Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah.

In an average year the lake measures approximately 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2), but its area can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet (4.9 m). In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km2) and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the nearby desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles (2,460 km²), falling below the previous low set in 1963.

Its three major tributaries, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year. Having no outlet besides evaporation, these minerals accumulate and give the lake very high salinity (far saltier than seawater) and density. This density causes swimming in the lake to feel similar to floating.

It has been called "America's Dead Sea", and provides a habitat for millions of native birds, brine shrimp, shorebirds, and waterfowl, including the largest staging population of Wilson's phalarope in the world.

Notes for Rifts
The Lake is dead, except for brine shrimp and so forth. It's a staging ground for mecha, and the railroad is used by the Tolkeen Railroad (see New West page 220).