The Great Salt Lake

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The Great Salt Lake
By Dana Fears
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Interesting Facts

• The largest US Lake west of the Mississippi River
• The fourth largest contained lake in the world
• About 75 miles long, 28 miles wide and covers
  1,700 square miles
• 5 to 7 times saltier than the ocean

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Where does the Great Salt Lake get its water, and
where does the water go?

• Four main rivers give it its waterthe Bear
  River from the north, the Weber and Ogden Rivers
  from the east, and the Jordan River from the
  south. (these make up 66 of the Lake)
• 31 is direct precipitation
• 3 is ground water 

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The Wasatch Mountains
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Brine Shrimp
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Record low levels of the lake October 2003
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Why is the Great Salt Lake salty?

• Much of the salt now contained in the Great Salt
  Lake was originally in the water of Lake
  Bonneville. 
• Even though Lake Bonneville was fairly fresh, it
  contained salt that concentrated as its water
  evaporated. 
• A small amount of dissolved salts, leached from
  the soil and rocks, is deposited in Great Salt
  Lake every year by rivers that flow into the
  lake. 
• About two million tons of dissolved salts enter
  the lake each year by this means

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The weather is affected by lake
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Gunnison Island
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Antelope Island
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Bay off of Antelope Island
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Aerial photograph of salt evaporation
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Where did Lake Bonneville go?
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Avocet
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Barn Owl
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Blue Heron
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Pelicans
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Recreational activities, such as boating are
popular on the lake
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The Shorelands are preserved
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