As a result much of the lake is ringed by extensive wetlands making Great Salt Lake one of the most important resources for migrating and nesting birds. The ever-fluctuating Great Salt Lake has frustrated attempts to develop its shoreline. Biologists have estimated their population to be over one hundred billion. For most of the summer brine flies form a ring around the entire shoreline and rarely venture more than a few feet from the water's edge. The oft maligned brine flies do not bite or land on people and are the primary food source for many birds that migrate to the lake. Brine shrimp eggs are harvested commercially and are sold overseas as prawn food. Brine shrimp and brine flies can tolerate the high salt content and feed on the algae. Great Salt Lake is too saline to support fish and most other aquatic species. After the ice age the earth's climate became drier and Lake Bonneville gradually receded to form Great Salt Lake. Look south from Buffalo Point for an outstanding view of Lake Bonneville terraces carved into the island as high as a thousand feet above the Great Salt Lake's surface. The terraces were eroded by wave action and are relatively flat areas that follow a contour line. The most conspicuous reminders of Lake Bonneville are the ancient terraces etched into the landscape along the lake's former shorelines. Great Salt Lake is the remnant of Lake Bonneville a great ice age lake that rose dramatically from a small saline lake 30,000 years ago. ![]() Once in the Great Salt Lake much of the water evaporates leaving the salt behind. Tributary rivers are constantly bringing in small amounts of salt dissolved in their fresh water flow. Great Salt Lake is salty because it does not have an outlet. ![]() The first scientific measurements were taken in 1849 and since then the lake level has varied by 20 feet, shifting the shoreline in some places as much as 15 miles. Located in several wide flat basins, a slight rise in water level expands the surface area of the lake considerably. At the current level the Great Salt Lake is approximately 75 miles long and about 35 miles wide. The Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River.
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