Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => 2017 and before: SW & WF => SpeedWeek 2016 => Topic started by: velocity on May 03, 2016, 06:41:47 PM
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Recreational Users, Racers, and Interested Spectators
Please help to protect this small, humble experiment, part of the scientific investigation of Bonneville's ecology. Unlike EVERY previous study, what is currently underway not only satisfies the mining lease terms with the BLM, but for the first time has an expanded scope to hopefully banish the word "inconclusive" from the final report and analysis. This level of attention is a blessing for the salt and if additional funding from the National Science Foundation comes through this marvelous ecosystem will finally get the full science work-up it so dearly deserves.
Attached are a couple of photos of the "dust traps" that are now on the Bonneville Salt Flats, set up by Dr. Brenda Bowen as part of her expanded study to get some scientific data on the growing dirt, mud, dust problem on the Bonneville Salt Flats. By the time Speed Week rolls around thewre will be six (6) in total. Two of them can be easily seen now:
1 - About a mile straight out from the access road;
2 - About half a mile towards the north from where the salt lay down pipe enters BSF just outside the Salduro Loop.
So far, so good. Both have withstood some major wind and rain and seem to be collecting material.
As Dr. Bowen has described the experiment, "By analyzing the material deposited in the collectors we hope to identify the composition and potentially the source of windblown sediments onto the salt surface. Please feel free to share these images with the racing community so that they are aware of what we're up to. We are hopeful that the traps won't be tampered with or vandalized. In the photo is Hannah Stinson, an awesome Geology student who is working with me on this part of the project."
Thanking You in Advance,
LandSpeed Louise
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The girl is cute but the photo of the salt flats sure is depressing. All I see is mud and water. Not much salt.
Anyway, good luck with their experiment. In my non-geologist opinion I can't see how wind-blown material can affect the composition of the salt much.
Don
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Isn't Dr. Brenda Bowen the one who smirked her way through a video posted here a few months ago?
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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Not to be coy ....but ..isn't "the growing dirt, mud, dust problem on the Bonneville Salt Flats"...a result of the severe diminishment of the salt flats....and resultant exposed mud and dirt ....as a function primarily of the degradation inflicted by the mining industry ...?...
I ask , as other areas such as other side of floating mountain (with markedly tougher access) , that isn't subject to mining...is in much better shape
also...what "Eco" system"?...as that considers important living organisms ..?...
Asking out loud due to my ignorance ..
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This is a scientific view that will consider all aspects, mining playing an obvious integral role.
An ecosystem is a holistic entity meaning each part relies upon the other.
The dust traps are a tiny part of the investigation and help help shape a comprehensive perspective something the salt has been lacking for decades.
Hope that helps.
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[quote All I see is mud and water. Not much salt.
Don
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Water on the salt flats is not necessarily a bad thing at this time of the year.
John
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It would appear they are going to study the salt until the it is all gone, then there won't be a problem requiring the government or anyone else to do anything.......problem solved.
Bill
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There is a study underway to track the demise. They are looking signs of what may have happened. There could be tracks of the ecological violators. Maybe even railroad tracks.
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Is somebody from The Utah Alliance planning to attend this seminar?
Sid.
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"""They are looking signs of what may have happened. There could be tracks of the ecological violators. Maybe even railroad tracks."""
in my best Laurence Fishburne voice from the movie The Matrix....what if I told you..."signs of what did happen"...and "tracks of ecological violators"...is currently on the other side of the railroad tracks....?....
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Dubai imports sand to put up buildings. It is "extracted" from another sand box! Probably "managed" by the feds! :?
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There is a study underway to track the demise. They are looking signs of what may have happened. There could be tracks of the ecological violators. /quote]
Thanks Stan, I was unsure what this load of scientific tosh actually meant ............ "Bowen and her students are examining the spatial heterogeneity in sedimentology, geochemistry, microbiology and mineralogy at BSF to interpret the natural variability and the impacts of the processes that influence the environment over human to geologic time scales".
Sitting on this side of the pond wondering the timescale of the studies. Do they need to be 'geologic'?
I once worked for an extractive mining industry and much of what we did swamped any 'natural variability', but we powered the industrial revolution which changed Britain hopefully for the better.
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A Utah Alliance member has been invited o attend Dr. Bowen's presentation and promises to take copious notes.
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If this study works, I suspect it would disprove that any volume of dirt on the track is coming from other sources, yet again enforcing the idea that the surface dirt is from lack of salt, not dust depositing on top of it. This is very valuable information to further prove that the salt is diminishing rather than being mixed in solution with dust caused by a change in weather conditions. Unless someone adds dirt to the collection bowls and skews the results. Is there a web camera on those collectors to prove that they are not being tampered with? They should have more out there, hidden, camouflaged.
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Kinda hard to hide or camouflage anything out there but it is becoming difficult to find salt! :evil:
Sid.
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To me...this dust trap study appears to be a way of buying more time and getting more money without having to do any real work on the problem.
Bill
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Well according to another thread, the BLM is threatening to cancel racing because we won't talk nice about them. I guess they won't be able to blame racers for disturbing their study materials....
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I seem to remember this kind of play ground behavior in grade school. Too bad it still exists in adults that have control over others.
John