Lake · United States
Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. Its water is far saltier than the sea, which is why it is sometimes called America's Dead Sea.
Picture credit: Pink Sherbet Photography (CC BY 2.0) · Altochic (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Farragutful (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Great Salt Lake?
Countries on its shores: the United States.
Middle of the lake: 41.17° N, 112.53° W
The story behind it
Great Salt Lake lies near Salt Lake City, at about 1 280 metres above sea level. It is what is left of a much bigger lake from the Ice Age, Lake Bonneville, which once covered about 58 000 km². Three rivers, the Bear, the Weber and the Jordan, bring about 1.1 million tonnes of minerals into the lake every year. The water has no way out except by evaporating, so the salt stays behind. Its size changes a lot: in the 1980s it covered 8 500 km², but in 2021, after years of drought, only 2 500 km². A railway line crosses the lake on a long causeway. North of it, tiny algae and microbes turn the water reddish or purple. Brine shrimp live in the salty water, and millions of birds, such as California gulls, come to eat them. Antelope Island is the largest of its islands.
Find it on the globe
Great Salt Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Great Salt Lake?
In a typical year it covers about 4 400 km², but its size changes a lot with rain and drought. In 2021 it shrank to its smallest size ever measured, about 2 500 km².
Why is Great Salt Lake so salty?
Rivers carry minerals into the lake, but no river flows out. The water only leaves by evaporating, so the salt stays behind and the lake is far saltier than the sea.
Why is part of the lake red?
A railway causeway splits the lake, and the northern part is especially salty. There, tiny algae and microbes live that colour the water reddish or purple.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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