Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Can The Desiccation Of Great Salt Lake Be Stopped?, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Craig Miller, Sarah E. Null, R. Justin Derose, Peter Wilcock
Can The Desiccation Of Great Salt Lake Be Stopped?, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Craig Miller, Sarah E. Null, R. Justin Derose, Peter Wilcock
Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications
Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake, with its watershed in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Like all terminal lakes, the water inflows are balanced only by evaporative loss from its surface—when inflows decrease the lake shrinks until evaporation matches that inflow.
Paleolimnological Analysis Of The History Of Metals Contamination In The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Katrina Moser, Peter R. Leavitt
Paleolimnological Analysis Of The History Of Metals Contamination In The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Katrina Moser, Peter R. Leavitt
Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh
Three sediment cores from the Great Salt Lake were analyzed to determine the magnitude and timing for the deposition of 21 metal contaminants. In the main lake (Gilbert Bay) concentrations of copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, silver, molybdenum, tin, mercury and others began increasing in the sediments in the late 1800s or early 1900s and peaked in the 1950s. These increases were coincident with increases in mining and smelting activities for these metals in Utah. Contamination indices in the 1950s were 20-60 fold above background concentrations for silver, copper, lead and molybdenum, and <15-fold for most other metals. Since the 1950s, concentrations of most metals in the sediments have decreased 2-5 fold coincident with decreases in mining and improved smelting technologies. Nevertheless concentrations for many metals in surficial sediments are still above acceptable criteria established for freshwater ecosystems. In contrast to most metals, concentrations of selenium and arsenic were stable or increasing slightly in the Gilbert Bay sediments. In a coring site located in Farmington Bay near an EPA Superfund Site discharge canal, concentrations of metals were high and showed no indication of decreasing in more recent sediments. Surficial sediments from additional sites in the Great Salt Lake indicated that metals were more concentrated towards the southern end of the lake where the primary sources of contamination were located.
Methylmercury Fate In The Hypersaline Environment Of The Great Salt Lake: A Critical Review Of Current Knowledge, Danielle Barandiaran
Methylmercury Fate In The Hypersaline Environment Of The Great Salt Lake: A Critical Review Of Current Knowledge, Danielle Barandiaran
All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a highly potent neurotoxic form of the environmental pollutant Mercury (Hg). The processes that are responsible for the conversion of Hg to MeHg are known to be both biotic and abiotic in freshwater systems. Although MeHg contamination is well documented in Great Salt Lake (GSL), the conversion of Hg into MeHg is not well-understood in saline environments much less in hypersaline waters such as GSL. The GSL is a broad, shallow high altitude (1280 m above sea level) lake that is exposed to large amounts of ultraviolet radiation and evaporation, which lead to great volatilization losses of …