A Preliminary Report on Magnesium Carbonate Formation in Glacial Lake Bonneville

Abstract

A thin bed of unconsolidated dolomite occurs about a foot below the surface of the Great Salt Lake Desert west of Knolls, Utah. A $$C^{14}$$ date correlates with the onset of a drier climate and the desiccation of Lake Bonneville to the present Great Salt Lake. Shoreward, the dolomite zone is represented by a mixture of aragonite and a magnesite-like material, with an enlarged unit cell. Chemical-enrichment techniques have been utilized in obtaining minor-element abundance data.