The Great Salt Lake is an exceptionally natural phenomenon, the “largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere.”
“A remnant of the huge old Lake Bonneville, the lake is now land and its waters are salt”, according to Utah.com. “It is the largest lake between the big lakes and the Pacific and is the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere.” It is also the subject of many legends, the site notes.
However, the Great Salt Lake is “shrinking”, according to an article of 31 August by Science daily. That has led to some discoveries that “bewildered” scientists.
“Great Salt Lake, the greatest salty lake in the western hemisphere, is in crisis,” says the University of Utah on its website, where it sponsors a great Salt Lake project. “Tens of years of non -durable water consumption, accelerated by drought and climate change, have dramatically reduced the water level. With more than 50% of the lake that is now exposed, Great Salt Lake is a route towards irreversible ecological collapse.”
The scientists found 'strange surface disorders' in the large salt lake
According to Science daily“While the Great Salt Lake is shrinking, scientists discover that mysterious groundwater fed oases hidden under the drying lake.”
The findings were made by researchers from the University of Utah.
“Reed-covered hills and foreign surface disorders indicate a huge underground sanitary system that pushes fresh water under pressure,” wrote Science daily.
The scientists are “the hidden freshwater reserves mapped” to see if they can “help repair fragile Makebed breasts, reduce dust pollution and to reveal for long buried secrets of the hydrology of the region”, “, Science daily reported.
Bill Johnson, professor at the Geology and Geophysics department, said Science daily That suspects “the circular hills: are the result of a” plumbing underground “. Gentleman has contacted Johnson per e -mail for more information.
“Water in the lake has spent a considerable time underground on the way to the lake. But we don't know where that happened,” Johnson said the site. “Is that happened somewhere in the Highlands where the water spent time in the ground and appeared in the current before he went to the lake? Or was it transferred directly to the lake?”
The water levels of the Great Salt Lake are 'far from Constant'
The new research depends on the water level, but they are not consistent.
“The water level in the lake is far from Constant. During its layer in 1963, some of the 10 large islands of Lake Peninsula became,” Utah.com Reports.
“In 1983, when the lake reached its historic high, the houses, agricultural land and the nearby highway. Huge pumps were built to drop excess water in the western desert of Utah. The pumps were closed in 1989.”
The site adds that the Great Salt Lake “is actually the rest of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville, which existed around 20,000 square miles of land in what is now Utah, Nevada and Idaho about 10,000 to 30,000 years ago.”
“The lake is about 75 miles long and 35 miles wide, with a maximum depth of 33 feet. After a series of wet years, the surface of the lake can be much larger, but it will only be a little deeper,” ” Utah.com reported.
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This story was originally reported by Men's Journal on August 31, 2025, where it first appeared in the news section. Add Herenjournaal as a preferred source by clicking here.
