Salt Lake Research Articles

Investigating the Impact of Large Lakes on Local Precipitation: Case Study of Lake Urmia, Iran

Large lakes face considerable challenges due to human activities and climate change, impacting local weather conditions and ecosystem sustainability. Lake Urmia, Iran’s largest lake and the world’s second-largest saltwater lake, has undergone a substantial reduction in water levels, primarily due to drought, climate change, and excessive irrigation. This study focuses on the potential repercussions on local climate conditions, particularly investigating the impact of moisture sources, evaporation from lake surfaces, and evapotranspiration from agricultural activities, on local convection rainfall. The prevailing westerly winds in the basin suggest a hypothesis that this moisture is transported eastward within the basin, potentially leading to local precipitation as it ascends to higher altitudes near the eastern basin border. To validate this hypothesis, climate data from 1986 to 2017 from the Sarab meteorological station (east of the lake basin, influenced by local precipitation) and Saqez meteorological station (south of the basin, unaffected by local precipitation) were analyzed. The impact of lake water level reduction was assessed by categorizing data into periods of normal lake conditions (1986–1995) and water level reduction (1996–2017). Additionally, the MSWEP global precipitation product was used to examine the precipitation distribution in the entire basin over the entire period and sub-periods. The findings indicate Lake Urmia’s significant influence on convective rainfall in the eastern basin, especially during the summer. Despite decreasing lake levels from 1996 to 2017, convective rainfall in the eastern basin increased during the summer, suggesting intensified agricultural irrigation, particularly in hot seasons.

Enhancing lithium extraction from low grade salt lake brines using high powder loading aluminum-based adsorbent granules

Ensuring adsorbent granules with high homogeneity and powder loading are essential prerequisites for an efficient industrial adsorption. This study introduced novel aluminum-based lithium adsorbent granules to extract lithium from low grade salt lake brines, combining the antisolvent extrusion granulation strategy and high mixing power preparation. The comparative study revealed that these granules exhibited a vibration density of 850.00 g/L and a powder loading of 86 %, significantly higher than the conventional adsorbent granules. Besides, the superior hydrophilicity of these granules facilitated lithium adsorption kinetics, enabling them faster to reach equilibrium with the volumetric adsorption capacity of 4710.12 mg/L. Notably, during column experiments performed with Qarhan salt lake old brines, these granules demonstrated a remarkable adsorption performance with the volumetric adsorption capacity of 2791.00 mg/L after a 360 min feed period, underscoring their substantial promise in enhancing industrial lithium extraction efficiency.

Dynamic Climate Influence on Magnesium Isotope Variation in Saline Lacustrine Dolomite: A Case Study of the Qianjiang Formation, Jianghan Basin

The investigation of magnesium (Mg) isotopes in dolomite has mainly focused on marine dolomite environments, leaving a significant gap in the understanding of their dynamics within lacustrine settings, especially in saline lake basins. In this study, a total of 16 sediment core samples from Well BX-7 in the Qianjiang Depression were sequentially selected for scanning electron microscope observation, whole-rock analysis for major and minor elements, and isotopic measurements including δ18Ocarb, δ13Ccarb, δ26Mgdol, and δ26MgSi. In addition, two intact cores were subjected to detailed analysis on the centimeter scale. Sedimentation models were established to elucidate dolomite formation under contrasting climatic conditions, specifically humid climates with a significant riverine Mg input versus relatively dry conditions with a lower Mg input. Furthermore, a quantitative model was developed to assess the magnesium flux and isotopic mass balance within lacustrine systems, simulating the magnesium isotope variations in lake water under different climatic scenarios. The dolomite sample data at a smaller scale (sampling interval ≈ 3~5 mm) demonstrate a consistent trend with the established model, providing additional confirmation of its reliability. Dolomite precipitated under humid climatic conditions exhibits a lower and relatively stable δ26Mgdol, lower δ18O, and higher CIA, indicating higher river inputs and relatively stable Mg isotope values of lake water controlled by river input. Nevertheless, dolomite formed under relatively dry climatic conditions shows a relatively high δ26Mgdol, higher δ18O, and lower CIA, suggesting reduced river inputs and weathering intensity, as well as relatively high magnesium isotope values of the lake water controlled by dolomite precipitation. This study contributes to the understanding of magnesium isotopes in lacustrine dolomite systems.

Wasatch Fault Structure from Machine Learning Arrival Times and High-Precision Earthquake Locations

Abstract On 18 March 2020, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake hit the Salt Lake valley in the state of Utah, United States. Using a dense geophone deployment and machine learning (ML), an additional several thousand events were detected and located. Currently, both the mainshock and the majority of the aftershocks are suspected to have occurred on or near a deeper portion of the Salt Lake segment of the Wasatch fault—part of a large range-bounding fault system thought to be capable of generating an Mw 7.2 earthquake. However, a small subset of aftershocks may have occurred on a portion of the more steeply, eastward dipping, and poorly understood West Valley fault. Unfortunately, the catalog locations and lack of focal mechanisms for this subset of aftershocks provide only a crude constraint on the true fault structure. To better illuminate fault structure, we relocate the ML-generated catalog with a range of magnitudes from −2 to 4.6, using: (1) NonLinLoc, a nonlinear location algorithm, (2) source-specific station terms, and (3) waveform coherence. We further compute first-motion focal mechanisms for 68 events. Results of the relocation suggest a simpler, minimally listric Wasatch fault geometry, contrary to what has been previously proposed. We also find that analysis of the focal mechanisms and waveform similarity indicates minimal event similarity throughout the Magna sequence, suggesting a highly complex and heterogeneous rupture zone, as opposed to rupture on a single plane. These findings suggest an increased seismic hazard due to the overall shallowness of the earthquake sequence and highly varied rupture mechanisms.

A CASE REPORT ON PRODUCT ROTATION TO MANAGE SEVERE LYSINIBACILLUS SPHAERICUS RESISTANCE IN CULEX PIPIENS FROM SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

The Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District (SLCMAD) detected a 20,000-fold resistance to Lysinibacillus sphaericus (Lsph) in Culex pipiens occurring in catch basins of Salt Lake City during 2016. In response, SLCMAD suspended use of Lsph and rotated use of spinosyn and s-methoprene products for the next three years. At the end of the third year, Lsph was evaluated again and efficacy similar to susceptible colony strains. During the second year of Lsph use, technicians observed lack of control of larvae at some urban sites. Bioassays performed during 2021 showed recurrence of some resistance to Lsph to varying degrees across SLCMAD urban areas. The rapidity with which resistant phenotypes reemerged clarifies that SLCMAD cannot in the near future rely on repeated use of Lsph, even after suspending use for three years and using within-season product rotations. Prior reports in other research groups have found long-term selection to Lsph, as is the case at SLCMAD, to not regress in spite of halting use of the products. However, our findings offer some optimism that regression may be relatively quick. More operational review is needed, and future work should characterize resistance alleles in field populations. Collectively, there is a lack of concrete data supporting the prevailing assumptions from adjacent industries that were adopted into mosquito abatement. We provide this short note as additional guidance for mosquito and vector control districts weighing options to remediate Lsph resistance.

Forecast of coal consumption in salt lake enterprises based on temporal gated recurrent unit network with squeeze-and-excitation attention

Accurate coal consumption forecasting is key to improving energy supply efficiency and strategic planning. However, current forecasting methods mainly emphasize temporal variations, ignoring key influencing factors such as seasonality and environmental changes. In addition, the complex structure of neural networks complicates the selection of ideal hyperparameters. To address these issues, this study proposes a novel squeezing-and-excitation temporal gated recurrent unit (SE-TGRU) method. By incorporating squeezing-and-excitation attention modules, this method autonomously assesses the relative significance of diverse historical time points, unveiling their correlations to capture essential information about coal consumption. Notably, a novel reverse learning-based dwarf mongoose optimization (RL-DMO) algorithm is devised to comprehensively analyze data within a specified time window. This augmentation enhances the ability of the model to discern data anomalies with heightened sensitivity, enabling corresponding adjustments during the training process. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed method in coal consumption forecasting is verified through extensive experimentation using actual data sourced from the procurement department of a salt lake enterprise. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits an 11 % improvement in the R-squared (R2) indicator and an 18 % reduction in the root mean square error (RMSE) compared to the baseline method.

Efficient Selective Adsorption of Rubidium and Cesium from Practical Brine Using a Metal-Organic Framework-Based Magnetic Adsorbent.

Rubidium (Rb) and cesium (Cs) have important applications in highly technical fields. Salt lakes contain huge reserves of Rb and Cs with industrial significance, which can be utilized after extraction. In this study, a composite magnetic adsorbent (Fe3O4@ZIF-8@AMP, AMP = ammonium phosphomolybdate) was prepared and its adsorption properties for Rb+ and Cs+ were studied in simulated and practical brine. The structure of the adsorbent was characterized by SEM, XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, FT-IR, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The adsorbent had good adsorption affinity for Rb+ and Cs+. The Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order dynamics described the adsorbing isotherm and kinetic dates, respectively. The adsorption capacity and adsorption rate of Fe3O4@ZIF-8@AMP were increased by 1.86- and 2.5-fold compared with those of powdered crystal AMP, owing to the large specific surface area and high dispersibility of the adsorbent in the solution. The adsorbent was rapidly separated from the solution within 17 s using an applied magnetic field owing to the good magnetic properties. The composite adsorbent selectively adsorbed Rb+ and Cs+ from the practical brine even in the presence of a large number of coexisting ions. The promising adsorbent can be used to extract Rb+ and Cs+ from aqueous solutions.

Tracking annual changes of coastal aquaculture ponds in China during 1986–2021

The rapid expansion of coastal aquaculture ponds has made outstanding contributions to global food security and economic development in coastal areas, but this expansion inevitably has a significant impact on coastal ecosystems. Strengthening the spatiotemporal monitoring of aquaculture ponds is crucial for optimizing coastal land use and efficiently managing aquaculture ponds. However, aquaculture pond data on national scale and interannual variability are lacking. Here, we utilized Landsat times series images from 1986 to 2021 to generate annual maps of aquaculture ponds in China's coastal areas and investigated its spatiotemporal characteristics. We find that the overall accuracy of our aquaculture ponds classification was over 90% each year. Aquaculture ponds were concentrated in Bohai Bay, the Jiangsu Coastal Plain, and the Pearl River Delta in China's coastal areas. The time series of aquaculture ponds change could be divided into three stages: rapid growth (1986–2000), stable growth (2001–2016), and a slow decline (2017–2021). The spatial evolution of aquaculture ponds was characterized by (1) continuous seaward expansion, (2) continuous inland and seaward expansion, (3) continuous inland expansion, (4) continuous expansion and then shrinkage, and (5) rapid shrinkage. Moreover, the main aquaculture ponds classification errors were salt pans, reservoirs, abandoned ponds, port facilities, lakes, and pit ponds. Our study demonstrated a new method for applying satellite remote sensing for coastal ecosystem management, and our maps and findings can be used to optimize the development and sustainability of coastal aquaculture ponds.

Comparison of Transportation Use Among Older and Younger Persons Experiencing Homelessness

Regardless of age, transportation determines access to necessary services and supports, including food, healthcare, shelter, and social connection for persons experiencing homelessness (PEH). This study compared experiences and perceptions of transportation among PEH aged <49 years old to PEH aged 50+ years. We conducted a secondary qualitative data analysis of semi-structured interviews with 18 PEH staying in emergency shelters in Salt Lake County, Utah. Using thematic analysis, we identified three points of comparison between older and younger PEH: 1) Modes of transportation used; 2) Reasons for using public transit; and 3) Perceptions of public transit. While there are some similarities across transportation modes used (e.g., public transit, dedicated homeless-services shuttle, walking), older PEH also reported using taxi services when it could be afforded or shared with others. In addition, older PEH more often discussed using public transit to get to healthcare appointments, while younger PEH reported needing transit to get to places of employment. Though both participant groups described the prohibitive costs of transit, OPEH recommended that to use transit most successfully there need to be places to sit and rest when walking, as well as more publicly available bathrooms and crosswalks for safety. This age-based comparison offers insight into ways to increase transportation equity and support PEH of all ages who similarly have unmet mobility needs.

Evaluation on liquefaction effect of potassium dissolution extraction from low-grade solid potash ore in Qarhan Salt Lake, northern of Tibetan Plateau

Evaluation on liquefaction effect of potassium dissolution extraction from low-grade solid potash ore in Qarhan Salt Lake, northern of Tibetan Plateau

Bogdo–Baskunchak Nature Reserve as a geoheritage site

Abstract The Bogdo–Baskunchak Nature Reserve is a geoheritage site in the Caspian Depression, near the Lower Volga River. The Salt Lake Baskunchak and the Mount Big Bogdo with the gypsum field are the main objects of interest. Local legends about this place and the history of salt mining and trading, as well as geological exploration, make this geoheritage site special. This natural landscape is intact, as seen by the first scientific expeditions of the eighteenth century organized by the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts in St Petersburg. Reports and papers about this area are associated with Pallas, Humboldt, Murchison, Eichwald, Auerbach, Pravoslavlev, Efremov and other scientists and expeditions. Extensive research and important discoveries were made in this area, mostly in mineralogy, stratigraphy, palaeontology, sedimentology, salt tectonics, and mining. This area reflects its long history of exploration and could be a good example of organizing the protection of geological landmarks and monuments in arid regions. In 1916, a Russian law was passed giving the government rights to organize reserves ( zapovednik ) for scientific and cultural purposes in the most remarkable natural areas. Only in recent decades have geological monuments in Russia become specially protected sites.

“Don’t Touch Race”: Nice White Leadership and Calls for Racial Equity in Salt Lake City Schools, 1969–Present

“Don’t Touch Race”: Nice White Leadership and Calls for Racial Equity in Salt Lake City Schools, 1969–Present

Preferential permeation of Li+ over Mg2+ through homogenously negatively-charged nanochannels

Positively-charged nanofiltration (NF) membranes have become popular in membrane separation for lithium extraction from salt lake. However, negatively-charged NF membranes hardly achieve a satisfying Li+/Mg2+ selectivity due to the lack of the understanding on the mechanism of the effect of the electrostatic attraction on the Li+/Mg2+ permselective permeation. To this end, classical molecular dynamics simulations were performed to explore the effect of charge density of the negatively-charged nanochannels on the structure and dynamics of the confined Li+ and Mg2+ ions. Surprisingly, an appropriate modification by negative charges could simultaneously achieve a knock-on hopping for efficient Li+ permeation and a remarkable retardation to the Mg2+ self-driven diffusion, which realized a higher preferential permeation to Li+ over Mg2+ through the nanochannels. The underlying mechanism was explored by a series of analysis, including ion occupancy, mean square displacement (MSD), loading/exiting time, and trajectory tracking, etc. It was found that a combination of the elevated ion occupancy and an appropriate attraction by the negatively-charged channel generated an efficient ionic collision between the confined Li+ ions, thus producing a transition from the self-driven diffusion to the knock-on hopping permeation. Due to the higher positive charge, the confined Mg2+ ions hardly allowed a high ion occupancy and strongly interacted with the negatively-charged channel, which significantly retarded the Mg2+ transmembrane permeation. The novel understanding of the mechanism of the Li+/Mg2+ permselective permeation in the negatively-charged nanochannels will guide an effective development of high-performance membranes for Li+/Mg2+ separation.

Adsorption weakening mechanism and regulation strategy of aluminum‐based lithium adsorbents in carbonate‐style brines

AbstractAn efficient adsorption‐strengthening regulation was developed for aluminum‐based lithium adsorbents (Li/Al‐LDHs) in carbonate‐type salt lakes based on reasons for adsorption performance degradation. It was confirmed by adsorption–desorption experiments and density functional theory (DFT) that CO32− in brines preferentially entered Li/Al‐LDH interlayers with a tighter binding energy to the laminates, resulting in the decreasing sharply cyclic re‐adsorption capacity. Intercalated CO32− was effectively removed by high concentration of Cl− to enhance Li+ re‐adsorption, and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) demonstrated that this process had no impact on the host laminate integrity. On this basis, an innovative strategy of incorporating interlayer anion regulation into lithium extraction process was proposed and employed for the continuous extraction of Li+ from carbonate‐type brines, bringing about a completely restored re‐adsorption capacity with cyclic stability, and the lithium extraction capacity per unit time could be exceeded by about double compared with the conventional process, assuring the efficiency of lithium extraction from carbonate‐type brines by Li/Al‐LDHs.

Characteristics and Origin of Brine Aquifers Porosity in Quaternary Salt Lake: A Case Study in Mahai Salt Lake, Qaidam Basin

Characteristics and Origin of Brine Aquifers Porosity in Quaternary Salt Lake: A Case Study in Mahai Salt Lake, Qaidam Basin

Chelativorans salis sp. nov., a slightly halophilic bacterium isolated from an enrichment system with saline lake sediment.

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, and slightly halophilic alphaproteobacterium, designated strain EGI FJ00035T, was isolated from enrichment sediment samples of a saline lake in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, PR China. The taxonomic position of the isolate was determined using the polyphasic taxonomic and phylogenomic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain EGI FJ00035T formed a distinct clade with 'Chelativorans alearense' UJN715 and 'Chelativorans xinjiangense' lm93 with sequence similarities of 98.44 and 98.22 %, respectively, while sharing less than 96.7 % with other valid type strains. The novel isolate could be distinguished from other species of the genus Chelativorans by its distinct phenotypic, physiological, and genotypic characteristics. Optimal growth of strain EGI FJ00035T occurred on marine agar 2216 at pH 7.0 and 30 °C. The major respiratory quinone was Q-10, while the major fatty acids (>5 %) were C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c, summed feature 8 (C17 : 1 ω6c and/or C17 : 1 ω7c), C16 : 0, C18 : 0, and iso-C17 : 0. The detected polar lipids included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminophospholipids, unidentified glycolipids, and an unidentified lipid. Based on its genome sequence, the G+C content of strain EGI FJ00035T was 63.2 mol%. The average nucleotide identity, average amino acid identity, and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values of strain EGI FJ00035T against related members of the genus Chelativorans were below the thresholds for delineation of a novel species. According our polyphasic taxonomic data, strain EGI FJ00035T represents a new species of the genus Chelativorans, for which the name Chelativorans salis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of the proposed novel isolate is EGI FJ00035T (=KCTC 92251T=CGMCC 1.19480T).

Distribution patterns and co-occurrence network of eukaryotic algae in different salinity waters of Yuncheng Salt Lake, China

The community structure and co-occurrence pattern of eukaryotic algae in Yuncheng Salt Lake were analyzed based on marker gene analysis of the 18S rRNA V4 region to understand the species composition and their synergistic adaptations to the environmental factors in different salinity waters. The results showed indicated that the overall algal composition of Yuncheng Salt Lake showed a Chlorophyta-Pyrrophyta-Bacillariophyta type structure. Chlorophyta showed an absolute advantage in all salinity waters. In addition, Cryptophyta dominated in the least saline waters; Pyrrophyta and Bacillariophyta were the dominant phyla in the waters with salinity ranging from 13.2 to 18%. Picochlorum, Nannochloris, Ulva, and Tetraselmis of Chlorophyta, Biecheleria and Oxyrrhis of Pyrrophyta, Halamphora, Psammothidium, and Navicula of Bacillariophyta, Guillardia and Rhodomonas of Cryptophyta were not observed in previous surveys of the Yuncheng Salt Lake, suggesting that the algae are undergoing a constant turnover as the water environment of the Salt Lake continues to change. The network diagram demonstrated that the algae were strongly influenced by salinity, NO3−, and pH, changes in these environmental factors would lead to changes in the algal community structure, thus affecting the stability of the network structure.

Genetic structure of ten Artemia populations from China: cumulative effects of ancient geological events, climatic changes, and human activities

This study investigated the population genetics and distribution patterns of Artemia populations from ten inland salt lakes in China. A total of 1,274,698 Artemia single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. The results showed that these populations could be geographically and genetically divided into four distinct groups, and that the Tibetan populations were further divided into two subpopulations with a trend of decreasing genetic diversity from west to east. The Tibetan population had the highest genetic diversity, whereas the Shanxi population had the lowest. There was moderate genetic differentiation between the Tibetan populations and greater genetic differentiation between the Xinjiang and Shanxi populations. IBD (isolation by distance) suggested that geographical isolation contributes to genetic differentiation. In addition, there was some degree of gene flow among the ten populations, with A. sinica showing unidirectional gene flow in all populations in the eastern Nagri region. Species distribution modeling showed that mean annual temperature, temperature seasonality, and annual precipitation were the main environmental factors affecting the distribution of Artemia populations and suitable habitats for Tibetan populations will be further reduced in the future. It is necessary to strengthen the protection of germplasm resources and formulate scientific protocols for the sustainable development and utilization of Artemia resources.

Insights into Li+ adsorption using H2TiO3 in salt lakes with different hydrochemical types: The activity of OH groups

Adsorption-based lithium (Li) recovery from salt lakes has focused on Li+ selectivity in competitive cations and improving the adsorption capacity, but ignored the effect of different hydrochemical types on its adsorption. Herein, the adsorption behavior of Li+ was comparatively studied in carbonate-type, sulfate-type, and chloride-type salt lakes using H2TiO3 as an adsorbent. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy confirmed that the replacement of O–H by O-Li bond in H2TiO3 sieves drove the Li+ capture. At a salt concentration of 10 g/L, the adsorption of Li+ by H2TiO3 was in the order of SO42− (40.08 mg g−1) > Cl− (36.66 mg g−1) > CO32− (30.18 mg g−1). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the number of activated OH groups in the three salt solutions followed the same order of adsorption capacity. The binding energy of Li+ and anion calculated by density functional theory (DFT) verified the activity of OH groups, further revealing the influence mechanism of hydrochemical types on Li+ adsorption. This study suggests that the activity of Li+ adsorption sites was affected by the specific hydrochemical types of salt lakes, providing theoretical guidance for the Li+ adsorptive recovery from different water matrices.

Chronology of the early transgressive phase of Lake Bonneville

Abstract Radiocarbon and uranium-thorium dating of microbialites and penecontemporaneous cements in a microbialite mound at Death Point at Lakeside, Utah, on the shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah, call for a revision of the Lake Bonneville hydrograph. At about 30,000 cal yr BP, the lake experienced an abrupt rise of about 20 m, then dropped back down to levels near or slightly higher than the modern average elevation of Great Salt Lake. Over the ensuing ~6000 yr the lake experienced a series of fluctuations, up to levels a few tens of meters higher than the modern average Great Salt Lake, then down again. The exact timing and amplitudes of those fluctuations are not known, but importantly, the lake did not rise to levels near the Stansbury shoreline (~80 m higher than Great Salt Lake) until after about 24,000 cal yr BP. After the Stansbury shoreline, the lake rose almost 200 m to its highest level at the Bonneville shoreline by about 17,500 cal yr BP. This interpretation is different from previously published hydrographs, many of which show a relatively steady rise to near the Stansbury shoreline between 30,000 and 25,000 cal yr BP.