Lake Urmia is a terminal salt lake in Iran. It is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. It is protected as a nationwide park by the Iranian Department of Environment.
According to new research study from Wurtsbaugh and Somayeh Sima from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, this “sis lake” offers apparent, and unpleasant, parallels to the fate of the Great Salt Lake.
The Great Salt Lake is getting saltier, developing a severe threat to the environments and the economies that depend on it. New research from Wayne Wurtsbaugh takes a look at the trajectory the two halves of the lake may take on a path to hyper-salinity. Credit: USGS
Starved for freshwater, the Great Salt Lake is getting saltier. The lake is losing sources of freshwater input to agriculture, metropolitan development, and drought. According to Wayne Wurtsbaugh from Watershed Sciences in the Quinney College of Natural Resources, this drawdown in freshwater is triggering salt concentrations to spike beyond even the tolerance of salt water shrimp and salt water flies.
Figuring out the financial and eco-friendly consequences of this modification is complicated and unprecedented. Specialists are carefully observing Lake Urmia in Iran– another stressed out saline lake– for hints on what to expect next. According to new research from Wurtsbaugh and Somayeh Sima from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, this “sister lake” offers apparent, and unpleasant, parallels to the fate of the Great Salt Lake.
The history of both lakes has moved along comparable trajectories, however at various paces. As less freshwater relocations through connected rivers and streams into these lakes, natural salts become more and more concentrated in the water. Native salt water flies and salt water shrimp tolerate salt, however when saline levels reach specific severe concentrations– at times reaching saturation– even animals and plants specially adjusted to saline environments can struggle. This indicates too that millions of migratory birds that depend upon these food sources will likewise struggle, starve, or leave.
Over the decades, broadening city populations in northern Utah have actually declared more freshwater for lawns, crops, and faucets, putting gradually intensifying tension on the ecosystem. Now a 20-year dry spell is pressing salinity levels further towards illogical levels, Wurtbaugh said.
At the Great Salt Lake, a causeway divides the lake into distinct halves. Without any freshwater inputs, the northern arm of the lake (Gunnison Bay) has actually ended up being the saltiest with levels at saturation. A transfer of salt into the north arm has actually permitted the south arm (Gilbert Bay) to stay at a concentration range that permits brine shrimp and salt water flies to tolerate the salinity. However salinities in the south are now likewise increasing to levels difficult for even those durable species.
The Great Salt Lake and Lake Urmia in Iran were when remarkably similar in size, depth, salinity, and geographical setting. High rates of metropolitan growth there also sustained need for irrigated farming and human uses, putting severe tension on the community. Compared to the Great Salt Lake, the fate of Lake Urmia is on fast-forward.
Over simply 20 years, diversions caused Urmias salinity to jump from 190 grams of salt per liter of water to over 350 grams, said Sima. (For contrast, ocean water has a salinity of around 35 grams per liter.) The decrease in Lake Urmias environment has actually been sheer and easy to recognize. It has lost nearly all of its salt water shrimp. The length of time brine shrimp can endure in progressively salty water in the Great Salt Lake is a concern scientists aspire to understand, specifically for the south arm where salt concentrations are high, however still sustaining some shrimp.
Gilbert Bay in the north arm of Great Salt Lake has reached an astonishing 330 grams per liter (27% salt), and brine shrimp there are almost absent, stopping harvest there by the $70 million salt water shrimp industry, stated Wurtsbaugh. Salt water shrimp prefer salt levels at a comfy 75-160 grams per liter.
An aerial picture shows the West Crack Breach in the Great Salt Lakes railroad causeway. USU scientists tested a modification and designed to the berm here to rebalance salinity in different parts of the lake amidst dry spell conditions. Credit: USU/Som Dutta and Brian Crookston
” Brine fly larvae get smaller sized at these higher salt levels, signaling environmental tension,” stated Wurtsbaugh. “A combined collapse of these two organisms could have catastrophic ecological consequences for migratory bird populations and for the economics of the lake.”
Supervisors still have some capability to regulate flow of salt from the north to the south arms of the lake using an undersea berm at a break in the causeway. This flow is utilized to manage contending needs of mineral extraction companies on the salt water and the lake shrimp harvesting industry. However if water advancement and environment change trigger additional losses in water levels, even that option will end up being minimal, Wurtsbaugh stated.
Lake Urmia has actually currently lost many of its cultural and eco-friendly function– but the Great Salt Lake has not yet crossed that precipice, say the authors. The continuous crises at Great Salt Lake and Lake Urmia are not distinct– around the globe, other saline lakes are facing a comparable crisis and are totally desiccated or rapidly losing water, stated Wurtsbaugh. But communities are seeing, which gives him hope. Making any progress will require significant sacrifice from the water users if the lakes are to be sustained, said Wurtsbaugh.
Reference: “Contrasting Management and Fates of Two Sister Lakes: Great Salt Lake (USA) and Lake Urmia (Iran)” by Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh and Somayeh Sima, 24 September 2022, Water.DOI: 10.3390/ w14193005.
The Great Salt Lake is the biggest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake (bodies of water that do not flow into the sea) in the world. It depends on the northern part of Utah and has a substantial effect upon the local environment, especially through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, an ancient body of water that covered much of western Utah long back.
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake (bodies of water that do not stream into the sea) in the world. The Great Salt Lake and Lake Urmia in Iran were once remarkably similar in size, depth, salinity, and geographical setting. Lake Urmia has actually already lost many of its ecological and cultural function– but the Great Salt Lake has not yet crossed that precipice, state the authors. The ongoing crises at Great Salt Lake and Lake Urmia are not special– around the globe, other saline lakes are facing a comparable crisis and are entirely desiccated or quickly losing water, said Wurtsbaugh.