how did the salt get into the Salton Sea?
When the Sea was created in 1905 its water came direct from the Colorado River. Almost the entire flow of the river ran unchecked into the Salton Sink for about a year and a half. When finally the engineers of the day were able to stop the flow of water they were left with a huge, relatively fresh water lake in the middle of Southern California s desert. While the lake at that time was considered fresh, it did contain a fair amount of salt as the river itself is on the salty side. Water entered the Sea from the southern most portion of the river this water had already traveled hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles before being deposited in the Salton Sink. As water passed through the river, it picked up salt and brought it to the Sea. In addition, salt that was in the soil prior to the Salton Sea re-dissolved into the water further increasing the Sea s salt level. While the lake was a little salty after its creation, it certainly had nowhere near the amount of dissolved salt that it has
