The Great Salt Lake is a shallow body of saltwater located in Northwestern Utah, between the Wasatch Range on the east and the Great Salt Lake Desert on the west. It is the 33rd largest lake in the world and the largest salt lake in North America, covering an area around 1,700 square miles. The lake is one of Utah's largest tourist attractions.
Before the Great Salt Lake, there was Lake Bonneville. Lake Bonneville was a large lake covering about 20,000 square miles of western Utah and smaller portions of eastern Nevade and southern Idaho. It occupied the lowest, closed depression in the eastern Great Basin. Lake Bonneville was a large, ancient lake that existed from about 32 to 14 thousand years ago. It occupied the lowest, closed depression in the eastern Great Basin and at its largest extent covered about 20,000 square miles of western Utah and smaller portions of eastern Nevada and southern Idaho. At its largest, Lake Bonneville was about 325 miles long, 135 miles wide, and had a maximum depth of over 1,000 feet. Approximately16,800 years ago, the lake rose and caused a catastrophic flood. Researchers believe that the flood probably lasted less than a year. After the Lake Bonneville flood, the Great Basin gradually became warmer and drier. Therefore, Lake Bonneville began to shrink due of increased evaporation. What remained of Lake Bonneville is now the Great Salt Lake and it occupies the lowest depression in the Great Basin.
The first discovery of the Great Salt Lake was by the Spanish missionary explorers Dominguez and Escalante, who first learned of the Great Salt Lake from the Native Americans in 1776; however, they never actually saw it. The first white person known to have visited the lake was Jim Bridger in 1825. It is said that Etienne Provost may have beaten Jim Bridger, but there is no proof of this. The first scientific examination of the lake was in 1843 by John C. Fremont and Kit Carson. Kit Carson even carved a cross into a rock... [continues]
Before the Great Salt Lake, there was Lake Bonneville. Lake Bonneville was a large lake covering about 20,000 square miles of western Utah and smaller portions of eastern Nevade and southern Idaho. It occupied the lowest, closed depression in the eastern Great Basin. Lake Bonneville was a large, ancient lake that existed from about 32 to 14 thousand years ago. It occupied the lowest, closed depression in the eastern Great Basin and at its largest extent covered about 20,000 square miles of western Utah and smaller portions of eastern Nevada and southern Idaho. At its largest, Lake Bonneville was about 325 miles long, 135 miles wide, and had a maximum depth of over 1,000 feet. Approximately16,800 years ago, the lake rose and caused a catastrophic flood. Researchers believe that the flood probably lasted less than a year. After the Lake Bonneville flood, the Great Basin gradually became warmer and drier. Therefore, Lake Bonneville began to shrink due of increased evaporation. What remained of Lake Bonneville is now the Great Salt Lake and it occupies the lowest depression in the Great Basin.
The first discovery of the Great Salt Lake was by the Spanish missionary explorers Dominguez and Escalante, who first learned of the Great Salt Lake from the Native Americans in 1776; however, they never actually saw it. The first white person known to have visited the lake was Jim Bridger in 1825. It is said that Etienne Provost may have beaten Jim Bridger, but there is no proof of this. The first scientific examination of the lake was in 1843 by John C. Fremont and Kit Carson. Kit Carson even carved a cross into a rock... [continues]
Cite This Essay
- APA
-
(2005, 12). Great Salt Lake. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 12, 2005, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Great-Salt-Lake-75310.html
- MLA
-
"Great Salt Lake" StudyMode.com. 12 2005. 12 2005 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Great-Salt-Lake-75310.html>.
- CHICAGO
-
"Great Salt Lake." StudyMode.com. 12, 2005. Accessed 12, 2005. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Great-Salt-Lake-75310.html.
