Bonneville Salt Flats

A vast salt pan in northwestern Utah, formed from the bed of ancient Lake Bonneville. Its unusually flat surface has made it a landmark venue for land-speed records and motor racing.

Bonneville Speed Week: An annual land-speed racing event held on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. It brings racers and timed vehicles to the flats each summer.
Salt pan: A flat, arid basin where water evaporates and leaves accumulated mineral salts. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a large example of this landform.
Pleistocene: The geological epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago. Lake Bonneville occupied the basin during this epoch.
Bureau of Land Management: A U.S. federal agency that administers public lands and their resources. It manages the public-land area that includes the salt flats.
Land speed record: The highest officially recognized speed achieved by a vehicle on land under specified rules. The flats’ long, level courses have hosted attempts at these records.
Lake Bonneville: A large prehistoric lake that covered much of the Great Basin during the Pleistocene. Its retreat left sediments and salts that helped form the flats.
Bonneville shoreline: A prominent ancient shoreline marking the former extent of Lake Bonneville. It records the lake that preceded the salt pan.
Potash: Water-soluble potassium salts used chiefly in fertilizer production. Potash extraction near the flats has raised concerns about salt-crust changes.
ThrustSSC: A British jet-powered car that reached 763 miles per hour in 1997, setting the land-speed record. Its record-setting run took place on the salt flats.
Evaporite: A sedimentary deposit of minerals left behind when water evaporates. Evaporation concentrates salts at the surface of the basin.

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