arm was nearly 3 feet 90 cm lower than the southern arm By April 2017 the levels of both arms of the lake had risen due to spring runoff and the north western arm was within 1 foot 30 cm of the southern arm 24 Islands Edit Categorically stating the number of islands is difficult as the method used to determine what is an island is not necessarily the same in each source Since the water level of the lake can vary greatly between years what may be considered an island in a high water year may be considered a peninsula in another or an island in a low water year may be covered during another year According to the U S Department of the Interior and the U S Geological Survey there are eight named islands in the lake that have never been totally submerged during historic time All have been connected to the mainland by exposed shoals during periods of low water In addition to these eight islands the lake also contains a number of rocks reefs or shoals that become fully or partially submerged at high water levels 25 The Utah Geological Survey on the other hand states the lake contains 11 recognized islands although this number varies depending on the level of the lake Seven islands are in the southern portion of the lake and four in the northwestern portion 26 The size and whether they are counted as islands during any particular year depends mostly on the level of the lake From largest to smallest they are Antelope Island Stansbury Island Fremont Island Carrington Island Dolphin Island Cub Island and Badger Island and various rocks reefs or shoals with names like Strongs Knob Gunnison Island Goose Browns Hat Bird Egg Island Black Rock and White Rock Dolphin Island Cub Island and Strongs Knob are in the northwestern arm The rest are in the southern portion of the Great Salt Lake Sunset viewed from White Rock Bay on the western shore of Antelope Island Carrington Island is visible in the distance Black Rock Antelope Island White Rock Egg Island Fremont Island and the Promontory mountain range are each extensions of the Oquirrh Mountain Range which dips beneath the lake at its southeastern shore Stansbury Carrington and Hat Islands are extensions of the Stansbury mountain range and Strongs Knob is an extension of the Lakeside Mountains which run along the lake s western shore 27 The lake is deepest in the area between these island chains measured by Howard Stansbury in 1850 at about 35 feet 11 meters deep and an average depth of 13 feet four meters 27 When the water levels are low Antelope Island becomes connected to the shore as a peninsula as do Goose Islands Browns Island 28 and some of the other islands Stansbury Island and Strongs Knob remain peninsulas unless the water level rises well above the average Lake effect precipitation Edit Main article Great Salt Lake effect Due to the warm waters of the Great Salt Lake lake effect snowfalls are frequent phenomena in the surrounding area Cold north north west or west winds generally blow across the lake following the passage of a cold front and the temperature difference between the warm lake and the cool air can form clouds that lead to precipitation downwind of the lake It is typically heaviest in Tooele County to the east and north into central Davis County and can deposit excessive snowfall amounts generally within a narrow band which is highly dependent on the direction the wind is blowing The lake effect snowfalls are more likely to occur in late fall early winter and spring due to the higher temperature differences between the lake and the air above it During summer the temperature differences can cause thunderstorms to form over the lake and drift eastward along the northern Wasatch Front Some rainstorms may also be partially attributed to the lake effect in fall and spring It is estimated that approximately six to eight lake effect snowstorms occur in a year and that 10 of the average precipitation of Salt Lake City can be attributed to the lake effect 29 Hydrology Edit Map of Great Salt Lake Because of its high salt concentration the lake water is unusually dense and most people can float more easily than in other bodies of water particularly in Gunnison Bay the saltier north arm of the lake 30 Water levels have been recorded since 1875 4 averaging about 4 200 feet 1 300 m above sea level Since the Great Salt Lake is a shallow lake with gently sloping shores around all edges except on the south side small variations in the water level greatly affect the extent of the shoreline The water level can rise dramatically in wet years and fall during dry years The water level is also affected by the amount of water flow diverted for agricultural and urban uses The Jordan and Weber rivers in particular are diverted for other uses 9 In the 1880s Grove Karl Gilbert predicted that the lake then in the middle of many years of recession would virtually disappear except for a small remnant between the islands 31 A 2014 study used tree rings collected in the watershed of the Great Salt Lake to create a 576 year record of lake level reconstruction 23 The lake level change is strongly modulated by Pacific Ocean coupled ocean atmospheric oscillations at low frequency and therefore reflects the decadal scale wet dry cycles that characterize the region 32 33 By capturing these climate oscillations 34 as well as utilizing the tree ring reconstruction of lake level change 35 researchers were able to predict the lake level fluctuation onward for as long as 5 8 years 36 The Great Salt Lake differs in elevation between the south and north parts The causeway for the Lucin Cutoff divides the lake into two parts The water surface elevation of the south part of the lake is usually 0 5 to 2 feet 15 61 cm higher than that of the north part because most of the inflow to the lake occurs from the south 4 24 Salinity Edit Most of the salts dissolved in the lake and deposited in the desert flats around it reflect the concentration of solutes by evaporation Lake Bonneville itself was fresh enough to support populations of fish 37 38 More salt is added yearly via rivers and streams though the amount is much less than the relict salt from Bonneville 37 The salinity of the lake s main basin Gilbert Bay is highly variable and depends on the lake s level it ranges from 5 to 27 50 to 270 parts per thousand 30 For comparison the average salinity of the world ocean is 3 5 35 parts per thousand 39 and 33 7 in the Dead Sea The ionic composition is similar to seawater much more so than the Dead Sea s water compared to the ocean the Great Salt Lake s waters are slightly enriched in potassium and depleted in calcium 30 Dissolved ions do not necessarily increase or decrease in step with changes of total dissolved solids For example in October 1903 dissolved solids tallied 27 72 and by February 1910 they were down to 17 68 with chlorine sodium and sulfate levels substantially lower but over the same time calcium magnesium and potassium increased with the increase of magnesium especially pronounced 40 1930s Fresh Water Project Edit In the early 1930s there was a project to dam off a third of the lake with dikes on the east side north of Salt Lake City to make a freshwater reservoir for drinking and irrigation The project was abandoned before it got beyond the planning stage 41 Willard Bay Reservoir Edit Main article Willard Bay Willard Bay also known as Willard Bay Reservoir or Arthur V Watkins Reservoir is a freshwater reservoir completed in 1964 which separated drained and subsequently filled with fresh water from the Weber River a portion of the Great Salt Lake s northeastern arm West Desert Pumping Project Edit Record high water levels in the 1980s caused a large amount of property damage for owners on the eastern side of the Great Salt Lake and the water started to erode the base of Interstate 80 In response the State of Utah built the West Desert Pumping Project on the western side of the lake It began operation on April 10 1987 This project consists of a pumping station 41 15 9 28 N 113 4 53 31 W 41 2525778 N 113 0814750 W 41 2525778 113 0814750 at Hogup Ridge containing three pumps with a combined capacity of moving 1 500 000 US gallons per minute 95 m3 s an inlet canal and an outlet canal Also there are 25 miles 40 km of dikes and a 10 mile 16 km access road between the town of Lakeside and the pumping station 42 This pumping project was designed to increase the surface area of the Great Salt Lake and thus increase the rate of water evaporation The pumps drove some of the water of the Great Salt Lake into the 320 000 acre 1300 square kilometer Newfoundland Evaporation Basin in the desert west of the lake A weir in the dike at the southern end of the Newfoundland Mountains regulated the level of water in the basin and it sometimes returned salty water from the evaporation basin into the main body of the Great Salt Lake 42 At the end of their first year of operation the pumps had removed about 500 000 acre feet 620 000 000 m3 of water from the Great Salt Lake The project was shut down in June 1989 as the level of the lake had dropped by nearly six feet 1 8 meters since reaching its peak levels during June 1986 and March 1987 The Utah Division of Water Resources credits the project with over one third of that decline 42 In total the pumps removed 2 730 000 acre feet 3 37 km3 of water while they operated 43 Although the pumps are no longer in use they have been kept in place in case the level of the Great Salt Lake ever rises that high again 44 Ecosystem Edit American avocets at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Mountains of the Great Salt Lake in winter Modern stromatolites cyanobacteria growing along the western shore of Antelope Island near Elephant Head The high salinity in parts of the lake makes them uninhabitable for all but a few species including brine shrimp brine flies and several forms of algae The brine flies have an estimated population of over one hundred billion and serve as the main source of food for many of the birds which migrate to the lake 45 However the fresh and salt water wetlands along the eastern and northern edges of the Great Salt Lake provide critical habitat for millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl in western North America These marshes account for approximately 75 of the wetlands in Utah 46 Some of the birds that depend on these marshes include 47 Wilson s phalarope red necked phalarope American avocet black necked stilt marbled godwit snowy plover western sandpiper long billed dowitcher tundra swan American white pelican white faced ibis California gull eared grebe peregrine falcon bald eagle plus large populations of various ducks and geese There are twenty seven private duck clubs seven state waterfowl management areas and a large federal bird refuge on the Great Salt Lake s shores 48 Wetland wildlife management areas include the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Gillmor Sanctuary Great Salt Lake Shore lands Preserve Salt Creek Public Shooting Grounds Harold Crane Locomotive Springs Ogden Bay Timpie Springs and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Areas Several islands in the lake provide critical nesting areas for various birds Access to Hat Gunnison and Cub islands is strictly limited by the State of Utah in an effort to protect nesting colonies of American white pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos 49 The islands within the Great Salt Lake also provide habitat for lizard and mammalian wildlife and a variety of plant species Some species may have been extirpated from the islands For example a number of explorers who visited the area in the mid 1800s e g Emmanuel Domenech Howard Stansbury Jules Remy noted an abundance of yellow flowered onions on several of the islands which they identified as Calochortus luteus This species today occurs only in California however at that time the name C luteus was applied to plants that later were named C nuttallii 50 51 A yellow flowered Calochortus was first named as a variety of C nuttallii but was later separated into a new species C aureus This species occurs in Utah today though apparently no longer on the islands of the Great Salt Lake 52 Because of the Great Salt Lake s high salinity it has few fish but they do occur in Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay when spring runoff brings fresh water into the lake A few aquatic animals live in the lake s main basin including centimeter long brine shrimp Artemia franciscana Their tiny hard walled eggs or cysts diameter about 200 micrometers 53 are harvested in quantity during the fall and early winter They are fed to prawns in Asia 45 sold as novelty Sea Monkeys sold either live or dehydrated in pet stores as a fish food and used in testing of toxins drugs and other chemicals 8 There are also two species of brine fly 54 as well as protozoa rotifers bacteria and algae Salinity differences between the sections of the lake separated by the railroad causeway result in significantly different biota A phytoplankton community dominated by green algae or cyanobacteria blue green algae tint the water south of the causeway a greenish color North of the causeway the lake is dominated by Dunaliella salina a species of algae which releases beta carotene and the bacteria like haloarchaea 55 which together give the water an unusual reddish or purplish color 54 The dense high salinity water of the North Arm flows back through the causeway into the Southern portion of the lake creating a deep brine layer there 56 Migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake Although brine shrimp can be found in the arm of the lake north of the causeway studies conducted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources indicate that these are likely transient 55 Populations of brine shrimp are mostly restricted to the lake s south arm In the two bays that receive most of the lake s freshwater inflows Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay the diversity of organisms is much higher Salinities in these bays can approach that of fresh water when the spring snow melt occurs and this allows a variety of bacteria algae and invertebrates to proliferate in the nutrient rich water The abundance of invertebrates such as gnat larvae chironomids and back swimmers Trichocorixa are fed upon extensively by the huge shorebird and waterfowl populations that utilize the lake Fish in these bays are fed upon by diving terns and pelicans Pink Floyd the flamingo Edit A solitary Chilean flamingo named Pink Floyd after the English rock band wintered at the Great Salt Lake He escaped from Salt Lake City s Tracy Aviary in 1987 and lived in the wild eating brine shrimp and socializing with gulls and swans Pink Floyd is often referred to as a he although the bird s sex is not actually known 57 A group of Utah residents suggested petitioning the state to release more flamingos in an effort to keep Floyd company and as a possible tourist attraction 58 Wildlife biologists resisted these efforts saying that deliberate introduction of a non native species would be ecologically unsound and might have detrimental consequences 59 Pink Floyd was last seen in Idaho in the area of Camas National Wildlife Refuge where he was known to migrate in 2005 60 61 Elevated mercury levels Edit This section is missing information about significant reduction in methylmercury after 2013 culvert cut and drought utah edu 2017 Please expand the section to include this information Further details may exist on the talk page May 2022 During a survey in the mid 1990s U S Geological Survey and U S Fish and Wildlife Service researchers discovered a high level of methylmercury in the Great Salt Lake with 25 nanograms per liter of water For comparison a fish consumption advisory was issued at the Florida Everglades after water there was found to contain 1 nanogram per liter 62 The extremely high methylmercury concentrations have been only in the lake s anoxic deep brine layer monimolimnion below a depth of 20 feet 6 1 m but concentrations are also moderately high up in the water column where there is oxygen to support brine shrimp and brine flies The toxic metal shows up throughout the lake s food chain from brine shrimp to eared grebes and cinnamon teal The finding of high mercury levels prompted further studies 63 and a health advisory warning hunters not to eat common goldeneye or northern shoveler two species of duck found in the lake It has been stated that this does not pose a risk to other recreational users of the lake 64 After later studies were conducted with a larger number of birds the advisories were revised and another was added for cinnamon teal Seven other species of duck were studied and found to have levels of mercury below EPA guidelines thus being determined safe to eat 65 A study in 2010 suggested that the main source of the mercury is from atmospheric deposition from worldwide industry rather than local sources As water levels rise and fall mercury accumulation does as well About 16 of the mercury is from rivers and 84 is from the atmosphere as an inorganic form which is converted into more toxic methyl mercury by bacteria which thrive in the more saline water of the North arm affected by the causeway 56 A 2020 study found high concentrations of mercury in the lake s sediments a consequence from smelting and mining activities in the surrounding mountains 66 The mercuy and other metals can contaminate the overlying water and in turn move into brine shrimp and other organisms 67 Commerce Edit Solar evaporation ponds in the Northeast portion of the lake Fremont Island is visible to the South top of image Great Salt Lake contributes an estimated 1 3 billion annually to Utah s economy 68 including 1 1 billion from industry primarily mineral extraction 136 million from recreation and 57 million from the harvest of brine shrimp 69 Solar evaporation ponds at the edges of the lake produce salts and brine water with high salt quantity Minerals extracted from the lake include sodium chloride common salt used in water softeners salt lick blocks for livestock and to melt ice on local roadways food grade salt is not produced from the lake as it would require costly processing to ensure its purity potassium sulfate used as a commercial fertilizer and magnesium chloride brine used in the production of magnesium metal chlorine gas and as a dust suppressant US Magnesium operates a plant on the southwest shore of the lake which produces 14 of the worldwide supply of magnesium more than any other North American magnesium operation 69 Mineral extraction companies operating on the lake pay royalties on their products to the State of Utah which owns the lake 70 The harvest of brine shrimp cysts during fall and early winter has developed into a significant local industry with the lake providing 35 to 45 of the worldwide supply of brine shrimp 69 and cysts selling for as high as 35 per pound 77 kg 71 Brine shrimp were first harvested during the 1950s and sold as commercial fish food In the 1970s the focus changed to their eggs known as cysts which were sold primarily outside the US as food for shrimp prawns and some fish 53 Today these are mostly sold in East Asia and South America 72 The amount of cysts and the quality are affected by several factors but salinity is most important The cysts will hatch at 2 to 3 salinity but the greatest productivity is at salinities above about 10 If the salinity drops near 5 to 6 the cysts will lose buoyancy and sink making them more difficult to harvest 53 The lake s north arm contains deposits of oil but it is of poor quality and it is not economically feasible to extract and purify it 19 As of 1993 approximately 3 000 barrels 480 m3 of crude oil had been produced from shallow wells along the shore 73 The oil field at Rozel Point produced an estimated 10 000 barrels 1 600 m3 of oil from 30 to 50 wells but has been inactive since the mid 1980s Oil seeps in the area had been known since the late 19th century and attempts at production began in 1904 74 Industrial debris from this field remained in place near Spiral Jetty until a cleanup effort by the Division of Oil Gas and Mining and the Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands was completed in December 2005 75 Causeway Edit The causeway across the lake was built in the 1950s by the Morrison Knudsen construction company for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a replacement to a previously built wooden trestle which was the major component of the Lucin Cutoff The route is now owned and operated by Union Pacific 76 About 15 trains cross the 20 mi 32 km causeway each day 68 Prior to December 2 2016 the causeway constrained the flow of water between northern and southern parts which has a significant impact on various industries surrounding the lake With the construction of a 180 foot long 55 m bridge creating an opening of the causeway for water to flow between the arms of the lake water levels have begun to equalize The full impact of the flow of water from the southern arm of the lake to the northern is yet to be seen The northern arm of the lake has a much higher salinity to the point that the native brine shrimp cannot survive in its waters In the southern portion of the lake where the vast majority of the fresh water inlets are found the salt level can dip below what is necessary for the brine shrimp to survive With the opening of the bridge the salinity of the northern arm of the lake will likely drop as less saline water from the southern arm of the lake flows into the northern arm The brine shrimp harvesting industry could benefit from the freer flow of water 68 There were concerns from the brine shrimp harvesting industry that the conditions in the southern arm of the lake were becoming too saline for the brine shrimp following several years of lower precipitation in the lake s watershed The precipitation in the watershed was above normal for the water year beginning on October 1 2016 The additional water allowed the levels of both arms of the lake to rise 24 and at least for the near future the conditions for a healthy brine shrimp population seem good Great Salt Lake Minerals Company a subsidiary of Compass Minerals extracts minerals from the northern bay The company potentially benefited from the higher salinity of the north west arm of the lake but had difficulty accessing water from the lake because of lower water level Prior to the opening of the causeway the intake channels had to be extended to reach the water Morton Salt Cargill Salt Broken Arrow Salt and the Renco Group s U S Magnesium each extract minerals from the southern bay and could benefit from a more natural mixture of water between the two sides of the lake 76 Recreation Edit Dramatically fluctuating lake levels have inhibited the creation and success of tourist related developments There is also a problem with pollution from industrial and urban effluent as well as a natural lake stink caused by the decay of insects and other wildlife particularly during times of low water Despite these issues the lake remains one of Utah s largest tourist attractions 77 Antelope Island State Park is a popular tourist destination that offers panoramic views of the lake hiking and biking trails wildlife viewing and access to beaches The State of Utah operates a marina on the south shore of the lake at Great Salt Lake State Park and another in Antelope Island State Park With its sudden storms and expansive spread the lake is a great test of sailing skills 78 Single mast simple sloops are the most popular boats Sudden storms and lack of experience on the part of boaters are the two most dangerous elements in boating and sailing on the Great Salt Lake 79 Saltair Edit The original Saltair c 1900 Main article Saltair Utah Three resorts each called Saltair have been operated on the southern shore of the lake since 1893 each one built as a successor to the previous one Rising and lowering water levels have affected each iteration and the first two were destroyed by fire 80 The first Saltair pavilion was destroyed by fire on April 22 1925 A new pavilion was built and the resort was expanded at the same location by new investors but after being closed for several years it was destroyed by arson in 1970 81 The second Saltair included a fun house and a dancing venue The current Saltair serves as a concert venue 82 The new resort was completed in 1981 approximately a mile 1600 m west of the original Garfield Beach Resort Edit Garfield Beach Resort 1888 The Garfield Beach Resort was established by Captain Thomas Douris in 1881 and was originally called Garfield Landing The resort was located near Black Rock outside of the town of Corinne and patrons traveled to it via the steamboat General Garfield 83 After the expansion of the resort the General Garfield was replaced by two steamers the Susie Riter and the Whirlwind The iconic General Garfield was moored to the dock as a landmark 84 The main attraction of the resort was a massive pavilion 400 feet from shore It covered 165 by 400 feet 50 by 122 m and included 300 feet 91 m of covered deck 84 The success of Garfield Beach eventually overtook the neighboring Black Rock resort 84 In 1887 the resort was purchased by the Utah and Nevada railroad They improved the site by adding an array of bathhouses a restaurant and other amenities including a bowling alley 83 The resort was the Salt Lake s first to have an electric generator which powered its many concerts and parties held atop the pavilion tower 84 Garfield Beach was the most popular Salt Lake resort until Saltair was built in 1893 85 The resort was put out of service by a fire in 1904 83 86 Legends and unusual features Edit Robert Smithson s Spiral Jetty Spiral Jetty The northwest arm of the lake near Rozel Point is the location for Robert Smithson s work of land art Spiral Jetty 1970 which is only visible when the level of Great Salt Lake drops below 4 197 8 feet 1 279 5 m above sea level 87 Oolitic sand The lake and its shores contain oolitic sand small rounded or spherical grains of sand that are made up of a nucleus generally a small mineral grain and concentric layers of calcium carbonate lime and look similar to very small pearls 88 Whales in the Great Salt Lake Local legend maintains that in 1875 entrepreneur James Wickham had two whales released into the Great Salt Lake with the intent of using them as a tourist attraction 89 90 The whales are said to have disappeared into the lake and been subsequently sighted multiple times over a number of months but there have never been any confirmed sightings of the whales since the time of their supposed release 91 Lake monster In mid 1877 J H McNeil was with many other Barnes and Co Salt Works employees on the lake s north shore in the evening They claimed to have seen a large monster with a body like a crocodile and a horse s head in the lake They claimed this monster attacked the men who quickly ran away and hid until morning This creature is regarded by some to have simply been a buffalo in the lake Thirty years prior Brother Bainbridge claimed to have sighted a creature that looked like a dolphin in the lake near Antelope Island This monster is called by some the North Shore Monster 19 See also Edit Lakes portalList of lakes by area Pyramid Lake Neopluvial Mono Lake Salar de UyuniReferences Edit Great Salt Lake Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior a b Carlowicz Michael August 18 2021 Record Low for Great Salt Lake NASA Earth Observatory a b Great Salt Lake Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Archived from the original on February 17 2007 Retrieved June 18 2006 a b c d e Great Salt Lake Utah United States Geological Survey Archived from the original on May 6 2009 Retrieved April 12 2009 Great Salt Lake Reaches New Historic Low USGS U S Department of the Interior Retrieved July 24 2021 Flavelle Christopher Tarnowski Bryan June 7 2022 As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up Utah Faces An Environmental Nuclear Bomb The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved August 15 2022 Arave Lynn Great Salt Lake A Lively Recreational Jewel Deseret News Archived from the original on March 21 2006 a b Birds and Great Salt Lake United States Geological Survey Archived from the original on July 13 2013 Retrieved June 19 2006 a b c d Morgan 1947 p 22 Arnow T 1984 Water level and water quality changes in Great Salt Lake Utah 1847 1983 U S Geological Survey Circular 913 Washington DC United States Geological Survey Madsen Brigham 1985 The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre University of Utah Press p 6 ISBN 978 0 87480 494 2 Chamberlin Ralph V 1913 Place and Personal Names of the Gosiute Indians of Utah Page 12 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 52 208 1 20 JSTOR 983995 Chamberlin Ralph V 1913 Place and Personal Names of the Gosiute Indians of Utah Page 9 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 52 208 1 20 JSTOR 983995 File Insel Kalifornien 1650 jpg Encyclopedia Britannica Vol 10 1971 Stansbury Howard 1852 Exploration and survey of the valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah Lippincott Grambo amp Co p 1 Retrieved January 23 2010 stansbury survey great salt lake Carter Lyndia June 1996 Guano Sifters on Gunnison Island History Blazer Utah State Historical Society Archived from the original on October 16 2013 Retrieved October 30 2013 a b c Yeung Peter July 8 2022 Salt Lake City Confronts a Future Without a Lake Bloomberg com Retrieved July 14 2022 a b c Arave Lynn Great Tales Surrounding the Great Salt Lake Deseret News Archived from the original on June 21 2006 Retrieved July 28 2006 Bear Lake PDF Utah Division of Water Quality Archived from the original PDF on July 24 2006 Retrieved July 24 2006 Wang S Y Gillies R R Jin J amp Hipps L E 2010 Coherence between the Great Salt Lake level and the Pacific quasi decadal oscillation Journal of Climate Vol 23 pp 2161 2177 Gillies R R Chung O Y Wang S Y amp Kokoszka P 2011 Incorporation of Pacific SSTs in a time series model towards a longer term forecast for the Great Salt Lake elevation Journal of Hydrometeorology Vol 12 pp 474 480 a b DeRose R Justin Wang Shih Yu Buckley Brendan M amp Bekker Matthew F 2014 Tree ring reconstruction of the level of Great Salt Lake USA The Holocene 24 7 805 813 Bibcode 2014Holoc 24 805D doi 10 1177 0959683614530441 S2CID 10729111 a b c USGS Surface Water Daily Data for the Nation United States Geological Survey Archived from the original on September 21 2017 Retrieved April 30 2017 Hassible amp Keck 1993 pp 11 12 Commonly Asked Questions About Utah s Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville Utah Geological Survey p 05 Archived from the original on August 27 2013 Retrieved June 26 2011 a b Morgan 1947 pp 18 19 Utah Islands Archived from the original on October 3 2018 Retrieved September 21 2017 Bauman Joe Lake has great impact on storms weather Deseret Morning News Archived from the original on October 2 2012 a b c Can I float in Great Salt Lake Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on August 15 2010 Morgan 1947 p 23 Wang Shih Yu Gillies Robert R Reichler Thomas 2012 Multidecadal Drought Cycles in the Great Basin Recorded by the Great Salt Lake Modulation from a Transition Phase Teleconnection Journal of Climate 25 5 1711 1721 Bibcode 2012JCli 25 1711W doi 10 1175 2011JCLI4225 1 Wang Shih Yu Gillies Robert R Jin Jiming Hipps Lawrence E 2010 Coherence between the Great Salt Lake Level and the Pacific Quasi Decadal Oscillation Journal of Climate 23 8 2161 2177 Bibcode 2010JCli 23 2161W doi 10 1175 2009JCLI2979 1 Gillies Robert R Chung Oi Yu Wang Shih Yu Kokoszka Piotr 2011 Incorporation of Pacific SSTs in a Time Series Model toward a Longer Term Forecast for the Great Salt Lake Elevation Journal of Hydrometeorology 12 3 474 480 Bibcode 2011JHyMe 12 474G doi 10 1175 2010JHM1352 1 Gillies Robert R Chung Oi Yu Simon Wang S Y Derose R Justin Sun Yan 2015 Added value from 576 years of tree ring records in the prediction of the Great Salt Lake level Journal of Hydrology 529 962 968 Bibcode 2015JHyd 529 962G doi 10 1016 j jhydrol 2015 08 058 Great Salt Lake Annual Level Prediction Utah Climate Center Archived from the original on September 22 2015 Retrieved November 12 2015 a b Commonly Asked Questions About Utah s Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville Utah Geological Survey p 3 Archived from the original on April 22 2008 Retrieved September 21 2017 Commonly Asked Questions About Utah s Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville Utah Geological Survey p 02 Archived from the original on February 19 2008 Retrieved September 21 2017 Ocean Water Salinity Archived from the original on March 6 2012 Retrieved July 31 2007 https pubs acs org doi abs 10 1021 ie50023a005 W C Ebaugh and Wallace MacFarlane Comparative Analyses Of Water From Great Salt Lake The Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry November 1910 page 454 Aim To Change Great Salt Lake Into Fresh Water Popular Science May 1932 a b c Hassible amp Keck 1993 p 22 Fact Sheet West Desert Pumping Project Utah Division of Water Resources Archived from the original on August 27 2013 Retrieved August 23 2006 Great Salt Lake Pumping Project Utah Division of Water Resources Archived from the original on August 27 2013 Retrieved August 9 2006 a b Great Salt Lake Facts Utah com Archived from the original on July 2 2014 Retrieved August 4 2006 Utah Wetlands Interpretive Network Utah Wetlands Interpretive Network Archived from the original on June 19 2006 Great Salt Lake UT What Shorebird Species Use This Site Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences Archived from the original on December 18 2005 Utah s Great Salt Lake An Undervalued Resource Friends of Great Salt Lake Archived from the original on November 4 2004 R657 15 Closure of Gunnison Cub and Hat Islands Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on March 11 2006 Hogan C Michael 2009 Stromberg N ed Yellow Mariposa Lily Calochortus luteus GlobalTwitcher com Archived from the original on October 4 2011 Fiedler P 1993 Calochortus Flora of North America North of Mexico Vol 26 Zebell Flora of North America Editorial Committee Shultz L M Ramsey R D Lindquist W amp Garrard C 2010 Digital Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah Utah State University Archived from the original on December 11 2012 Retrieved August 7 2012 a b c Brine Shrimp and Ecology of Great Salt Lake United States Geological Survey Archived from the original on March 11 2015 Retrieved August 14 2005 a b Life in the Great Salt Lake Weber State University Department of Botany Archived from the original on September 5 2006 Retrieved August 4 2006 a b North Arm Gunnison Bay Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on July 13 2006 Retrieved August 4 2006 a b Hollenhorst John Study says mercury in Great Salt Lake is global problem KSL Archived from the original on October 29 2013 Retrieved October 27 2013 Could Pink Floyd Be Sick KSL Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved September 7 2007 Speckman Stephen January 12 2004 Floyd may get some pink feathered friends Deseret News Archived from the original on October 4 2013 Retrieved October 3 2013 A Flamingo Flies the Coop to Fame The Christian Science Monitor Archived from the original on May 15 2006 Retrieved January 2 2020 Feeling Blue About Pink Floyd Deseret News Archived from the original on October 4 2013 Retrieved October 3 2013 Reader Tips Roadside America Archived from the original on December 23 2007 Toxic mercury lurking in Great Salt Lake Salt Lake Tribune Archived from the original on December 23 2007 Retrieved November 29 2007 Utah Waterfowl Advisory Utah Office of Epidemiology Archived from the original on September 24 2006 Retrieved August 25 2006 High mercury levels found in two duck species Press release Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on February 1 2010 Retrieved August 25 2006 Duck mercury advisories revised Press release Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on January 7 2010 Retrieved September 21 2006 Wurtsbaugh et al 2020 Effects of a century of mining and industrial production on metal contamination of a model saline ecosystem Great Salt Lake Utah Environmental Pollution 266 115072 doi org 10 1016 j envpol 2020 115072 Jones amp Wurtsbaugh 2014 The Great Salt Lake s monimolimnion and its importance for mercury bioaccumulation in brine shrimp Artemia franciscana Limnol Oceanography 59 1 141 155 https doi org 10 4319 lo 2014 59 1 0141 a b c Fahys Judy Great Salt Lake causeway sinks prompting emergency repairs The Salt Lake Tribune Archived from the original on November 2 2012 Retrieved November 21 2012 a b c Fahys Judy Great Salt Lake an economic powerhouse for the state Salt Lake Tribune Archived from the original on November 10 2016 Retrieved October 28 2013 What minerals are produced from Great Salt Lake Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on November 8 2010 Retrieved August 11 2006 LaRoe Lisa Moore Salt Lake Valley s Leap of Faith National Geographic Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved August 11 2006 South Arm Gilbert Bay Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on July 13 2006 Retrieved August 12 2006 Hassible amp Keck 1993 p 20 Milligan Mark Bubblin Crude at Rozel Point Box Elder County Utah Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on March 23 2011 Retrieved November 21 2012 Milligan Mark Rozel Point and Spiral Jetty Revisited Box Elder County Utah Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on August 27 2013 Retrieved November 21 2012 a b Hollenhorst John Union Pacific causeway upgrade proposal could change colors of the Great Salt Lake Deseret News Archived from the original on October 29 2013 Retrieved November 21 2012 Great Salt Lake www visitutah com Retrieved November 2 2021 Stum Marlin amp Miller Dan 1999 Visions of Antelope Island and Great Salt Lake Utah State University Press p 4 ISBN 978 0 87421 269 3 Archived from the original on May 12 2016 Retrieved September 3 2009 Cherny Peter G 1976 The Great Great Salt Lake Provo UT Brigham Young University Press p 4 ISBN 978 0 8425 1073 8 Archived from the original on May 12 2016 Retrieved September 3 2009 via Google Books Strack Don Salt Lake Garfield amp Western Railway Archived from the original on November 30 2011 Retrieved April 14 2011 Saltair Utah History Encyclopedia Archived from the original on May 1 2011 Retrieved April 14 2011 Saltair Resort Utah City Guide Archived from the original on April 27 2006 Retrieved June 19 2006 a b c Resorts flourished at Great Salt Lake during the 1800s Deseret News March 29 1998 Archived from the original on August 14 2017 Retrieved June 9 2017 a b c d Morgan Dale 1995 The Great Salt Lake Salt Lake City University of Utah Press Great Salt Lake Beaches Tooele County Guide to Historical Attractions Archived from the original on September 21 2017 Retrieved June 9 2017 Ison Yvette The Steamboat Era Was Glamorous But Very Brief in Utah historytogo utah gov Archived from the original on July 21 2017 Retrieved June 9 2017 Case William F Pink Water White Salt Crystals Black Boulders and the Return of Spiral Jetty Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on May 6 2008 What are the round white sand grains that make up the beaches Utah Geological Survey Archived from the original on September 27 2006 Retrieved August 25 2006 The University of Utah biologylabs utah edu Archived from the original on September 20 2017 Retrieved September 21 2017 Phoenix Roberts January 26 2006 Whale of a tale sltrib com Archived from the original on September 21 2017 Retrieved September 21 2017 Twila Van Leer October 3 1995 WHALE OF A SALTY TALE SWIMS THROUGH PAGES OF OLD PAPER Deseret News Archived from the original on June 28 2018 Retrieved May 6 2018 Works cited Edit Hassible W R amp Keck W G 1993 The Great Salt Lake Washington DC Government Printing Office 1993 0 337 928 QL 2 Morgan Dale L 1947 The Great Salt Lake Salt Lake City University of Utah Press ISBN 978 0 87480 478 2 External links EditExternal images map FWS gov map Friends of GSL map USGS gov daily surface level volume amp area vs surface level photographic survey NASA images research images Westminster edu boating images UTAH com gulls Media related to Great Salt Lake at Wikimedia Commons Texts on Wikisource Great Salt Lake The New Student s Reference Work 1914 Great Salt Lake Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed 1911 Great Salt Lake New International Encyclopedia 1905 Great Salt Lake The American Cyclopaedia 1879 State of Utah Official Great Salt Lake Site Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Deseret News Monitoring the Weather over the Great Salt Lake at University of Utah Department of Meteorology West Desert Pumping Project at Utah Division of Water Resources Commonly Asked Questions About Utah s Great Salt Lake and Ancient Lake Bonneville at Utah Geological Survey Utah Museum of Fine Arts Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Great Salt Lake amp oldid 1135020712, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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