23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Drone/Aerial
Brine Traces
Yellow brine, coloured by concentrated salts and dense microbial growth, fills an evaporation pond on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Pale plumes spread out from the embankment, drifting into the pond, while a truck moves along the dike, almost lost against the scale of the basin. Once part of a broad wetland fringe, this shoreline is now held in compartments for mineral extraction as the lake recedes. Photographed from a small aircraft, the image captures a landscape where chemistry and infrastructure now shape the contours of a vanishing shoreline.
Photo Detail
| Date Taken: | 08.2025 |
| Date Uploaded: | 11.2025 |
| Photo Location: | Utah, United States of America |
| Copyright: | © Alex Visbal |