What are the processes involved in movement of contaminants within the basin and into the Great Salt Lake?
Lake sediment cores will allow comparison of prehistory to history, and contrasting of tributary watersheds in terms of pollen, other ecological markers, sediment flux, and contaminant flux. Complementary monitoring of fluxes of dissolved and suspended constituents in tributaries to the Great Salt Lake and the lake itself provides the opportunity to relate present flux to historic accumulation within the lakes. These comparisons will also provide a basis for evaluation of biogeochemical processes controlling the fate of dissolved and suspended constituents within the watershed, and the consequences of these processes to ecological systems. Many specific issues can be examined within this context. For example, methyl Hg (biotoxic form of Hg) is quite elevated in the Great Salt Lake, especially in a deep brine layer that covers 50% of the south basin of the lake (David L. Naftz, USGS, personal communication). These elevated concentrations raise ecological concerns for the wetlands surrou
