![]() ![]() This results in a self-correcting natural process almost like what a Zamboni does to an ice skating rink.Īdventurers at the turn of the last century realized that this created ideal conditions to test how fast an automobile might drive if pushed to its limits. Prevailing winds smooth the surface as it evaporates. ![]() A shallow layer of water forms on the surface in the winter. That would fill quite a few salt shakers. The salt flats fill 46 square miles and gets as deep as five feet in some areas. The water all drained or evaporated here, leaving behind a densely-packed layer of salt that had collected for millennia. The Great Salt Lake is the largest aquatic remnant of this once mighty feature, but the Bonneville Salt Flats are equally fascinating in a totally different way. The lake ceased to exist about 14,000 years ago when most of its water released in a single natural cataclysm called the Bonneville Flood. It is a desiccated artifact of ancient Lake Bonneville that once covered much of the Great Basin. The Bonneville Salt Flats are just that, about 90% sodium chloride (common table salt) with lesser amounts of potassium and other minerals. The Bonneville Salt Flats don’t begin to dissipate until near the Nevada border. One flies along the Interstate as the town of Wendover, nearly twenty miles away, appears in the distance. Nothing dares to grow on this hostile plain. Look closely and one will notice the tracks of automobiles peeling away from the highway, heading straight into a colorless void that resembles freshly-fallen snow. One enters an epic salt pan, completely flat and stretching practically as far as the eye can see towards the base of jagged mountains on the far horizon ( map). Streaks of white appear along the ground, gradually growing into patches, then into the dominant feature. The terrain begins to change, starts to flatten-out. Something strange looms in the Utah desert along Interstate 80 west of the Great Salt Lake, about an hour-and-a-half outside of Salt Lake City. A Short Video I Took on the Bonneville Salt Flats ![]()
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