Because it is large, moist, and salt-filled, the Great Salt Lake in northern Utah earned its moniker. The Great Salt Lake has been gradually dotted with big, white mounds of a substance known as mirabilite, or Glauber’s salt, since the fall of 2019. However, normally, that last property isn’t quite as visible as it is right now.
Since mirabilite mounds weren’t known to appear at the Lake before 2019, it’s a phenomenon that local state park rangers have never witnessed before. They have only been found in a few places, notably in the Arctic and Antarctic, and are actually quite uncommon on Earth.
Because mirabilite has a bit of a cosmic reputation, we say “on Earth.” It requires water from warm, sodium sulfate-rich springs, a cold, dry environment, and a lake level below 1,300 meters (4,194 feet), qualities that some (perhaps optimistic) experts compare to the circumstances on Mars. These parameters are highly specific for it to aggregate in mounds like this.
Elliot Jagniecki, a senior geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, told Gizmodo that “[the Mars connection] is more of a conjecture and is based on satellite imaging.” Images demonstrate the topological mounds on Mars, which some scientists speculate might share a similar composition.
But why are mirabilite mounds arriving in Utah if they are so peculiar and uncommon? Jagniecki asserts that they have always existed; humans have only recently been able to observe them. According to him, the mounds are a result of a number of factors, such as low lake levels, an arid climate, and little water input.
The subsurface springs are typically submerged in saline water when lake levels are higher, he said. Therefore, they are typically invisible, but now that the water is lower, we can see them form.
The Great Salt Lake may be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, but it is not nearly as large as it once was. Around 14,500 years ago, the lake was known as Lake Bonneville and was more than ten times larger than today’s ostensibly “great” reservoir.
But as the latest ice age came to an end, warmer temperatures caused this lake Michigan-sized body of water to dry up over time gradually. The Great Salt Lake has dropped by more than 40% since 1875, and as water levels drop to unprecedented lows, local scientists have expressed concerns that the state is “on the brink of a catastrophe.” It is a process that is so dramatic that it almost seems to be happening right now.
The lake may be in danger of drying up due to rising temperatures and declining water levels, but for the time being, it is a popular tourist destination. Park rangers are giving public tours of the mirabilite mounds while it is being transported to the air by saltwater springs from the lake’s subsoil and crystallized into piles by the cold air.
The ones in the Great Salt Lake Park, according to ranger Angelic Anderson, “have become bigger, with one measuring [1 meter] 3 feet in height.” Last year, another one was [10 meters] 35 feet long.
The Great Salt Lake may be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, but it is not nearly as large as it once was. Around 14,500 years ago, the lake was known as Lake Bonneville and was more than ten times larger than today’s ostensibly “great” reservoir.
But as the latest ice age came to an end, warmer temperatures caused this lake Michigan-sized body of water to dry up over time gradually. The Great Salt Lake has dropped by more than 40% since 1875, and as water levels drop to unprecedented lows, local scientists have expressed concerns that the state is “on the brink of a catastrophe.” It is a process that is so dramatic that it almost seems to be happening right now.
