Great Basin lakes: Lake Bonneville was 1,000 feet deep, shrunk dramatically in Younger Dryas. Lake Bonneville, the largest of the Great Basin lakes, was nearly a thousand feet deep Great Salt Lake, what remains, is only 4-6 feet deep depending on rainfall During the Ice Age, thick sediment load in water columns created the flat basin floors when water evaporated
Lake Bonneville, the largest Great Basin lake during the Ice Age, was nearly 1,000 feet deep. Today only Great Salt Lake remains, a mere 4-6 feet deep depending on rainfall. Thick sediment loads during the Ice Age created the flat basin floors when water evaporated. During the Younger Dryas, these lakes shrank from maximum volume to near present size, indicating a dramatically different climate. The Mississippi River system also carried augmented meltwater into the Gulf of Mexico, with sedimentation rates changing sharply as the ice sheet melted.
Key Facts
- Lake Bonneville, the largest of the Great Basin lakes, was nearly a thousand feet deep
- Great Salt Lake, what remains, is only 4-6 feet deep depending on rainfall
- During the Ice Age, thick sediment load in water columns created the flat basin floors when water evaporated
- The basins were low flat areas created by sediment deposits; the ranges were mountains between them
- During the Younger Dryas, the Great Basin lakes shrank from their maximum volume to nearly their present size
- This dramatic water level change in the western North American continent indicates a climate far different than today
- The Mississippi River system carried augmented meltwater flows into the Gulf of Mexico during deglaciation
- Sedimentation rates changed dramatically when the ice sheet north of the Mississippi headwaters melted
Source: Cold War Secrets and The Discovery of Catastrophic Climate Change by The Randall Carlson