The Great Salt Lake: Interesting Information, Facts, and History (Lake Pedia)
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.
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.