GREAT SALT LAKE AS A MODEL FOR TEACHING GEOBIOLOGY THOUGH VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

Great Salt Lake (GSL) in northwestern Utah is the largest inland body of water in the American West and one of the most saline lakes in the world as part of it is at salt saturation. GSL is an important ecosystem where a diversity of migrating birds stops to feed and grow. The high salinity of the lake is explained by the fact that it has no outlets; the water that flows in contains dissolved ions that concentrate in the water and along the shoreline as water evaporates. The high salinity of the lake (as much as 340 ppt) permits an unusual and extraordinary ecosystem to have established within the saline water and in the near shore shallows. Woefully, the GSL is shrinking, which is affecting the ecosystem surrounding it, but this condition leads to astrobiology implications. GSL's harsh conditions can be used as an Earthly analogue for what conditions may have been like on early Mars as surface water evaporates and creates similar conditions.

Through this virtual field trip, hosted in Google Earth Web, we share the beauty and diversity of the GSL by focusing on four locations: Bridger and Windward Bays on Antelope Island, the Bonneville Salt Flats, the hypersaline brine of Rozel Bay and associated tar seeps, and the newly identified terraced mirabilites. The virtual field trip provides mixed media developed for general audiences that focus on the geobiology of the lake, ranging from chemical processes to develop salt minerals to the preservation of biologic material within these crystals. We include how GSL is an analog to ancient, closed basin lacustrine systems on Mars and how a better understanding of life in the extreme conditions within the GSL can lead to discovery of life on Mars. Through our virtual field trip, we aim to raise awareness about the shrinking of GSL and the consequences of it on the broader ecosystem.