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GREAT SALT LAKE

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 422 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

GREAT See also:SALT See also:LAKE , a shallow See also:body of highly concentrated brine in the N.W. See also:part of See also:Utah, U.S.A., lying between 118.8° and 113.2° W. See also:long. and between 40.7° and 41.8° See also:lat. Great Salt Lake is 4218 ft. above See also:sea-level. It has no outlet, and is fed chiefly by the See also:Jordan, the See also:Weber and the See also:Bear See also:rivers, all draining the mountainous See also:country to the E. and S:E. The irregular outline of the lake has been compared to the roughly See also:drawn See also:hand, See also:palm at the S., thumb (exaggerated in breadth) pointing N.E., and the fingers (crowded together and drawn too small) reaching N. No bathymetric survey of the lake has been made, but the maximum See also:depth is 6o ft. and the mean depth Iess than 20 ft., possibly as little as 13 it. The lake in 1go6 was approximately 75 M. long., from N.W. to S.E., and had a maximum width of 5o m. and an See also:area of 1750 sq. in. This area is not See also:constant, as the See also:water is very shallow at the margins, and the relation between See also:supply from precipitation, &c., and loss by evaporation is variable, there being an See also:annual difference in the height of the water of 15-18 in. between See also:June (highest) and See also:November (lowest), and besides a difference See also:running through longer cycles: in 1850 the water was See also:lower and the lake smaller than by any previous observations (the area and See also:general outline were nearly the same again in 1906); then the water See also:rose until 1873; and between 1886 and 1902 the fall in level was 11.6 ft. The range of rise and fall from 1845 to 1886 was 13 ft., this being the rise in 1865-1886. With the fall of water there is an increase in the specific gravity, which in 1850 was 1.17, and in See also:September 1901 was 1.179; in 185o the proportion of solids by See also:weight was 22.282%, in September 1901 it was 25.221; at the earlier of these See also:dates the solids in a litre of water weighed 260.69 grams, at the latter date 302.122 grams. The exact cause of this cyclic variation ig unknown: the See also:low level of 1906 is usually regarded as the result of extensive See also:irrigation and ploughing in the surrounding country, which have robbed the lake, in part, of its normal supply of water. It is also to be noted that the rise and fall of the lake level have been coincident, respectively, with continued wet and dry cycles. That the lake will soon dry up entirely seems unlikely, as there is a central trough, 25 to 30 M. wide, about 4. ft deep, running N.W. and S.E.

The area and See also:

shore-See also:line of the lake are evidently affected by a slight See also:surface tilt, for during the same See also:generation that has seen the See also:recent fall of the lake level the shore-line is in many cases 2 M. from the old, and fences may be seen a mile or more out in the lake. The lake See also:bed is for the most part clear See also:sand along the margin, and in deeper water is largely coated with crusts of salt, soda and See also:gypsum. The lake is a novel and popular bathing resort, the specific gravity of the water being so great that one cannot sink or entirely submerge oneself. There are well-equipped bathing pavilions at See also:Garfield and Saltair on the S. shore of the lake about 20 M. from Salt Lake See also:City. The bathing is invigorating; it must be followed by a See also:freshwater See also:bath because of the incrustation of the body from the briny water. The large amount of salt in the water makes both See also:fauna and See also:flora of the lake scanty; there are a few See also:algae, the larvae of an Ephydra and of a Tipula See also:fly, specimens of what seems to be Corixa decolor, and in great quantities, so as to tint the surface of the water, the brine See also:shrimp, Artemia See also:salina (or gracilis or fertilis), notable biologically for the rarity of See also:males, for the high degree of parthenogenesis and for apparent interchangeableness with the Branchipus. The lake is of See also:interest for its generally mountainous surroundings, See also:save to the N.W., where it skirts the Great Salt Lake See also:Desert, for the mountainous See also:peninsula, the Promontory, lying between thumb and fingers of the hand, shaped like and resembling in See also:geological structure the two islands S. of it, See also:Fremont and See also:Antelope,' and the Oquirrh range S. of the lake. The physiography of the surrounding country shows clearly that the See also:basin occupied by Great Salt Lake is one of many See also:left by the drying up of a large See also:Pleistocene lake, which has been called lake See also:Bonneville. Well-defined See also:wave-cut cliffs and terraces show two distinct shore-lines of this See also:early lake, one. the " Bonneville Shore-line," about l000 ft. above Great Salt Lake, and the other, the " See also:Provo Shore-line," about 625 ft. higher than the See also:present lake. These shore-lines and the presence of two alluvial deposits, the lower and the larger of yellow See also:clay 90 ft. deep, and, separated from it by a See also:plane of erosion, the other, a See also:deposit of See also:white See also:marl, 10-20 ft. deep, clearly prove the See also:main facts as to lake Bonneville: a dry basin was first occupied by the shallow See also:waters of a small lake; then, during a long See also:period of excessive moisture (or See also:cold), the waters rose and spread over an area nearly as large as lake See also:Huron with a maximum depth of moo ft.; a period of great dryness followed, in which the lake disappeared; then came a second, shorter, but more intense period of moisture, and in this See also:time the lake rose, covered a larger area than before, including W. Utah and a little of S. See also:Idaho and of E.

See also:

Nevada, about 19,750 sq. m., had a very much broken shore-line of 2550 M. and a maximum depth of 1050 ft. and a mean depth of 800 ft., overflowed the basin at the N., and by a tributary stream through Red See also:Rock Pass at the N. end of the Cache valley poured its waters into the See also:Columbia See also:river See also:system. The great lake was then gradually reduced by evaporation, leaving only shallow bodies of salt water, of which Great Salt Lake is the largest. The cause of the See also:climatic See also:variations which brought about this complex See also:history of the Salt Lake region is not known; but it is worthy of See also:note that the periods of highest water levels were coincident with a great expansion of See also:local valley glaciers, some of which terminated in the waters of lake Bonneville. Industrially Great Salt Lake is of a certain importance. In early days it was the source of the salt supply of the surrounding country; and the manufacture of salt is now an important See also:industry. The brine is pumped into conduits, carried to large ponds and there evaporated by the See also:sun; during See also:late years the salt has been refined here, being purified of the sulphates and See also:magnesium compounds which formerly rendered it efflorescent and of a low commercial grade. Mirabilite, or See also:Glauber's salt, is commercially valuable, occurring in such quantities in parts of the lake that one may See also:wade See also:knee-deep in it; it separates ' Besides these islands there are a few small islands farther N., and W. of Antelope, Stansbury See also:Island, which, like Antelope and Fremont Islands, is connected with the mainland by a See also:bar sometimes uncovered and rarely in more than a See also:foot of water.from the brine at a temperature between 3o° and 20° F. The lake is crossed E. and W. by the See also:Southern Pacific railway's so-called " Lucin Cut-off," which runs from See also:Ogden to Lucin on a trestle with more than 20 M. of " fill "; the former route around the N. end of the lake was 43 M. long. Great Salt Lake was first described in 1689 by See also:Baron La Hontan, who had merely heard of it from the See also:Indians. " Jim " Bridger, a famous mountaineer and See also:scout, saw the lake in 1824, apparently before any other white See also:man. See also:Captain Bonneville described the lake and named it after himself, but the name was transferred to the great Pleistocene lake. See also:John C.

Fremont gave the first description of any accuracy in his See also:

Report of 1845. But comparatively little was known of it before the Mormon See also:settlement in 1847. In 185o Captain See also:Howard Stansbury completed a survey, whose results were published in 1852. The most extensive and important studies of the region, however, are those by See also:Grove Karl See also:Gilbert of the See also:United States Geological Survey, who in 1879–1890 studied especially the earlier and greater lake. See J. E. See also:Talmage, The Great Salt Lake, Present and Past (Salt Lake City, 1900) ; and Grove Karl Gilbert, Lake Bonneville, mono-graph i of United States Geological Survey (See also:Washington, 1890), containing (pp. 12-19) references to the earlier literature.

End of Article: GREAT SALT LAKE

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