My quick review of the reporter and the report! [IMO: True journalism is going away with the salt!]
Reporter summation: Turns out, groundwater extraction, including the pumping done for brine laydown, has dramatically changed the aquifer beneath the salt flats. The subterranean water that built up the salt pan over thousands of years is now flowing away from the flats, carrying the salt away with it. Researchers published their findings in the Utah Geological Association Journal on Jan. 14. [Race cars on the surface somehow affected this, too!?!?]
REPORT CONCLUSIONS:
New chemical and groundwater level measurements and past research were compiled to examine multi-decadal changes at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Brine chemistry, most notably density and δ2H and δ18 O water isotopes, has changed in response to anthropogenic activities (Figure 16). Shallow aquifer brine under and to the east of the crust declined in salinity between 1964 and 1997 and stabilized and increased in salinity afterward. Increased salinity maybe due to decreased extraction rates in the past two decades, especially as the largest increase in salinity, during the 2013-2023 period, is concurrent with the largest decrease in extraction. However, this period is also concurrent with the experimental salt restoration laydown program. The relative role of the laydown in increasing aquifer salinity remains unclear. Alluvial aquifer groundwater levels have declined over time. This decline is linked to industrial water production, including the laydown. As a result, the hydraulic gradient has reversed, causing brine to flow away from the saline pan and towards the alluvial aquifer. This flow increases alluvial fan aquifer salinity and changes its isotopic composition. If alluvial-fan extraction rates remain the same, or if they rise with increases to the laydown, more salt will be removed from the Bonneville Salt Flats halite nucleus, potentially at volumes exceeding the laydown. These multi-decadal chemical changes inform the understanding of groundwater movement and halite crust changes in this system, which informs management for the sustained use of this landscape.
https://giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.php/geosites/issue/view/14PDF page 246:
https://giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.php/geosites/issue/view/14/3