Linda Waldrop., age 11, of Winston, Ga., for her question:

What formed the Great Salt Lake?

Tho Great Salt Lake covers about 2,000 square miles. But is a mere puddle left from great Lake Bonneville. Thousands of years ago, an area in this region covering 20,000 square miles was deep under the fresh waters of old lake Bonneville. This lake water was fresh because it was able to drain into the sea. It was fed by waters from the Rockies to the east and the high Sierra to the west. It drained into the Smke river which drained into the mighty Columbia, river and the Columbia river toted these waters to the Pacific Ocean.

At so‑ to tire in the past, the big lakes outlet to the Snake river became blocked. The lake water began to evaporate, leaving its salts behind. The water became more and more salty with the year, what's more, less water drained into the lake and it began to shrink. The lake that remained was Greet Salt Lake, fed by streams, rivers and a few lakes but having no outlet to the sea. Those waters bring in more and more salts and minernls dissolved from the mountain slopes. The sun evaporates water vapor from the lake, leaving the salts behind. So, like the seas, the Great Salt Lake is getting saltier all the time.