Saving the Salt

[hotrod]

A look at the sample location I pulled the first biscuit from.

It is clear either he has no concept about what he is really talking about (ie just regurgitating something he read in a report), or he is intentionally trying to mislead readers.
The actual hard halite crust which makes the salt flats useful for racing and other recreational uses, is measured in inches and fractions of inches thickness. Down near the starting line at the Mike Cook shootout, you could kick the salt and flake off the entire crust, it was only 1/4 inch thick near the pits.

I got the second picture of the salt crust which had been entirely penetrated by a water drip.
It was only a inch or so thick where the drip bored through the crust.

[hotrod]

Same year Speed week 2011, condensate drip from the ice truck refrigeration unit bored through the salt easily since where the truck was parked the salt was barely an inch thick.

The hard salt crust we race on is only an inch or so thick over much of the racing area! It is absolutely no where close to being measured in feet any where I have been on the salt flats.
To assert foot plus thicknesses is to demonstrate total ignorance of the situation on the salt flats. The hard compact halite crust which we race on is very very much thinner than the BLM would like the public to believe.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

A half-dozen or so, give or take another or so, years go - I bored a hole right by our pit to hold a flagpole.  I figured that a foot deep would be enough to keep the pole from moving and letting the pole keel over.  At that point the salt was perhaps 4-6 thick.  I haven't done the hole trick again - but I know the 4" lag bolts I use to hold down the tarps often come up wet at the tip when I remove 'em at the end of the event.

[hotrod]

Here is a test crust sample I cut at Mike Cook Shootout 2012 near the timing stand.

[Stan Back]

Freud sent me this -- not sure what the source is . . .


Safety » Bonneville Flats’ crust, base unstable; feds ask U. of U. to investigate.

An investigation this week confirms that portions of the Bonneville Salt Flats' upper crust are thin or completely dissolved, jeopardizing next month's Speed Week, the Bureau of Land Management said Friday.

The BLM did not order the hundreds of high-speed auto racers from throughout the world to stay away. But the agency said in a news release that if the thickness of the salt does not increase soon — presumably by evaporation — "it will likely limit racing opportunities on the Bonneville Salt Flats this year to the shorter track area with good surface salt."
The BLM sent two professional geologists, a university expert and an outdoor recreation planner to the salt flats Wednesday because racing enthusiasts are worried that Speed Week, due to begin Aug. 8, may have to be canceled for the second straight year.

The Utah Salt Flats Racing Association has already canceled one event, the Test 'n' Tune meet.  Experts from the BLM found some areas where the upper crust is thick and healthy, and able to support high-speed racing and other recreation.
But in some portions of the area generally converted into race tracks during Speed Week, the salt is extremely thin or missing entirely, exposing the muddy gypsum layer below

The Southern California Timing Association has said it will make an official announcement about Speed Week by July 22. The group is asking racers, via its website and social media, whether they would still attend if they were limited to a shorter course or two.

A typical Speed Week involves courses of different lengths: 9-mile courses for the fastest racers who want to push 400 to 500 mph, slightly shorter courses for those going 300 mph, 3-mile courses for 200 mph runs, and a "mini" 2-mile course.
The possibility that Speed Week will be canceled, again, infuriates the racing community, especially those who have spent money and begun to travel from around the globe. Many are dubious of the BLM's claims that the declining salt is mostly due to weather; some speculate that mineral mining in the region is robbing the flats of their salt.
In its Friday news release, the BLM noted that it is asking the University of Utah to study the salt flats. Understanding the variables that affect the flats "is a key to unlocking any direct methods to increase surface salt layers and racing opportunities," the release said.

This year's marked decline in the salt flats' condition appears to be caused by pools of water that dissolved the upper crust, the BLM said.

The causes "will require more research to understand and possibly mitigate."
Kevin Oliver, manager of the BLM West Desert District that oversees the Bonneville Salt Flats, said the flats' condition varies with the weather. "It is a dynamic situation," he said in an interview.
Oliver said he has received several emails and other messages from disgruntled racers, and some on social media are suggesting a class action lawsuit against the BLM or pressure on political figures to take action.
The BLM has tried to keep the salt flats from shrinking in the past.
In 1997, in response to studies in the 1960s and 1970s showing

The salt flats were shrinking, the BLM and two mineral extraction companies agreed to a five-year experiment to pump tons of salty water back out onto the salt flats. That didn't really help, follow-up studies showed.
Research by retired BLM geologist Bill White suggested that while pumping may not add salt to the crust itself, increasing the salinity of the brine below the salt flats may contribute to the chemical stability of the overall system.
That led the BLM to require mining company Intrepid Potash, in its 2012 permit, to continue laying down salt. It's the only company required to pump salt back to the flats.   

This past winter alone, Oliver said, Intrepid pumped 583,000 tons of brine onto the salt flats. Oliver said the BLM regularly inspects the salt laydown system to ensure everything is working properly.
"We don't just depend on trust," he said. "That's our responsibility."

[DaveB]

Stan, Freud, or anyone who may know. Please tell us the source for this. If it is from a creditable source it would be excellent to send to all that have a say in how the salt flats are handled.

[Dynoroom]

Just a note, in all the BLM responses they seem to tout the tons of brine (salt) returned to the flats each year, conveniently leaving out the amount REMOVED each year.......

[4-barrel Mike]

It appears to come from the Salt Lake Tribune:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2741970-155/blm-confirms-utahs-bonneville-salt-flats

Mike

[Bob Drury]

  Dyno, I wonder How much salt is left after evaporation from one cubic ton of salt brine?  Sure seems like they ought to mention the % of salt  in the solution.  I am sure it was just  accidently overlooked.
  oh, please refrain from appearing in my nightmares... er I mean dreams in the future or I will ask Stan Back to friend you on Facebook.  I mean it!
                                                                                                                  Good ol' One Run

[Ron Gibson]

Tons look good, but tons of brine not tons of salt. Figures lie, liars figure.

Ron

[Bob Drury]

  This just in.  I just googled a Stock Market current listing from yesterday where Intrepids (IPI on the New York Stock Exchange) stock value climed during the day!  On the same page, Market Watch reports that Intrepid Industries is a Niche Potash Producer with attractive earnings and growth potential. Isn't that special..............

[hotrod]

I wonder How much salt is left after evaporation from one cubic ton of salt brine?

That information is in the studies I linked to earlier.

In the 2008 annual report they state that the wendover plant :
Extraction Method Lake Brine Evaporation
Nameplate Capacity 120,000 tons of Potash annually
Effective Capacity 93,000 tons of Potash annually

They also produce some secondary products like Magnesium Chloride for de-icing etc.

Unfortunately it would take a day or two of close examination of the annual reports to figure out the actual extraction rates and I just have not had time to dig through it all yet.
Same with detailed examination of already published reports. We need some people to do that detail grind of extracting data from the various sources and capturing it in a useful form (with full documentation of source locations) so folks can talk about this from a position of knowledge rather than rumor and hear say.

Give the folks here some time to do the crowd sourcing and digest this info so the general community interested in the salt has the straight dope on what the current facts on the ground are.
The last thing we need to do, is take off like a bull elk in heat on a false premise and shoot ourselves in the foot by stirring the pot without knowing what we are doing.

We have a bit of traction in the local media now, so take your time get your facts straight and then folks can work with good information.

[Bob Drury]

  Well now, as Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over till its over".  While I certainly ain't ready to gloat, it sure looks like that young cub reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune has proven that MAYBE USING THE MEDIA IS WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE TEN YEARS AGO!!!!
  I nominate Her for this years Pulitzer Prize and for (hopefully) next years Bonneville Parade Queen.  It appears that she is too young to realize She may be responsible for SAVING a NATIONAL TREASURE and many of OUR entire fortunes (in my case that would be one yellow 238 mph Studebaker which I currently co-own with VISA and MASTER CARD).
  Grandpa always said: "Sonny, don't ever get in a gunfight  using a pea shooter"
                                                                                                       One Run, out...................................................

[hotrod]

Source:  http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/ut/salt_lake_fo/bonneville_salt_flats/salt_laydown_project.Par.49376.File.dat/IMF03_White_BSF5yr_042004.pdf
From the salt laydown study (2006) abstract page 1 of pdf, page number 243 at the bottom of the page:

During the 5-year period, 6.2 million tons of sodium-chloride salt was transported back to BSF. The average annual 1.2 million tons of salt exceeded an estimated annual salt loss of 0.85 million tons. Over the 5-year experiment, 4.2 million tons of salt removed for mineral extraction was replaced by 6.2 million tons of Laydown salt. The difference resulted in a net addition of about 2 million tons of salt to the BSF shallow-brine aquifer and salt-crust system. {my emphasis}

(page 2 of pdf, page number 244)

This concern is based on changes in salt-crust area and volume reported between 1960 and 1988 that were measured north of the Western Pacific Railroad and I-80. McMillan (1974, p. 3) reported a 9 and 15% respective decrease in salt-crust area and volume during 1960–1974. Brooks (1991, p. calculated 20 and 30.6% respective decreases in salt-crust area and volume during 1960–1988

(bottom of page 2 pdf, page number 244)

Salt-crust thickness measurements obtained from 26 auger holes drilled in NRP and SRP during 2002 averaged slightly more than 4 feet.

(note this is where they are getting that ridiculous assertion that the salt is feet thick, they are using the term "salt crust to include the entire salt rich layer cake complex ranging from the hard consolidated halite surface crust [ what normal people call the salt crust] to the bottom of the crystalline complex in the mud.)
Is this intentional misdirection or just stupid burecratic bumbling I can't say, but I suspect it is at some level an intentional twisting of the message so the average joe in the street will think the racers are howling at the moon.

[ronnieroadster]

Over five billion gallons of brine are pumped into the solar pond system each year! Holy Shit divide that by 365 days. Is that the speedway racing surface being destroyed?