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America’s ‘Dead Sea’ is drying up and releasing arsenic into the air


Eldorado

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Water levels in America’s “Dead Sea” are at their lowest in more than half a century as scientists warn of severe knock-on effects for hundreds of species along with threats to human health.

A megadrought is impacting the US West forcing regions to declare states of emergency and exacerbating wildfires.

It has also driven water levels in Utah’s Great Salt Lake to a near 58-year low. The current water level is nearly nine feet lower than the long-term average of the lake.

Full article at MSN: Link

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I wonder how the level of Lake Mead is. They were having issues with that 30-40 years ago. That's not salt water though.

I thought this. It supplies power and water for a lot of the southwest.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-opinion-us-drought-southwest-arizona-water-crisis/

Edited by susieice
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13 hours ago, Eldorado said:

Water levels in America’s “Dead Sea” are at their lowest in more than half a century as scientists warn of severe knock-on effects for hundreds of species along with threats to human health.

A megadrought is impacting the US West forcing regions to declare states of emergency and exacerbating wildfires.

It has also driven water levels in Utah’s Great Salt Lake to a near 58-year low. The current water level is nearly nine feet lower than the long-term average of the lake.

Full article at MSN: Link

At least Saltaire is above water again.  Wonder if it might be repaired and re-opened.

Doug

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Great Salt Lake has seen some major ups and downs.  During the Ice Age it barely got enough precip to be a lake at all.  Then a lava flow dammed the Bear River, diverting it into Great Salt Lake.  Water level began to rise until it finally overtopped Red Rocks Pass and washed out about 200 feet of soft fill, producing the catastrophic Bonneville Flood, dropping the water level about 200 feet.  Since then, its water level has mostly been determined by climate.  If you drive north from Salt Lake City you can see the old shorelines engraved into the mountains by waves.  Follow the Snake River in Idaho where you can see dry water falls, piles of boulders ("rock melons") placed by the flood waters and a valley completely cleaned of talus.

About 30 years ago the water had receded and people started building out on the lakebed.  Then water started coming up again and flooded out a bunch of developments.  You could take a boat through the lodge at Saltaire.  Then they started pumping water into an evaporation basin in the western salt flats and lake levels started down again.

Doug

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The Mohave Desert was once covered by shallow seas.

http://mojavedesert.net/overview/01.html

It's thought the desert as we now know it didn't start forming until 8200 years ago.

https://earthsky.org/earth/us-deserts-wet-until-8200-years-ago/

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On 7/20/2021 at 4:32 PM, susieice said:

The Mohave Desert was once covered by shallow seas

 

3 hours ago, Doug1066 said:

There's a 15,000-year old creosote bush in the Mojave Desert.  Some of the desert has been above water more than 8200 years.

Doug

Read. Covered by shallow seas. It wasn't all under water. There is a link there too.

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22 minutes ago, susieice said:

 

Read. Covered by shallow seas. It wasn't all under water. There is a link there too.

The Mojave was probably partially submerged off-and-on from about 17,000YPB to about 7800 YBP.  It may have been under water earlier, too.

Doug

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On 7/19/2021 at 12:14 AM, Eldorado said:

as scientists warn of severe knock-on effects for hundreds of species

~SNIP~  It helps to read the ENTIRE PIECE ;) 

 

On 7/19/2021 at 1:12 AM, susieice said:

I wonder how the level of Lake Mead is. They were having issues with that 30-40 years ago. That's not salt water though.

I thought this. It supplies power and water for a lot of the southwest.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-opinion-us-drought-southwest-arizona-water-crisis/

I saw the reduced reservoir/river when I was out in Vegas about 15 years ago for a continuing ed seminar on MRI.  I guess it's only gotten worse since then.  I recall seeing some houses being built in a new subdivision and noticing placards explaining the tax breaks they were giving residents who chose not to have lawns and just created hardscapes.  Those golf courses will be the last to go but I bet they're spending a fortune on water and lobbying.

Edited by and then
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1 hour ago, and then said:

~SNIP~  It helps to read the ENTIRE PIECE ;) 

 

I saw the reduced reservoir/river when I was out in Vegas about 15 years ago for a continuing ed seminar on MRI.  I guess it's only gotten worse since then.  I recall seeing some houses being built in a new subdivision and noticing placards explaining the tax breaks they were giving residents who chose not to have lawns and just created hardscapes.  Those golf courses will be the last to go but I bet they're spending a fortune on water and lobbying.

I was there in 1988- 1990 and there were problems then. Not only had the population grown and all the tourists but the casinos were putting in a lot of fountains and, in the case of the Mirage, fish and dolphin tanks. Plus the lawns and all the water everything else uses. I think it may have been going downhill from then.

Edited by susieice
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