Turns out, the Bonneville Salt Flats have nothing to do with ancient Lake Bonneville

The Bonneville Salt Flats, comprised of mostly sodium chloride that forms a hard, white salt crust and home to numerous land speed records, are covered in nine inches of water, forming a shallow lake on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. With nowhere for the rain and snow melt to go, precipitation slowly evaporates throughout the year to restore the flat's delicate salt layer.

The aquifer is so over tapped that groundwater is flowing away from the flats, carrying the salt away with it. “This landscape is dynamic and changing,” Bowen said. “It shows us the conditions that led to accumulation and preservation of salt on the surface are pretty special.” State geologist collects water samples in the Bonneville Salt Flats Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, near Wendover, Utah. The glistening white salt of the world famous area is shrinking near the Utah-Nevada line.

That might run counterintuitive to residents of the arid West, who associate salt formation with a dry environment, Bowen said.

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