Why the Fastest Place on Earth Is Disappearing

The Bonneville Salt Flats are perfect for speed. Every year, cars and motorcycles break land speed records on the flat expanse of the Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s been a tradition for more than a century, and racers have built a thriving community around the salt races. But how did these salt flats form, and why are they disappearing now?
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[@ChandlerHokanson]

Thanks for spreading the word about this issue. I grew up near the Great Salt Lake and far too many locals overlook the impacts the Wasatch Front has on our ecosystem. While we don't have a good solution to the problem yet, I believe making the issue more well known is a good step forward.

[@pumasheen]

I doubt it’s going to make a difference. I grew up in Utah but I’m glad I moved far away. Environmental catastrophe doesn’t matter to the locals because Jesus is going to come back soon to fix it all.

[@andrej2375]

​@@pumasheen Utah is a place where you can cr@p all over the environment and nothing bad will happen (for the most part), so people have little concern about it. It's windy and spread out, so smog isn't a problem, etc. And as a result, people are never willing to do anything about it. Why is the Great Salt Lake drying up? because people are draining it for farms.🤦 Why are the salt flats disappearing? maybe stop draining it.

[@unidentifiedbipedallifeform]

One thing about the Bonneville Salt flats is the racing done there uses only a small part of it near wendover. The racers are just the only ones who seem to notice the changes.

[@GranRey-0]

Culverts under the highway and tracks to allow water to enter the system would be a good start...so long as the water's not interacting directly with the substructure or ground immediately surrounding them they shouldn't experience washout. I'm honestly surprised they didn't put them in during the construction, as you'd think the water building up and running along them would be worse.

[@masonc975]

I was going to say couldn't they just elevate the roads to allow water to pass under. It doesn't really seem like that crazy of a band aid to implement.

[@CortexNewsService]

It would come down to how much will there is to spend the money. It would take a lot of culverts to bring the system back into balance and elevating the highway would be very expensive, basically rebuilding completely. Doable but expensive. Utah's population is growing fast and most of the infrastructure funds go into keeping up with that growth, especially to get water to the cities. A few cities in the state are already stopping all construction simply because they're running out of water. The flats may not be a big enough priority.

[@unidentifiedbipedallifeform]

I've been out there and I'm pretty sure there are culverts.

[@GranRey-0]

@@unidentifiedbipedallifeform interesting 🤔

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

@@GranRey-0 There are three large canals that run from the salt flats to Intrepid mining plant, that's how the slurry mining operation works.

[@Onlyhiphopbrendan]

I have lived in Salt Lake for 10 years and been out there twice, with a friend in 2011, and then last year. It is a mess. It looks nothing like it did 10 years ago. Kennecott is also one of the largest copper mines in the world, and I think it is the biggest open-pit mine in the world. That mine is an hour from salt lake as well, and pulls out a lot of water. Also driving on it makes no sense with your commercial car, you destroy your tires. Don't do it, speaking from experience lol.

[@kibashisiyoto6771]

Back in the 1980's the Great Salt Lake levels were so high they had to pump water out to spread it over a larger area to get it to evaporate more, and the railroad had to raise the height of their causeway. I've talked to a guy who did his master's thesis on the deposit of brine underneath the mine's evaporation ponds. It's full of all sorts of chemicals, but they are mostly just harvesting the potassium chloride along with magnesium chloride, and pumping the sodium chloride brine (same as common table salt) over to the racetrack area to restore it.

[@AstroInfinitum]

Everything is summed up in the end by them saying that it needs to be in the best interest of the stakeholders

[@snoopyloopy]

I knew the GSL was shrinking, but I didn't know the salt flats themselves were also in this much danger.

[@jackprier7727]

The speed-racing is. Flats themselves are fine, for a desert-

[@confusedwhale]

Make the railroad tracks and road have bridges/culverts to allow some water to get into the flats area. Or, if it is too cost prohibitive, use pumps to add water from one side to the other.

[@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869]

0:43 it a BELLY TANKER. A go kart type thing made from a military surplus airplane drop tank from World War II

[@paulwerline6249]

I jumped on a greyhound when I was 19 about 20 yrs ago and road from Indiana to California. I traveled on the bus for about 3 months. On my way back we were on a road that went right through the middle of the great salt flats. It was a magical landscape. It's the closest thing on earth I could imagine to what heaven would look like.

[@juniornutshell]

OMG Jalika is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@kidmohair8151]

humans: hey... I've got a great idea! let's take the place that keeps us alive and destroy it!

[@JK-fu4vt]

This needs more engagement

[@smoczayt]

"Why the Fastest Place on Earth Is Disappearing" It's not disappearing. it's just too fast for us to see

[@confusedwhale]

You can either know how fast it is or you can know where it is... not both. Pick one guys, don't be greedy.

[@zma6779]

It's not disappearing it's just moving further away from us at an accelerated rate

[@doncyr3332]

@@zma6779 Guys, if you haven't been there for a twenty year span, please don't comment.

[@micahasher7600]

There will always be a company willing to destroy something beautiful and there will always be people ready to take it for $10 an hour

[@assaultlick2169]

Thanks for all the uptalk

[@IWantYourNachos]

Love you pbs! I'm sad the salt flats might not be a thing in the future. Never knew how it was made

[@Pottery4Life]

Restore Lake Bonneville!!

[@cutthroat399]

Fuck Yeah! Let reroute the Snake and Green river into the Bonneville b Basin!

[@alexgrover1456]

I confess, I really don’t want all that water covering my house.

[@Sexybeast29660]

Lol guys the title isn't typo'd - it's intentional. The video is about racing

[@chrispile3878]

Wrong again.

[@originaldylanbaxter]

Gee, where's all the water that brought this salt? [camera pans over to massive potassium mine water collection ponds]

[@brandonjerome]

#California was a island Viva tartaria 🔥

[@unidentifiedbipedallifeform]

A lot of that water drained out from lake Bonneville around 10000 years ago and the rest slowly evaporated getting more and more salty

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

Intrepid is the current name on the slurry mining operation that has been removing salt from Bonneville for over 100 years. For a number of years now they have been pumping from their tailing ponds back on to Bonneville to enhance their removal process. This year the salt crust was better than we had seen in some time but that was only due to the failure their pumping system & no salt had been removed in the last two years but that is about to change in the spring when the new system comes online. The study carried out by Brenda Bowen from the U of U was funded by Intrepid Mining who also pay millions to the BLM for mining rights on public land so any information coming from any of those sources should be taken with a grain of salt. Pun intended.

[@schizomode]

3:34 the basin doesn't extend that far into Idaho. That would make it apart of the snake river/columbia river basin which it hasn't been since the last ice age (the bonneville floods)

[@sarcasmo57]

What is something on Earth that isn't getting ruined?

[@pencilpauli9442]

The potassium mine pulled $1billion into the local economy. I'm going out on a limb to say that the amount that actually went into the local economy was far less than $1billion. I would love to know the monetary value of the actual opportunity cost of the potassium mine. In the long term, it could cost the salt flats, and contribute towards costing the earth.

[@jackprier7727]

Food. People eating food is the use of potassium. People speed-racing contraptions in the desert is a slight hobby for a very few. It said "$1 billion into Utah's economy", not local, and brine-mining is the most gentle form of mining there is-

[@pencilpauli9442]

@@jackprier7727 "People eating food is the use of potassium" It would have been more correct to say that potassium is used by many industries, including as a fertiliser. To the best of my knowledge, not much will find it's way directly onto the plate. Secondly, local or regional makes no difference in a drip down economy.

[@jackprier7727]

@@pencilpauli9442 "To the best of (your) knowledge" indicates that your knowledge is faulty. K is used WAY mostly for fertilizer (macronutrient, the "K" in N-P-K designation of fertilizer). "A drip down economy"? What? just mis-characterizing the definitions of where economy is funneled makes you seem knowledgeable? No. The K needs to come from somewhere, here is easy and cheap, in resources, electricity (It's right by Wendover, I've passed it 100s of times)--power lines are there, Main transcontinetal RR is there, K is in the brine, screw the peed-freaks, I say.

[@pencilpauli9442]

​@@jackprier7727 No idea what a peed-freak is and I can't be arsed to google it but it seems like you got triggered by my criticism of the corrupt economic system we have. Maybe you are correct. There is economic democracy in the potassium mining industry and all that potassium is dumped directly into our food. That sounds highly likely. Your conviction in your superiority is very much misplaced old fruit. And do try to be nice if you feel compelled to reply.

[@saadr1an]

such a spectacular place, even the disappearing great salt lake

[@SolaceEasy]

Good spot for drones.

[@GregInEastTennessee]

Yep, I took mine out there. I was trying to get a video of some of the cars out there, but it was too high. I need more practice. kzbin.info/www/bejne/laOlcnd3raiYbdE

[@kidlifecrisis9927]

Utah has effectively destroyed it with capitalistic ventures that were short sighted

[@comradeweismann6947]

Comments for the Algorithm God

[@sprinkles8560]

Replies for the Algorithm God

[@tylerradtke4110]

Same

[@davidbronke5484]

Another offering to the almighty algorithm!

[@williammarx7884]

Amen

[@astaroiddd4186]

Hi

[@meneither3834]

Well it's obviously because it's running away too fast.

[@alexdiaz1492]

I was curious why they named it fastest places

[@BobbeeSingh]

Everyone is too chicken to say "Remove that factory which is draining the salt water basin", because that is the 99.999% reason for the depletion. 5 billion gallons of water removed from just 45 square miles each year multiplied by several decades is no joke. I didn't even know 45 square miles could even hold that much water even just for 1 year.

[@skidogleb]

U of U geology team 🤙 I’m an undergrad there. Camping in the salt flats is rad, my dog loves running on the fresh salt in the morning.

[@krannok]

Well, it turned out it wasn't the sports people's fault. This has to be one of the only situations where the impact to a local climate *isn't* being driven by the destructive idiots playing on it.

[@PaulNatsuoKishimoto]

“Destructive idiots making money on it” are almost *always* the main culprit. They're super happy when we fail to notice them, and instead waste our anger on a few individuals with a relatively tiny impact.

[@StuninRub]

That is AlWAYS how it works. Do you think people who are driving v8s, v10s, and v12s are to blame for causing climate change? All of those engines combined do not even scratch the surface of impact compared to the likes of Frieght ships or Energy Companies.

[@tommcd8471]

@@StuninRub Environmentalists need to check themselves because they've become a total cult. They will swoon over EVs, wind, solar and plug their ears when you walk about how theres actually negatives to them. They argue completely off emotion and honestly should be treated like children. I've heard countless Envirocultists REEE about internal combustion engines and try to shame people into getting EVs but i've yet to hear one make an actual nuanced argument like "Oil is a finite resource we need for the space age and to continue living modern lives so its foolish we are burning it for locomotion when we have alternatives." no instead what we get is "REEE! oil is evil shut down the industry" They are children and should be treated as such.

[@sleekoduck]

Bitcoin is another culprit. Some of those mining places are powered by coal plants that use as much electricity as medium sized countries.

[@0HARE]

That is a very fascinating place.

[@bryancohn9406]

I’ve wondered why there isn’t a plan to bring salt brine left overs from desalination plants to Bonneville. There are a few desalination plants in California and the Middle East is building them as fast as possible. If we can ship trash to China for recycling we can ship salt brine to Bonneville from Saudi Arabia.

[@confusedwhale]

China doesn't want our trash anymore. I believe it's Laos and Senegal now... even Vietnam and Malaysia have sent our trash packing.

[@jackprier7727]

So--someone should ship salty, salty, who-knows-with-what saltwater a few or a bunch of 1000s of miles, repeatedly, to maybe help some speed-driver's hobby?

[@icepick117]

Well right when I was expecting to hear about the scientists' solutions the video ended. Very depressing! But it's consistent with climate change in general in that future generations will only be able to wonder about our environment today.

[@jeffmorris5802]

You're right, it is consistent with scientists' ability to point out problems and then completely fail to offer any solutions. All they ever talk about is "more research" and "starting a conversation".

[@santiagovelamorales1029]

@@jeffmorris5802 ah yes, scientist please solve all our problems instead of me giving a hand and actually listening

[@jeffmorris5802]

@@santiagovelamorales1029 I listened. Now what? Fertilizer still needs potassium, and people still need to drink water. You got any bright ideas?

[@Prof.Megamind.thinks.about.it.]

@@jeffmorris5802 Mr. Morris , I've got one . Move the venue to inland lakes , including flooded salt-pans . Alloy V-wheels will rise up at speed , and allow the cars to run as if they were on solid ground . Hydrofoil-type escape-capsules would enable drivers to eject from a crashing vehicle , without being subject to the monstrous forces induced by high-speed collisions with hard ground . *.To examine this subject more closely , read my Quora Post : ^ Should we allow high-speed racing on open water ?

[@jeffmorris5802]

@@Prof.Megamind.thinks.about.it. The cars aren't the reason the salt flats are disappearing.

[@jaydee975]

Millions of years to form? What about lake Bonneville that was there until the end of the last Ice Age? The whole area was completely under hundreds of feet of water!!! I think whoever put this documentary together should go back and learn some geologic history!

[@oliverwilliams1086]

Fresh water is drying up. Some day it will be like these old sci fi movies people will be killing each other over fresh water.

[@chrispile3878]

It is not.

[@jbinder107]

Cool!

[@LuisBrudna]

Thanks

[@simix6915]

No one: People who live in Mad Max: you guys have dissapearing salt flats?

[@jonmitchell9019]

Yes one is going. But a new one at the salton sea is next place to race.

[@jeffdeau3416]

Oh… no. That’s all chemicals, not salt.

[@thesilentone4024]

Why not use the whitest white paint and have a really big long road so they don't need to go here.

[@stefanjakubowski8222]

Yeah. Let's trash everything

[@amdonut8091]

Cool

[@danigarcia7531]

JOE HANSON

[@korpen2858]

Well shit how are we supposed to catch up to it?

[@calvinhoward2407]

Oh no without the salt flats we will not be able to go fast

[@yingfortheking]

This makes me... salty

[@christinarobohm6920]

Holy cow

[@santoast24]

I love being among the first, but I also love having been to places your... over-viewing(?)

[@willm5814]

Jesus! Is there anything that isn’t disappearing?!

[@pauleohl]

Where is the salt going? How would water help? Is the water brackish?

[@ZooKeePla]

*Fastest place on earth What a title

[@LiaMari]

Is it possible that #Fracking, breaking up the bedrock, is causing water to go deeper? I notice fracking on the map to the east of these flats. While it’s at least 100 miles away, the possibility for the fracking to have opened up a crack for water to drain doesn’t seem out of the question.

[@jackprier7727]

not really--that fracking is up n over the Wasatch Range, on its E side-

[@alexgrover1456]

No, the fracking is quite far away.

[@TheMarineCorp1775]

There's ways to divert the water back maybe under the highways or maybe we should invest into infrastructure that is below ground

[@jackprier7727]

Being done, now. A canal was dug a decade or so ago to take unused (regular=NaCl) salt back across under I-80 to the flats. The "infrastructure that is below the ground" is the mine's wells pulling out brine (very nearby) to cook-out the potassium for fertilizer.

[@TheMarineCorp1775]

@@jackprier7727 I ment deeper like to bedrock

[@LightsHikesAndWanderlove]

🤔 First you say they artificially flaten it every year for racing and then you say they can't figure out what is causing the erosion? 🤨

[@kathryncarter6143]

China just lost a major fresh water lake too.

[@relentlessmadman]

need water to fall from the sky?

[@michaelmays9292]

The powers that be people 100%

[@brandonleesanders]

Rain is washing the salt away. This isn’t rocket scientist But apparently it is…

[@rogerscott529]

Did you miss the part about how there's no "away"? This is a basin -- any water, such as rain, that comes into it stays there (until it evaporates), so any salt dissolved in that water stays there, too

[@w.d.g.]

Change is the only inevitability.

[@only1gameguru]

PBS with another great video. All hail the algorithm

[@koharumi1]

Around the great lake may one day be inhabitable. Like the Aral sea towns.

[@hamburgerhamburgerv2]

oh, I though it said Disappointing

[@qetzia]

"the dead sea in jordan"?

[@chucknorris277]

Crew chief lool

[@krazykubz]

I think y’all misspelled the title. Did y’all mean flattest or fastest

[@alexgrover1456]

Many land speed records have been set at the flats.

[@TerkanTyr]

Good luck, though you'll need to force compliance, don't expect cooperation.

[@thomasmorgenstern9204]

And Utah continues to allow waste full water intensives subdivisions with golf courses and lawns. Because they haven't used their "allotment" from the Colorado.

[@twostop6895]

Utah has only 3.5 million people and is struggling with water, the state has zero future in its current direction, Utah is one of the driest states and cannot support huge populations

[@LimeyLassen]

@@aaronwestley3239 Religious prophehesy lol

[@mMeFlora]

i only found this channel through the pbs survey!! :(

[@Sparkyminor]

Engagement engagement engagement

[@infernoking7504]

We need to reduce the population of earth thats the only way we will survive and stop fighting and work together all as one united planet we can do great things but we must put are differences aside and get ride of all the corruption

[@datekaname2246]

The actual real solution is to get rid of the elites that cause over 90% of the world pollution.

[@chrispile3878]

@@datekaname2246 Preach that stuff!

[@bletz421]

Ur driving on in cracking it then wind blows.

[@GaasubaMeskhenet]

raise the roads?

[@greensteve9307]

SL,UT

[@mmatrainee]

I know of a family that has a standard of going over 400mph in your own vehicle to be considered a man, this is sad for their future.

[@WolfSeril107]

For me to consider someone a man, they have to be self aware of how their actions affect the world around them. "I want to go real fast" is about the most immature thing I can think of.

[@chrispile3878]

@@WolfSeril107 The salt racers are not destroying the flats. The potash company is.

[@AlecMader]

Alright, who keeps licking the salt flats?

[@plant.hacks.4.ur.environment]

They should use hydrogen power vehicles to bring water back

[@chrispile3878]

Powered by unicorn farts, right?

[@petriepretorius4085]

dont you worry, America has enough concrete to pave it feet thick and desalinate enough sea water to put the brine on it and let it evaporate into thick crystaline salt floor the whole valley full, because for America, holding the landspeed record and testing the coolest custom vehicles is essential...

[@jackprier7727]

Nailed the issue!

[@thunderheadcinema6743]

As usual, human greed and negligence is to blame

[@KN-cool]

Oh humans we get mad when oceans and lakes dry up and then we are mad when the salt waste land disappears 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@brandonchong5930]

Joe

[@stanfordsweird4607]

Coming from someone who lives in salt lake county. Theres no way that mine produced 1 billion to the economy.

[@mayureshgawade3842]

Where is this Place?

[@rmitchell8439]

Near salt lake city, utah. USA

[@jackprier7727]

Wendover, Utah--near NV line.

[@jackprier7727]

@@rmitchell8439 (It's within 120 miles of there)

[@loy7163]

So if no new salt finds its way there, leave the flats alone. Racers and visitors are responsible.

[@dansaber8435]

Because it's just time for the passenger drone. Traveling on the ground is for the animals.

[@johne7123]

Birds would like a word with you

[@dansaber8435]

@@johne7123 traveling on the ground like ground animals. If you haven't sold your property you're holding onto worthless assets. Nobody wants or contaminated property. You're looking for pristine land Untouched by infrastructure

[@Subparanon]

@PBS Terra Heads up, the voice over track has some weird timbre issues with the audio quality. Sounds like bad microphone placement or track EQ excessively coloring the sound. It sounds stuffy and un-natural.

[@Xaiff]

Haters gonna hate Officials gonna officiate #yayForDeadMeme

[@billyabell9378]

Globetards hate salt flats

[@peytoia]

Algorithm 💙

[@mandalor45]

look at Joe now.

[@claudettefolsom1509]

Fossil fuel this was said in early 70's to be detrimental to earth

[@rvw3022]

I'm sure ripping up the delicate salt flats with tires from racing vehicles is helping the problem.

[@alexgrover1456]

No really hurting it. And the racers accept when things are to fragile to race.

[@sukmykrok3388]

But racing on the salt flats has been around for decades. It's the ONLY thing I expect out there.

[@octosquatch.]

We look at nature only in terms of how it serves us. Even in saving natural places we feel the need to manage and study rather than leave it be. This will be our downfall.

[@rogerscott529]

Yep, all the ruinous studies will be the end of us all!

[@jmarino715]

More like... how do we live with what we've DONE

[@eliyahufogel]

The Dead Sea is mostly in Israel, not Jordan

[@Katusha077]

The dead sea in Jordan 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@haoxus9413]

Why the Fastest Place on Earth Is Disappearing