Lake Bonneville

Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 16,800 years ago, when most of the contents of the lake were released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho. Many of the unique geological characteristics of the Great Basin are due to the effects of the lake.

References

• Green, S. A. and Currey, D. R. (1988). The Stansbury Shoreline and Other Transgressive Deposits of the Bonneville Lake Cycle. In In the Footsteps of G. K. Gilbert — Lake Bonneville and neotectonics of the Eastern Basin and Range Province. Guidebook for Field Trip Twelve, The Geological society of America, p. 55-57.