Sep 3, 2025 06:57 PM
https://gizmodo.com/as-the-great-salt-la...2000652128
EXCERPTS: The Great Salt Lake once reached depths of up to 1,000 feet and spanned roughly 20,000 square miles, but today, it mostly resembles a parched wasteland. So, when signs of life suddenly began popping up across the drying playa, scientists were perplexed.
In the last several years, reed-covered mounds have appeared off the lake’s southeast shore. These densely vegetated oases must receive enough freshwater to sustain plant life, but experts weren’t sure where this resource was coming from...
[...] Overexploitation has been one of the primary drivers of the Great Salt Lake’s decline, research shows. ... If used responsibly, this potential new source of freshwater beneath the lakebed could help re-saturate lakebed crusts and reduce hazardous dust pollution blowing into nearby communities.
[...] The wealth of data the researchers have gathered so far suggests a vast freshwater resource potentially extends thousands of feet beneath the cracked lakebed. It appears that immense pressure exerted on this aquifer allows water to rise up through the sediment, albeit very slowly. Thus, Johnson believes the mysterious mounds formed in places where this natural plumbing system delivers fresh groundwater to the surface.
The team has yet to publish its findings but presented preliminary data in July at the Geochemical Society’s 2025 Goldschmidt conference in the Czech Republic... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: The Great Salt Lake once reached depths of up to 1,000 feet and spanned roughly 20,000 square miles, but today, it mostly resembles a parched wasteland. So, when signs of life suddenly began popping up across the drying playa, scientists were perplexed.
In the last several years, reed-covered mounds have appeared off the lake’s southeast shore. These densely vegetated oases must receive enough freshwater to sustain plant life, but experts weren’t sure where this resource was coming from...
[...] Overexploitation has been one of the primary drivers of the Great Salt Lake’s decline, research shows. ... If used responsibly, this potential new source of freshwater beneath the lakebed could help re-saturate lakebed crusts and reduce hazardous dust pollution blowing into nearby communities.
[...] The wealth of data the researchers have gathered so far suggests a vast freshwater resource potentially extends thousands of feet beneath the cracked lakebed. It appears that immense pressure exerted on this aquifer allows water to rise up through the sediment, albeit very slowly. Thus, Johnson believes the mysterious mounds formed in places where this natural plumbing system delivers fresh groundwater to the surface.
The team has yet to publish its findings but presented preliminary data in July at the Geochemical Society’s 2025 Goldschmidt conference in the Czech Republic... (MORE - missing details)