Lady of the Great Salt Lake
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gsl-nerd.bsky.social
Lady of the Great Salt Lake
@gsl-nerd.bsky.social
21 followers 12 following 31 posts
Lakeposting: what's up with the Great Salt Lake and all the amazing things there are to learn and love about it.
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gsl-nerd.bsky.social
People dress up as birds and brine shrimp to show support for the Great Salt Lake.
February 9, 2025 at 8:33 AM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
Been hard to focus on the lake with all the other big things going on, but lake time always helps.
Shallows of the GSL, south side, taken in fall. The sand is formed into ripples as it extends out to meet the water. The shallow water movement creates strong ripple patterns in many beaches of the lake. The ripples here almost look like a wood pattern as they bend around each other, occasionally merging or splitting. Halfway out the field of view, the water becomes deep enough to reflect the sky and is a bright blue. A small haze of clouds is on the horizon.
February 9, 2025 at 8:19 AM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
Raise your hand if you already knew that the Great Salt Lake is half blue, half pink.

#didyouknow #greatsaltlake #onlyinutah
January 30, 2025 at 2:22 PM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
Flew out of SLC a little while back and got some gorgeous views of the lake 😍

Alt text has more deets about the water and land you're seeing!
Pretty sure the mountain at the edge of the lake is Stansbury Island. This is the second largest island of the lake and has a significant land bridge connecting it to the surrounding lands. Evaporation ponds now flank its west side, which are part of the mineral extraction process. Photo description: A view from an airplane showing the airplane wing and a cloudy morning over the Great Salt Lake. The water is blue and the land where it meets is snowy and pale. A sliver of silvery-rose sunrise color is still visible in the horizon, even in the pale morning light. The railroad causeway divides the lake into north and south arms, with limited mixing between the two. You can see it stand out here as the south arm keeps a blue color but the north arm water becomes very pink due to a halophilic bacteria that is one of the only things that can live in the saltier water of the north arm. Photo description: a view from an airplane window. The airplane wing is visible, and down below, the great salt lake fills about half the view before mountains and sky create the horizon. The lake has a vertical line through it, about centered in thale photo. The left side of the lake is dark blue/teal and the right side of the lake is dark pink, like a purplish rose color. The pink side of the lake has white lines on the surface, possibly from snow or salt. A fuller view of the strange textures going on in the pink waters of the northern arm. The white ripples that streak the surface were not moving as I watched, so I am unsure what they could be! I've never seen something like this in my lakewatching yet, but I also rarely get such a great view. I do know that the pink waters of the north arm are basically at full saturation and cannot dissolve more salt, and sometimes create salt deposits or precipitates, but I am not sure if that is what is behind these expansive patterns on the lake surface. Photo description: The blue/pink divide of the lake is still visible (outside of the window and below the airplane wing) but moved so that most of the view is now the pink waters. The surface of the water is streaked with swirling white lines that are wavy but generally horizontal. The deep pink color against the north arm beaches was so striking to me. The north arm tends to be around 25% salinity but recent droughts have pushed that number closer to 30% as the water level has decreased. That is 9-10 times saltier than the ocean, and because it's near the saturation point for the water (which does change across seasons based on environmental factors like temperature) large salt crystals can form and deposit on the beaches. The Great Salt Lake has 3 rivers that feed it, and all 3 flow into the south arm of the lake, which tends to be around 12-15% salinity due to the fresh water coming in. In the record breaking low lake levels of 2021 and 2022, a berm was raised between the two lake arms to reduce the saltier north arm water from adding to the crisis level salinity the south arm was achieving - near 17 and 18%, which is where brine flies and shrimp can no longer live in the salty water. The heavy snows of 2022-2023 brought in enough water to overwhelm the berm and raise the north arm a foot in addition to raising the south arm 5 feet. Ongoing management involves monitoring water levels and salinity levels on both sides of the lake and planning adjustments to the amount of water that flows between them. Photo description: the amount of land visible below the airplane wing is about halfway pink waters at the bottom of the picture, and pale beach line in the middle of the photo. The shoreline is varied, with a large outgrowing centered in the view. The lake is very shallow and so the shoreline blends between snow and salt, sand and water intricately. Farther away along the beach, more evaporation ponds are visible in the background. They have pale blue water of a few different shades sorted into ponds cut up with straight lines, surrounded by snowy wilderness.
January 26, 2025 at 8:57 PM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
There are so many important issues that I want to keep up on, donate to, and be able to support with my knowledge and energy. But that is not sustainable. Focusing deeply on the lake (and a few other issues) has helped me be a more effective advocate and see the longer story, and longer goal.
January 24, 2025 at 3:56 AM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
The state legislature wants to "take a break" from water legislation, and we're salty about it.

Come rally with us to show the state how important it is to keep our eyes on the lake, especially as we enter lower snow years again.
January 19, 2025 at 3:39 AM
gsl-nerd.bsky.social
Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina is home to one of only four known locations in the world where mirabilite mounds form. They require a lot of unique conditions, including cold weather. You can check them out this winter before they vanish in the warmer spring weather!
White and green formations of mirabilite on the lakebed of Great Salt Lake, with the Marina and mountains in the background. A mirabilite mound drips down into stepped formatuons and pooling water, which reflects the mountains and Kennecott smokestacks behind. Very shiny water. A mirabilite mound of piled up minerals, formed as water containing sodium sulfate surfaces and crystallized. The spring has white crystal steps forming around it as it builds up into a mound. Blue-green water pools in and around the formation. The Great Salt Lake is in the background. A mirabilite mound of piled up minerals, formed as water containing sodium sulfate surfaces and crystallized. The spring has white crystal steps forming around it as it builds up into a mound. Blue-green water pools in and around the formation. The Great Salt Lake is in the background.
January 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM