Bonneville Salt Flats: Definition from Answers.com

Bonneville Salt Flats
salt flat
View North of Bonneville Salt Flats and the Silver Island Mountains beyond.
Country	United States
State	Utah
County	Tooele

Part of	Great Salt Lake Desert
Borders on	Interstate 80 in Utah (south) West Wendover, Nevada (west)
Parts	Bonneville Racetrack

Location	(USGS coordinates) ^[1]
- elevation	4,219 ft (1,286 m) ^[1]
- coordinates	40°47′59″N 113°48′00″W / 40.79972°N 113.8°W / 40.79972; -113.8

Area	40 sq mi (104 km²) ^[2]

Biome	Northern Basin and Range (ecoregion)

Timezone	Mountain (UTC-7)
- summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
GNIS ID	1425872 ^[1]

The Bonneville Salt Flats is a densely-packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. The area is a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville and is the largest of many salt flats located west of the Great Salt Lake. The property is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the "Bonneville Speedway". Access is free and visitors can drive on the flats.

Contents

History

Geologist Grove Karl Gilbert named the area after Benjamin Bonneville, a U.S. Army officer who explored the Intermountain West in the 1830s.^[3]^[4] In 1907 Bill Rishel and two local businessmen tested the suitability of the salt for driving on by taking a Pierce Arrow onto the surface of the flats.^[5] A railway line across the Bonneville Salt Flats was completed in 1910, marking the first permanent crossing.^[3] The first land speed record was in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff.^[6]

Bonneville Salt Flats at midday in summer

Entertainment filmed at the salt flats include portions of Knight Rider TV Series (1982),Warlock, Independence Day, SLC Punk, Cremaster 2 from Cremaster Cycle, The Brown Bunny, The World's Fastest Indian, Gerry, The Tree of Life and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Furthermore, the Pontiac Bonneville (former flagship sedan of the Pontiac motor division), the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, and the Bonneville International media company are all named for the salt flats.

^ ^a ^b ^c "Query Form For The United States And Its Territories". U.S. Board on Geographic Names. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- "Bonneville Salt Flats (1425872)". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1425872. Retrieved 2010-05-28. ; Bonneville Speedway (1454398)
^ Lines, Gregory C (1979). Hydrology and surface morphology of the Bonneville Salt Flats and Pilot Valley Playa, Utah. http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/wsp/wsp2057. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
^ ^a ^b "The Bonneville Salt Flats". Bureau of Land Management. http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/bonneville_salt.htm. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
^ Joseph Tingley; et.al. (2009). A Geologic and Natural History Tour Through Nevada and Arizona Along U. S. Highway 93 with GPS Coordinates. NV Bureau of Mines & Geology. p. 135.
^ Hanna, Tim (2005). One Good Run: The Legend of Burt Munro.
^ Radbruch, Don (2004). Dirt Track Auto Racing, 1919-1941.

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