Lake Bonneville

Hanna Vance

Geology 1010

April 5th, 2019

 Lake Bonneville was a huge lake that used to cover the entire Salt Lake Valley. As time has gone

on the water has evaporated immensely. What used to be a huge lake, is now a smaller and more saline

one. The Salt Flats have many different sediments and minerals used for different purposes. Ever since

the Mormon pioneers settled in Utah, the salt flats have provided many benefits to its citizens. Whether

that comes down to salt used for potash or just for recreational use, the Salt Flats have a very interesting

and necessary past that makes the flats what they are today.

The Lake Bonneville Salt Flats are made up of the leftover remnants from the Pleistocene era.

Back in time, during the tertiary time period, there was a set of glaciers called the Wisconsin glaciers.

Lake Bonneville became one of the largest pluvial lakes, measuring 20,000 square miles and with a

depth of approximately 1,000 feet, almost as large as today's Lake Michigan. (Hunt C. 1953) Once the

last Wisconsin glacier was deposited into the lake it changed the climate from wet and cool to become

more dry and hot. Evaporation was increasingly rapid and caused the Lake’s levels to lower dramatically.

(Hunt C. 1953) In order to keep the same climate the zone of accumulation and zone of ablation have to

be the same. There was a glacial outflow event that occurred about 15,000 years ago. Because of this

outflow event, it lowered the former Lake Bonneville’s water to extreme lows. This event is what made

the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats what they are today. (Yager 2016)

The wave cut terraces help scientists be able to determine at what level the lake was at during

distinct periods in time. The wave-cut erodes into the mountain and creates a type of little cliff. (Gilbert

1890) These shorelines are easy to identify when looking at the Silver Island Mountains and they also

extend all the way to the Salt Lake Valley. Scientists have been able to see the fluctuation of shorelines

throughout time by looking at wave-cuts in the mountains and by looking at the different sediments.

The main shorelines are the Stansbury, Bonneville, Flooding shoreline, Provo, and the Gilbert shorelines.

(Currey 1984) The Bonneville shoreline was the shoreline that had the highest amount of water and was

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relatively fresh hard water rather than very saline. The surface area was around 19,000 square miles

larger than it is currently. (Currey 1984)

Lake Bonneville is composed of sediments all the way from the Pleistocene era. Along with

sediments, there are also fossils and fresh-water species evidence. Because of the glacial outwash, there

are deposits with agglomerates volcanic tuffs, and muds as well. (Hunt C. 1953) There were three

specific time periods where sediments were being deposited into the valley. The three formations are

called the Alpine, Bonneville, and Provo formations. (Gilbert 1890) The alpine mainly consisting of

fine-grained silts. Bonneville was depositing gravel along its very high beach shoreline. The Provo is

distinguished through its textures whether that may be silt, gravel, clay, or sand. (Hunt C. 1953)

The Lake Bonneville Salt Flats are located in the Northwest part of Utah over by Wendover. As

you drive out to the Bonneville Salt Flats from the Salt Lake Valley and you pass the Great Salt Lake you

will see what is left from Lake Bonneville, which is the last of the water from the prehistoric lake. If you

keep going past the Great Salt Lake over to Wendover, to the Salt Flats, you will see vast amounts of flat

land which appears to be made up of salt minerals. The land stretches across for The vegetation is

desolate on the salt flats. There are no plants that can survive in the sediments high with salinity.

Sediments that are prominent in the flats are sodium and chloride. (Clark J. 1971) This explains why

when you look out over the salt flats they go on for miles with no interruption of trees or bushes. The

salt does not just go to waste, there are several uses of the minerals that the salt provides.

Lake Bonneville has the second highest content of brine in the groundwater underneath the

flats. This occurs in the basin because the Bonneville Salt flats don't have an external drainage. The

water all flowed into the lake. (Yager. 2016) The Lake wouldn't have the same salinity if it was able to

drain and flow somewhere else. In order to extract the salt, they would dig into the crust to take up the

groundwater. There are different aquifers as sources for brine, the main three are the basin-fill,

alluvial-fan, and shallow-brine aquifers. The main one used for potash production is the shallow-brine

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aquifer. (Lines. 1979) In order to extract the water from the salt, you have to boil down the water. They

will take the brine and once all the water has evaporated it leaves behind all the salt, and also some

impurities. This makes the salt taste very bitter. But In comparison to ocean water, the salt flats appear

to have a higher concentration of salt minerals in the brine than the East side of the continent and

because of this, it is cheaper to extract the bitter taste which makes our salt of a higher value. (Clark J.

1971)

The salt extracted from Lake Bonneville Salt Flats was mainly used for potash back when the

Mormon pioneers settled. Potash is a compound of potassium that is put into fertilizers. (Yager 2016) It

is a necessary component of today's agriculture and food production. If you drive past the old factories

you can see that they are still using them to extract and sell potash. The minerals in the groundwater are

a huge part of Utahs economy. The more they extract from the groundwater then less rich in potassium

and magnesium the water becomes in some areas. Although the halite in the crust helps some areas

stay remaining the same.

The Bonneville Speedway Racetrack is a specific area affected by the brine collection ditches.

There have been complaints of the salty crust becoming rougher and that it is losing salt from the brine

being taken out of the groundwater. (Lines 1979) It is important to make sure that the groundwater

level doesn't reach extremely low. If you read the signs at the Bonneville Salt Flats viewpoint, they talk

about the history of the speedway. The Salt Flats were settled by Captian B, L. Bonneville and named

after him as well. The famous Donner Party pioneers lost their animals and wagons on the salt before

they crossed over to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The speedway wasn't created until 1896 and

the Mormon pioneers would have wagon races. Unfortunately, when I went there to observe the halite

crust, the land was covered in rainwater from winter storms. The Salt Flats have a very old and

interesting history that is worth knowing and seeing what it is all about.

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Bibliography:

Clark, John L. (1971 l, Aug. 2). History of Utah's Salt Industry 1847-1970. All Theses and Dissertations.

4603. ​https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4603

Currey, Donald R., Atwood Genevieve, Mabey, Don R. (1984. May). Major Levels of the Great Salt

Lake and Lake Bonneville. Map 73. ​https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/maps/m-73.pdf

Gilbert, G. K. (1890. Aug.). Lake Bonneville. ​https://books.google.com/books?id=NY0sA

AAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hunt, C., Varnes, H., & Thomas, H. (1953). Lake Bonneville: Geology of northern Utah Valley, Utah.

Professional Paper, Paper(257), pages 1-91 ​https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0257a/report.pdf

Lines, G.C. (1979). Hydrology and surface morphology of the Bonneville Salt Flats and Pilot Valley Playa,

Utah. Geological Survey Water-Supply, Paper-2057. doi:10.3133/wsp2057

https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/2057/report.pdf

Yager, D.B. (2016). Potash—A vital agricultural nutrient sourced from geologic deposits: U.S. Geological

Survey Open-File Report 2016–1167, 28 p., ​https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161167​.

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 1)This is a sign that is located

at Lake Bonneville Salt Flats. On the sign, it describes the history of how the Bonneville Salt Flats were

discovered.

2) A photo of a plant that is dying because the ground is too saline for the plant to survive.

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3) The trucks are carrying salt and bringing it to the potash factories.

4) This looks like salt, I’m unsure as to what mineral it is but I’m assuming that it is the mineral Halite

(table salt).

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5) A picture showing how desolate and vast the salt flats go on for. The salt is covered by a thin layer of

water due to rainfall and snowfall.

6) A picture showing that the salt flats are closed to motor vehicles because of the rain. The rain causes

the ground to become more like mud.

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A MAP OF LAKE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS: