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The Great Salt Lake is a small remnant of ancient and deep Bonneville Lake, whose salt flats stretch westward across Utah to the Nevada border. The Salt Lake is affected by years of drought when the lake shrinks and then floods when plentiful precipitation causes the shallow lake to spread over nearby highways and buildings. The high salt content in the lake results from its geography, an area where evaporation exceeds precipitation. The evaporation leaves behind salt and mineral laden water or the salt flats. This has not gone unnoticed. Surveyors noted small lakeside salt-works as early as 1849. The salt-works have expanded into major chemical corporations whose product is festooned with colorful geometric shapes at various points along the Great Salt Lake. The shapes inform the viewer that this is not from nature (Nature abhors a straight line) nut nonetheless they are beautiful and intriguing. Why the colors? What is happening here? Along the eastern shore of the lake, near Ogden, a large industrial facility is set apart from the eastern shore urban areas. The facility is Compass Minerals (the largest salt producer in America). The minerals produced from the brine of the lake include, sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium chloride (MgCl2), and potash. Sodium chloride is washed, removed of impurities, and then dried before it is sold to ranchers for their livestock. Magnesium chloride is used to control dust, controlling the number of airborne particles, and as a deicer that is less toxic to plants. Potash is a salt that provides potassium the third major crop nutrient after nitrogen and phosphorus.
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