What exactly is the Great Basin?

Question

I have a pretty good idea, but need to know for sure.

Answer 1

The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries depend on how it is defined. Its most common definition is the contiguous watershed, roughly between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, that has no natural outlet to the sea.

Answer 2

It is an area of eastern Nevada and northern Utah that encompasses the Great Salt Lake. Rivers flow into the Great Basin but do not flow out. Water leaves by evaporation.

During the last ice age the Great Basin contained Lake Bonneville - a huge body of water as large as the smaller Great Lakes. The Great Salt Lake is the current day remnant of this. Lake Bonneville flowed out into Idaho through what is now known as Red Rock Pass. The waters then reached the Snake River and flowed into the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River.

One of the world's great floods occurred when the outflow from Lake Bonneville cut through the harder rock of Red Rock Pass and quickly eroded the softer rock. A torrent of water flowed into the Snake River reaching flow rates as high as 1/3 cubic mile per hour. Within weeks the level of Lake Bonneville dropped by some 600 feet. Warmer temperatures dropped the level further preventing any more outflow. Evaporation has brought things to where they are now.

The Great Basin consists of a huge part of the former bed of Lake Bonneville.

Answer 3

The Great Basin is a hydrologic region in the American West. In most of the US, if you throw a glass of water on the ground, it will flow downhill and end up eventually in a major river, like the Mississippi, Columbia, or the Colorado Rivers, which then dump it into an ocean. In the Great Basin, that water does not make it to the ocean. All water within the Great Basin flows into the basin, where it either sinks into the ground or evaporates into the air. The Great Basin includes most of Utah and Nevada, and parts of California, Oregon, Idaho. John C. Fremont discovered the Great Basin in 1845.

Answer 4

The Great Basin is a depressed area in Western Utah. It is now characterized by its famous Salt Flats, where racing is done. In the past it was an enormous lake, but has now dried up. What is left of it consists of The Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake.

Answer 5

I am assuming that you are taking about the Salt Lake City area. It still has salt water sitting in it, (the Great Salt Lake), like a "Great Basin" from ancient seas.

Answer 6

the baisn is where all of the water residue forms an openning into the ocean. i know there is a scientific explaination for it, but i forgot it.