Softly Speaks the Great Salt Lake

This photo was taken a little while back, and is of the Great Salt Lake from atop Buffalo Point on Antelope Island. I call the photo “Softly Speaks the Great Salt Lake”, because at this moment (just at sunset) it was so still and peaceful and beckoning. The Lake is quite strange, and at times can be very harsh and almost unpleasant, but this moment was different.
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The Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around 1,700 square miles, but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its shallowness. In terms of surface area, it is the largest lake in the United States that is not part of the Great Lakes region.
The lake is the largest remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric pluvial lake that once covered much of western Utah. The three major tributaries to the lake, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake each year. As it is endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation), it has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water, and its mineral content is constantly increasing. Its shallow, warm waters cause frequent, sometimes heavy lake-effect snows from late fall through spring.
Although it has been called "America's Dead Sea", the lake provides habitat for millions of native birds, brine shrimp, shorebirds, and waterfowl, including the largest staging population of Wilson's phalarope in the world.
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As I stated above, the Lake can be soft and welcoming or harsh and forbidding, but one thing it never is uninteresting. I hope the photo allows you to feel some of the peace on that still, quiet evening in northern Utah…
http:--www.utah.com-stateparks-great_salt_lake.htm
http:--www.mineralresourcesint.com-facts-about-utah-s-great-salt-lake
http:--identify.whatbird.com-obj-520-_-Wilsons_Phalarope.aspx
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