What is unique about the Great Salt Lake?

The Great Salt Lake boasts some of the world's largest populations of birds! The area is a regionally, nationally and hemispherically important ecosystem for migratory birds. No fish can survive in the North or South arms of the lake. The largest aquatic animals in the lake are brine shrimp and brine fly larvae!



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Birds rely on the lake, a critical link in the Pacific Flyway between North and South America. Every year 12 million birds from 338 different species come to rest, eat and breed during migrations of a thousand miles or more. With the decline of other lakes, Great Salt Lake is increasingly important to these species.

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The Great Salt Lake is home to many important biological and wildlife species, from archaea, to bacteria, to phytoplankton (400+ species). Perhaps the three most apparent species that can be seen with the naked eye are brine shrimp (tons), brine flies (billions) and birds (millions).

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Swimming in the Great Salt Lake is safe despite contaminants, researchers say - Axios Salt Lake City.

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With a salinity level over 40 percent, Don Juan is significantly saltier than most of the other hypersaline lakes around the world. The Dead Sea has a salinity of 34 percent; the Great Salt Lake varies between 5 and 27 percent. Earth's oceans have an average salinity of 3.5 percent.

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Because of the abundant algae and halophiles, as well as the high salinity, the lake does not support fish — but it teems with brine shrimp and brine flies, which provide essential nutrition for migrating birds.

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Even when the water temperature is in the 20's (°F), the lake does not freeze, due to the high salt content of the water; but icebergs have been ob- served floating on the lake's surface, formed from freshwater that flows into the lake from tributaries and freezes on the surface before it mixes with the brine.

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According to a recent study by Brigham Young University, it's possible that Great Salt Lake could dry up completely in the next five years.

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A recent report found that the lake could essentially disappear within five years. As a key stopover for migrating birds, the lake's loss could undermine whole ecosystems. These salty lakes occur in so-called endorheic basins—places where there is no outlet for the water to flow out to sea.

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Water experts say it's going to take more than one big year to fill the Great Salt Lake. SALT LAKE CITY — Ever since The Great Salt Lake hit its lowest water level on record in November 2022, concerns over things like arsenic in the exposed lake bed have only grown.

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Halophiles are extreme salt-loving microorganisms that have a unique pigment, giving the water its peculiar pinkish color. The South Arm of the lake averages about 12–15% salinity, while the North Arm averages around 26–30% and contains halophiles with a purple to pink hue.

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New analysis says Great Salt Lake can be saved, but not without great effort, and expense.

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Most recent data within water-surface elevations show a downward trend. With climate change and Utah's ever growing human population, we expect this negative trend to continue. In fact, it is estimated that the lake is 11 feet lower due to human diversions.

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Compass Minerals announced in 2021 it was seeking to extract lithium from the Great Salt Lake under a pilot program. The company, which has a plant in Ogden, said it was utilizing new methods of extracting the precious resource within the ambient brine of the Great Salt Lake.

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The precipitous drop in water levels, which has shrunk the Great Salt Lake's footprint by half in the last decades, stems from a two-fold problem: Climate change has decimated the mountain streams that feed the lake, while demand for that same freshwater has ballooned for new development, agriculture and industry.

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So just how bad is it, really? A new scientific report warns the lake is on track to disappear in the next five years, unless water use is cut by as much as 50% annually.

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Since the bed of the Great Salt Lake holds high levels of dangerous particles like arsenic, antimony, copper, zirconium, and various heavy metals. If a wind storm were to occur, it could transmit those toxic particles into the lungs of residents.

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The state of Utah owns basically most of the Great Salt Lake, including Antelope Island, Fremont Island, Gunnison Island, the Ogden and Farmington bay wetland areas, along with the entire lakebed.

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