Great Salt Lake, Utah (USA)

The Great Salt Lake, part of what was once Lake Bonneville, covered most of western Utah before the end of the last ice age. It now covers an area 120 km long, 56 km wide, and 9 m deep. The rivers and streams that flow into the lake carry large amounts of undissolved mineral salts here, and because the lake is non-aquatic, the constant evaporation increases the concentration of salts that dissolve in the water. The Great Salt Lake is three to five times saltier than ocean waters, so there are no fish in it. The only inhabitants are a few species of algae, and the small artemia that feed on them. Since the 1970s, artemia eggs have been exported to South America and the Far East, where they are used as fish food and on oyster and crab farms.

One of the islands in the lake, Antelope Island, has been designated a national park. It is known for its clean beaches and its salty warm water in which one cannot sink.