Temporal Study of the Microbial Diversity of the North Arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, U.S.

Following the construction of the railroad causeway in 1959, a perennial halite (NaCl) bottom crust has been known to exist in the north arm (Gunnison Bay) of Great Salt Lake, Utah, but the lake conditions controlling accumulation or dissolution of the crust are not well defined, including how depth-controlled chemodynamic and hydrodynamic factors influence the degree of the halite saturation. Immediately prior to the opening of a new bridge in the causeway in early December 2016 when north arm lake elevation was at a historical low (just above 4189 feet), the north arm lake brine was at halite saturation. After the opening, inflow of less saline south arm water mixed with north arm water, raised lake elevation, and diluted the north arm lake brine to undersaturation with respect to halite. The following five years have resulted in annual and seasonal fluctuations of halite saturation states. Beginning in mid-2019, the Utah Geological Survey began a study of the north arm to better understand and document the transitions of halite saturation state following the bridge opening using newly collected data as well as reviewing available past data.

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Multidecadal Drought Cycles in the Great Basin Recorded by the Great Salt Lake: Modulation from a Transition-Phase Teleconnection

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/2011jcli4225.1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 25 (5) ◽

pp. 1711-1721 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Shih-Yu Wang ◽

Robert R. Gillies ◽

Thomas Reichler

Keyword(s):

Phase Shift ◽

Great Basin ◽

Salt Lake ◽

Wave Train ◽

Great Salt Lake ◽

Coupled Model ◽

Moisture Flux ◽

Gulf Of Alaska ◽

The North ◽

Circulation Anomalies

This study investigates the meteorological conditions associated with multidecadal drought cycles as revealed by lake level fluctuation of the Great Salt Lake (GSL). The analysis combined instrumental, proxy, and simulation datasets, including the Twentieth Century Reanalysis version 2, the North American Drought Atlas, and a 2000-yr control simulation of the GFDL Coupled Model, version 2.1 (CM2.1). Statistical evidence from the spectral coherence analysis points to a phase shift amounting to 6–9 yr between the wet–dry cycles in the Great Basin and the warm–cool phases of the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO). Diagnoses of the sea surface temperature and atmospheric circulation anomalies attribute such a phase shift to a distinctive teleconnection wave train that develops during the transition points between the IPO’s warm and cool phases. This teleconnection wave train forms recurrent circulation anomalies centered over the southeastern Gulf of Alaska; this directs moisture flux across the Great Basin and subsequently drives wet–dry conditions over the Great Basin and the GSL watershed. The IPO life cycle therefore modulates local droughts–pluvials in a quarter-phase manner.

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Life in extreme environments: microbial diversity in Great Salt Lake, Utah

Extremophiles ◽

10.1007/s00792-014-0637-x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 525-535 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Loubna Tazi ◽

Donald P. Breakwell ◽

Alan R. Harker ◽

Keith A. Crandall

Keyword(s):

Microbial Diversity ◽

Salt Lake ◽

Great Salt Lake ◽

Extreme Environments

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Complete Genome Sequence of an Extremely Halophilic Archaeon from Great Salt Lake, Halobacterium sp. GSL-19

Microbiology Resource Announcements ◽

10.1128/mra.00520-21 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (28) ◽

Author(s):

Priya DasSarma ◽

Brian P. Anton ◽

Hedvig A. L. von Ehrenheim ◽

Richard J. Roberts ◽

Shiladitya DasSarma

Keyword(s):

Single Molecule ◽

Complete Genome Sequence ◽

Complete Genome ◽

Salt Lake ◽

Great Salt Lake ◽

Halophilic Archaeon ◽

Smrt Sequencing ◽

Circular Chromosome ◽

The North ◽

Extremely Halophilic Archaeon

An extremely halophilic archaeon, Halobacterium sp. strain GSL-19, was isolated from the north arm of Great Salt Lake in Utah. Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing was used to establish a GC-rich 2.3-Mbp genome composed of a circular chromosome and 2 plasmids, with 2,367 predicted genes, including 1 coding a CTAG-methylase widely distributed among Haloarchaea .

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Lake-Breeze Fronts in the Salt Lake Valley

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology ◽

10.1175/jam2449.1 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 196-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Daniel E. Zumpfe ◽

John D. Horel

Keyword(s):

Salt Lake ◽

Great Salt Lake ◽

Vertical Mixing ◽

Salt Lake City ◽

Lake Breeze ◽

Salt Lake Valley ◽

The North ◽

Dewpoint Temperature ◽

Lake City ◽

Transport And Mixing

Abstract Winds at the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) during the April–October period from 1948 to 2003 have been observed to shift to the north (up-valley direction) between late morning and afternoon on over 70% of the days without precipitation. Lake-breeze fronts that develop as a result of the differential heating between the air over the nearby Great Salt Lake and that over the lake’s surroundings are observed at SLC only a few times each month. Fewer lake-breeze fronts are observed during late July–early September than before or after that period. Interannual fluctuations in the areal extent of the shallow Great Salt Lake contribute to year-to-year variations in the number of lake-breeze frontal passages at SLC. Data collected during the Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment (VTMX) of October 2000 are used to examine the structure and evolution of a lake-breeze front that moved through the Salt Lake Valley on 17 October. The onset of upslope and up-valley winds occurred within the valley prior to the passage of the lake-breeze front. The lake-breeze front moved at roughly 3 m s−1 up the valley and was characterized near the surface by an abrupt increase in wind speed and dewpoint temperature over a distance of 3–4 km. Rapid vertical mixing of aerosols at the top of the 600–800-m-deep boundary layer was evident as the front passed.

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