The Great Salt Lake

For our last outing with Pooh Bear we took hin to see Utah's most famous landmark - the Great Salt Lake.

The Great Salt Lake is the remnant of the massive ancient lake, Lake Bonneville. Lake Bonneville existed during the last ice age, between 32,000 and 14,000 years ago. At it's largest, Lake Bonneville was almost 325 miles long, 135 miles wide and over 1000 feet deep.  It covered most of Utah!  Lots of animals lived in and around the lake.  As it dissapeared, it left several lakes behing, including the Great Salt Lake.  Here is some interesting information about Lake Bonneville.

The Great Salt Lake is very special for a lot of reasons!  

• It is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.
  
• It is the 4th largest Terminal Lake (lake without an outlet) in the world
  
• The salinity (saltiness) of the water is about 12% - much saltier than the ocean!
  
• The extreme saltiness of the lake makes it uninhabitable by most species - however, it is home to LOTS of brine shrimp and it's shores are covered in wetlands that are home to millions of shorebirds and waterfowl.
  
• The Union Pacific Causeway divides the lake into two parts
  
• The sand in the lake and on the beaches is oolitic sand - small round pearls of calcium carbonate.
  
• The lake smells kind of icky! Sort of like rotten eggs. The lower the water level is, the more it smells (because the mineral concentration is higher.)  Interestingly, the smell mostly goes away once you are on/in the water - it's worst on the shores.
  
  
  Pooh didn't mind the smell too much!  He thought the lake was very pretty and enjoyed learning about Lake Bonneville and about all the unique qualities of the Great Salt Lake!