Salt Lake, Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Salt Lake	Saline Lake
Lincoln	City
Lancaster County	County
Nebraska	State
USA	Country

A salt deposit located West of Lincoln, now the site of Capitol Beach and adjacent Saline Wetland Park. Salt was recovered from shallow basins by Native Americans and later by European settlers. Some commercial production of salt was carried out, augmented by brine wells pumped to evaporation basins, until about 1886.

Salt flat soils are unique in the region and have laminated surface horizons, which probably result from a combination of soil crusting, salt crusting, and microbial binding of grains, with vesicular horizons characteristic of desert soils directly underneath. Soil-surface salt accumulations are dominated by halite (NaCl) and contain minor amounts of thenardite (Na2SO4); they range in morphology from thin, powdery, and very transient efflorescences to thicker, more persistent, soil-cementing crusts. The salt crusts form by the upward wicking of Na+- and Cl−-dominated groundwaters and their subsequent surface evaporation. Although it has been largely ignored by geologists for over a century, the Salt Basin can now be viewed as an unusual occurrence of inland sebkhas.

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References