Great Salt Lake Desert
Great Salt Lake Desert | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°40′N 113°40′W / 40.67°N 113.67°W |
The Great Salt Lake Desert (colloquially referred to as the West Desert) is a large dry lake in northern Utah, United States, between the Great Salt Lake and the Nevada border. It is a subregion of the larger Great Basin Desert, and noted for white evaporite Lake Bonneville salt deposits including the Bonneville Salt Flats.[1]
Description
operated from 1940 to 1986.Several small mountain ranges occupy the edges of the desert, such as the Cedar Mountains, Lakeside Mountains, Silver Island Mountains, Hogup Mountains, Grassy Mountains, and Newfoundland Mountains. On the western edge of the desert, just across the border in Nevada, stands Pilot Peak in the Pilot Range.
The desert is cool during the winter and includes unusual plants adapted to the dry conditions. Most of the desert receives less than 8 inches (200 mm) of annual precipitation.[2] The salt crust covering the desert reforms yearly when the rain evaporates. The military's Utah Test and Training Range is in the northern portion of the desert. The lowest part of Juab County is located just south of the Dugway Proving Grounds, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of the northwest corner of the Fish Springs Range.[3]
History
During
Recent discoveries
In July 2022, archaeologists discovered about 88 footprints had been left behind by humans at least 12,000 years ago using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). In the "ghost tracks", as the archaeologists called them, the footprints absorb moisture and are only visible when it rains and disappear when dry.[6][7]
Climate
The Great Salt Lake Desert experiences a desert climate with hot summers and cold winters. The desert is an excellent example of a
Climate data for Knolls, Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah. (Elevation 4,250ft) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 63 (17) |
63 (17) |
79 (26) |
87 (31) |
98 (37) |
104 (40) |
106 (41) |
103 (39) |
99 (37) |
89 (32) |
71 (22) |
66 (19) |
106 (41) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 36.5 (2.5) |
41.4 (5.2) |
54.4 (12.4) |
62.3 (16.8) |
72.3 (22.4) |
83.5 (28.6) |
92.8 (33.8) |
90.9 (32.7) |
80.0 (26.7) |
64.3 (17.9) |
46.5 (8.1) |
36.5 (2.5) |
63.4 (17.4) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 16.9 (−8.4) |
19.3 (−7.1) |
29.1 (−1.6) |
36.6 (2.6) |
44.9 (7.2) |
54.7 (12.6) |
62.1 (16.7) |
59.5 (15.3) |
48.0 (8.9) |
34.4 (1.3) |
23.3 (−4.8) |
14.5 (−9.7) |
37.0 (2.8) |
Record low °F (°C) | −16 (−27) |
−17 (−27) |
−1 (−18) |
14 (−10) |
24 (−4) |
35 (2) |
43 (6) |
39 (4) |
25 (−4) |
8 (−13) |
−3 (−19) |
−25 (−32) |
−25 (−32) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.61 (15) |
0.46 (12) |
0.91 (23) |
1.01 (26) |
1.23 (31) |
0.68 (17) |
0.36 (9.1) |
0.31 (7.9) |
0.56 (14) |
0.77 (20) |
0.61 (15) |
0.38 (9.7) |
7.88 (200) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 0.3 (0.76) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.5 (1.3) |
Source: The Western Regional Climate Center[2] |
References
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Great Salt Lake Desert
- ^ a b "Seasonal Temperature and Precipitation Information". wrcc.dri.edu. Western Regional Climate Center. Retrieved 24 Mar 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-87480-932-9.
- ^ Smith, Jedediah Strong. "Diary of Jedediah Strong Smith: The Crossing of the Great Salt Lake Desert". xmission.com. Retrieved 26 Dec 2016.
- ^ Tea, Roy D. "The Great Salt Lake Desert". scienceviews.com. Retrieved 26 Dec 2016.
- ^ Harry Baker (2022-08-02). "'Ghost footprints' left by ancient hunter-gatherers discovered in Utah desert". livescience.com. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
- ^ "An ancient footprint ghost track that appears only after it rains is discovered". GIGAZINE. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
External links
- Media related to Great Salt Lake Desert at Wikimedia Commons