90% of northern Utah’s dust comes from shrinking lakes, BYU study finds

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Perry, University of Utah) A downdraft from a thunderstorm generates dust plumes on the northwestern edge of the Great Salt Lake playa near Locomotive Springs Wildlife Management Area. A new study by Brigham Young University geologists found that 90% of the dust settling on Wasatch Front cities and mountain snowpacks originates on playas like this in western Utah.