Great Salt Lake
In this article, we will discuss the Great Salt Lake. In Detail
In the northwestern part of the American mountainous state of Utah, which is located in the Rocky Mountains in the west of the country, there is the largest rainless region of North America: water from the surrounding rivers and precipitation only enters the local lakes, but there is no access to the sea. This vast (more than 500,000 km2) area is called the Great Basin.
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| Great Salt Lake, Utah USA |
Table of Contents
History of the Great Salt Lake
General information About the Great Salt Lake
Beaches
Economy
Great Salt Lake Climate and weather
The Great Salt Lake Attractions
Great Salt Lake Curious Facts
FAQs About the Great Salt Lake
History of the Great Salt Lake
This name preserved the memory of the distant past of the region, when, about 15–20 thousand years ago, most of this space was indeed covered with water—there were two large lakes. One of them is the Pleistocene Bonneville. As a result of climate change, this lake started to dry up. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of this deep (up to 300 m) lake.
Currently, deserts and semi-deserts are distributed throughout a huge area that is still stretching and breaking, crossed by many short (up to 3,900 m high) mountains, and against which the Great Salt Lake stands out as an odd but present body of water.
Its basin follows the structure of the relief of the Rocky Mountains surrounding the lake, thus acquiring an elongated shape from the southeast to the northwest. It is a deep graben (a section of the earth's crust lowered relative to the surrounding area along steep or vertical tectonic faults) with a thick layer of deposits from the Quaternary period (lasting from 2.6 million years ago). The other, more western part of the Bonneville turned into the Great Salt Lake Desert, with white sand from high salt content.
The largest inland lake in the western United States and the largest salt lake in North America live up to their names: although their size varies depending on precipitation, the area of the water table has recently fluctuated from 4,500 to 5,000 km2. The lake is salty because it has no runoff, although three large rivers flow into it from the neighboring Wasatch Range: The salinity level reaches 300%, making the lake one of the most saline on the entire Earth.
The surrounding landscape is harsh: rocks, salty desert, and dust. It is very hot in the summer, and it is the aridity of the region that leads to the fact that the water coming from the rivers and with precipitation evaporates, and the salt is concentrated in its remains and on the banks. In winter, the temperature drops, and in autumn, the air is filled with mosquitoes that flock to the unused irrigation waters descending into the lake.
The lake's water is a deep turquoise color. It is more like a jelly-like structure, which prevents normal waves from occurring.
On the north and east sides, the lake transitions into salt and freshwater wetlands, which make up about 75% of Utah's wetlands. Life is already seething here; millions of waterfowl and near-water birds migrate to this region. They have something to profit from because, in this part of the lake, there are some types of seaweed, shrimp, and salt flies, the population of which totals more than a hundred billion. The harsh land stretches at an altitude of 1,280 m above sea level, and for a long time, the white settlers of the New World only guessed about its existence from rumors that reached them about a salt lake that existed in the western mountains.
American pioneers listened to local legends and began to collect information about a strange place. The first thought that came to mind was that the lake was a part of the Pacific Ocean or at the very least connected to it by a river. Indian tales provided their own explanation for the lake's extreme salinity: it was said that a monster with a gigantic head already inhabited the area, making it appear desolate.
But over time, such conjectures became less and less suitable for the growing and developing civilization of the settlers. In 1776, the Franciscan missionary and the first European explorer of the territory of the state of Utah, Beley Silvestre de Escalante (1750–1788), together with his brother Francisco Atanasio Dominguez (1740–1803) and another seven daredevils, led by a topographer, equipped an expedition, during which, moving from the east, they hoped to reach the lands of present-day California, where there were already representatives of the Spanish religious mission. Along the way, travelers sought to lay a new route linking different ends of the country. It was then that the first facts about the lake were obtained, and the travelers were taken to the reservoir by the Indians they met, who reported that they live "in the west, near the big water."
Another trip to the lake by the will of fate was made by the fur trader James Bridger (1804–1881). It is believed that in 1825, he gave the lake its current name. By the 1840s, through the efforts of brave pioneers, Utah had become a transit region: more and more new expeditions and ordinary settlers who sought their fortune in California followed the beaten paths.
Scientific interest in the lake was shown in 1843 by John Fremont (1813–1899); members of his team finally marked the location of the lake on maps and discovered that the reservoir has several islands, the largest of which, Antelope Island, the Shoshone Indians lived.
It was with the Shoshone that Brigham Young (1801–1877), who chose the valley of the Great Salt Lake for the new Mormon settlement, first tried to establish good relations. It was with the Shoshone that Brigham Young (1801–1877), who chose the valley of the Great Salt Lake for the new Mormon settlement, first tried to establish good relations. The second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this Mormon migration organizer, appreciated the desolation of the territory; for his persecuted flock, it was what he needed. The Shoshone were wary of the settlers, as their wagons scared away the game and threatened to leave the original inhabitants of these lands hungry. As elsewhere in America, many conflicts arose between aliens and Indians.
But in 1847, Young managed to organize the first Mormon settlement near the shores of the lake, from which the capital of Utah, the city of Salt Lake City, grew. It was conceived as the embodiment of the image of an ideal city, the "City of Zion" (Zion is a hill in Jerusalem, a symbol of the Promised Land), a gathering place for Latter-day Saints. It became an important staging post where settlers on their way to California could gain strength. The development of transport has turned the city into a major trading center in the west of the country. Since 1959, the railway has been passing through the lake along a special dam about 40 km long, which divides it into parts with different salinities.
The study of the island continues. It has 8 to 11 islands, depending on the water level. In 1916, the industrial use of salt reserves began. About 2,000,000 tonnes of salt enter the lake. Extraction is carried out by pumping water from the northern part of the lake to evaporation pools, where the water is finally discharged. This farm is run by the Great Salt Lake Mineral and Chemical Corporation. And the canals of artificial irrigation laid by the inhabitants of the city made it possible to use the surroundings for agriculture and made the surrounding landscape much more lively and attractive.
Great Salt Lake on the map
General information About the Great Salt Lake
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| The Great Salt Lake, Utah Sunset From Beach |
Beaches
The very famous Great Salt Lake Beach is Black Rock Beach, worth visiting. Garfield Lake is also a well-known beach on the Great Salt Lake; both lie on the edges of the southern shoreline of the Great Lake.
State: Utah.
The largest flowing river is the Bear. Wieber, Jordan.
Largest cities: Salt Lake City, Ogden
Numbers
Area: from 2500 to 6000 km2.
Average depth: 4.5 to 7.5 m.
Maximum depth: 13–15 m.
The salinity of brine in the northern part is 334–345 g/l.
Brine mineralization in the southern part: from 130 to 280 g/l
60 times more salts enter the lake through the underground runoff than through the surface.
Economy
Industry: production of lithium and bromine, as well as the extraction of salt and Glauber's salt (approximately 8,000 metric tonnes).
Service sector: tourism.
Great Salt Lake Climate and weather
Arid: dry, characterized by very high air temperatures combined with large daily fluctuations. Windy.
Average January temperature: -1.4 °C.
Average July temperature: +25.9 °C.
Average annual rainfall: up to 413 mm.
The Great Salt Lake Attractions
The lake is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with salt fields on Lake Bonneville.
Antelope Island: State Natural Park
Great Salt Lake Curious Facts
The lake is uninhabited; few living organisms can withstand such a level of salinity. But the inhabitants of the surrounding area have made attempts to add new inhabitants to the lake. So, in 1875, they tried to release two whales into it! They didn't survive. And in 1987, a representative of the Chilean flamingo species, Pink Floyd, who escaped from a poultry house in Salt Lake City, held out for some time near the lake. His example of endurance inspired the people of Utah, who immediately came up with the idea to convince biologists to populate the lake with a population of such flamingos. But biologists stated that such a decision would be ecologically unsound.
The main inhabitants of the lake are salted shrimp. It serves as the most important source of food for migratory birds stopping here. Shrimp eggs of this species are harvested and then used in industrial aquaculture.
In honor of Officer L. Bonneville, Lake Bonneville, the forerunner of the Great Salt Lake, received its name.
Whose adventures are described by the American author W. Irving? And the American geologist G.K. Gilbert christened the ancient lake.
The water of the lake contains about eight times more salt than seawater. This level of salinity (from 140 to 300% o) makes it possible to use its resources for medicinal purposes, so the lake is often called the "Dead Sea of America." Although swimming entirely on these premises is not recommended, the reserves of the lake are also used to get Glauber's and table salt. The total reserve of lake salt is estimated at 6 billion tonnes.
The largest population of bison in the United States lives on one of the islands of the Great Salt Lake, which is called Sharp Antelope.
In 1970, the outstanding master of land art, the American artist Robert Smithson, built one of his most significant and, undoubtedly, most cited landscape installations in the northwestern arm of the lake, the Spiral Wharf sculpture. The object was built of mud, salt crystals, and basalt chips and landed in six days. only see it from above. And even then, when the water level drops to less than 1,280 m (usual for a lake, you honeycomb) above sea level, up close, it looks more like a more or less neat pile of garbage and earth. Now, most of the time, the object is flooded, and an idea about it can be made from the remaining photographs and documents. The spiral went from the very shore, and its total length was about 500 m. It was possible to walk along it if desired. When the observer finally reached the very end of the spiral, there was nothing extraordinary there other than lake water and emptiness, and the author was very happy with the metaphorical purity of his work.
FAQs About the Great Salt Lake
- Is the Great Salt Lake drying up?
Ans. Yes. While drought conditions, the lack of rain, and climate change can lead to increase evaporation from lakes.
- What is the water level of the Great Salt Lake?
Ans. The current Great Lake water level is 4192.6ft
- Can you swim in the Great Salt Lake?
Ans. Yes. Swimming is allowed, from any accessible spot.
- Why is the Great Salt Lake so salty?
Ans. As rainwater comes through salted mountains and as a result the lake water is salty.
- Where is the Great Salt Lake?
Ans. The Great Salt Lake is situated in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah.
- What state is the Great Salt Lake found in?
Ans. State of Utah
- What will happen if the Great Salt Lake dries up?
Ans. May its effect on climate change and Their eco-system.
- How deep is the Great Salt Lake?
Ans. 10 meters deep.
- Is there any fish in the Great Salt Lake?
Ans. There are no fish in the Great Salt Lake because of algae and halophiles, as well as the high salinity.
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