Concerns are mounting about the future of the Bonneville Salt Flats, a treeless expanse of glistening white crystals whose appearance has been likened to the moon. As the flats shrink, geologists are trying to pinpoint causes and solutions.
The glistening white terrain of the Bonneville Salt Flats, a remnant of a prehistoric lakebed that is one of the American West’s many other-worldly landscapes, serves as a racetrack for land speed world records and backdrop for movies like “Independence Day” and “The World’s Fastest Indian.”Research has time and again shown that the briny water in the aquifer below the flats is depleting faster than nature can replenish it.
In Utah, after three decades of studies examining the salt flats, nothing has slowed the deterioration. But officials are funding a new study as they try to find a solution. Researchers are seeking to pinpoint why the salt is fading and what can be done to stop it.
“In the world I came from, you study something, you figure out what changes you need to make, you make the changes and then you go back and study it again to see if your changes had an effect on it,” said Sullivan. “It’s ludicrous to just keep studying it until you do something.” A 2016 study found that the areas most susceptible to thinning were places where races are organized. In simple terms, it changes how water can flow through the crust, Bernau said.
Backers of the study currently underway hope, if successful, the federal government will consider returning more salt in order to preempt conflict and allow the racers and miners to continue as they have been. Rep. Steve Handy, a Republican who spearheaded the effort, said the racers’ lobbyists initially suggested the federal government would meet Utah’s investment with an additional $45 million, giving the program the $50 million that Sullivan and other racers say is needed to maintain the status quo.
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