News Article

September 14, 2016

Scientists Try To Solve The Puzzle Of The Shrinking Salt Flats Crust

iUTAH researcher Brenda Bowen, a University of Utah geoscientist, talked with reporter Judy Fahys on KUER radio about the research her team is doing to help solve the mystery of the shrinking crust at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The story says that research led by Bowen “is logging where the Lake Bonneville floor ends and where the layers of clay, gypsum and salt begin. Other data, like oxygen levels, is important too. The study is even looking at microbacteria. The researchers are exploring the reasons the salt crust is shrinking in breadth and depth.”

“We can look at that level of impact of what we’re doing,” says Bowen, “but we can also understand how is that relative to the scale of geologic change, of natural change, and ecological evolution even beyond what humans are doing.” Research, including data collection, on the salt flats is funded by a $1.5 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation.