Panoramic view from Dead Horse Point, 2,000 feet above a gooseneck in the Colorado River
Those bright areas on the desert floor are solar evaporation ponds owned by Intrepid Potash, Inc. Potash is potassium chloride, a salt found in the Paradox Formation. Salt deposited from ancient seas made up this formation as it evaporated and was buried by other sediments. Water is pumped down into the formation to dissolve the salt. This salt water is then pumed into the shallow, vinyl-lined ponds below. A blue dye is added to speed up evaporation. The dry desert air and many sunny days make this a productive operation. Twenty-ton scrapers, guided by lasers, harvest the dry salt. A local refinery transforms this concentrated form of potassium chloride into plant fertilizer.
