Lake Bonneville

Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperatures. The lake covered much of what is now western Utah and at its highest level extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Many other hydrographically closed basins in the Great Basin contained expanded lakes during the Late Pleistocene, including Lake Lahontan in northwestern Nevada.

For the reservoir known as Lake Bonneville on the Columbia River, see Bonneville Dam and Lake Bonneville (Oregon).
Lake Bonneville
Map of Lake Bonneville, showing the outline of the Bonneville shoreline, the highest level of the lake.
Lake Bonneville
LocationUtah, Idaho and Nevada
Coordinates41°N 113°W
Typepluvial lake (a paleolake created by a change in water balance in the basin)
EtymologyBenjamin Bonneville
Surface area~20,000 sq mi (51,000 km2) (at max. lake level)
Max. depthover 980 ft (300 m)
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