Monday, July 16, 2007

Lake Bonneville


Back when Puget Sound was covered with ice - the last time, at least - it was much wetter in Utah's Great Basin. The Great Basin was still a great basin, however, with no place for the water to get out. Lake Bonneville reached over 1000 feet in depth before spilling out it's north end into the Snake River valley. The Great Salt Lake is but a small remnant of this once much greater, and much fresher, body of water. The lake left several distinct shorelines and beaches at its margins - as seen in the benches on the hillslope in this picture (hazy due to brush fires).

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