If one gets close enough to a well designed football field,
one can appreciate that the field is crowned, just like a road.
That crown encourages, in both cases, the water to run off to the sides.
Bonneville however is "built"in a LOW spot ,
where the rain and run-off from
the mountains actually gathers!
(If you use Google Earth and run your cursor around,
the legend on the bottom of the page will tell you the altitude.
There isn't much change, but the low spot
is where the track usually winds up.)
Being in the low spot is probably GOOD
for salt being dissolved in the surrounding hills,
and settling onto where we need it - the TRACK.
But the same condition make into the LAST place
to get dry in the summer, and the spot MOST likely
to have a high water table - relative to the racing surface.
That has NOTHING to do with the pumping !
That's incorrect. It appears you don't have knowledge of how the salt is removed.
There is a pumping system that Intrepid use to pump tailings from their product waste ponds back to the salt flats. That is known as "the pumping program" & that was in theory supposed to build up the salt crust thickness. While that is in progress the drains going back to the Mining operation are plugged, allowing that water to mix with any fresh water runoff from the surrounding mountains to saturate with salt.
Once Intrepid has decided they have the best saturation point, they pull the plugs & drain it through canals to the plant. If it stopped there your theory would hold some water but that's not the case.
Between the salt flats & the Silver Island Mountains there are a number of pumps pulling from the water table under the flats that flow through canals, one of which goes right across The Bend where many people camp out.
At the far East end of the flats there is a much larger pumping system that is also pulling from the water table that feeds another canal that is at least 20ft wide & also flows to the plant.
The slight depression you speak of is actually enhanced by that pumping system & the lowest point of that depression has the most salt crust thickness but that crust is now down to about One Inch at best! Back in the 80's when I first started racing there was salt way down beyond 13 miles where it started getting thin & we used to run the streamliner way down there to prepare for return record runs. Due to the Salt loss that situation is now "Eight Miles closer" to the start line.
Sid.