Antelope Island State Park is surrounded by the Great Salt Lake. The lake is the last remaining part of a vast inland Pleistocene Sea, Lake Bonneville. At more than 1,000 feet and more than 19,691 square miles in area, the lake was nearly as large as Lake Michigan and significantly deeper. With the change in climate, the lake began drying up, leaving Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake as remnants. As Lake Bonneville receded it left behind the Great Basin, which is made of narrow mountain ranges and broad valleys, known locally as basins. The Great Salt Lake is endorheic and has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water. The Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake each year. Due to its high salt concentration, most people can easily float in the lake as a result of the high density of the water. The Great Salt Lake is the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world, in an average year the lake covers an area of approximately 1,700 square miles but the lake's size fluctuates due to low water levels. For example, in 1963 it reached its lowest recorded level at 950 square miles, but in 1987 the surface area was at the historic high of 3,300 square miles Great Salt Lake does not support fish but does support large numbers of brine shrimp and brine flies which provide food for visiting waterfowl. Because of the high salinity, the island is mostly without readily available fresh water.
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