A continuous core was taken to a depth of 650 feet on the shore of Great Salt Lake, 1 mile north-northeast of the Saltair resort, about halfway between the Oquirrh Mountains and Antelope Island, Utah. Its contents and properties were examined and analyzed for the Pleistocene record of lakes and climatic changes. Of significance in the interpretation were Ca and Mg carbonates, clay minerals, sand fractions, volcanic ashes, soils, radioactivity, laminations, oölites and fecal pellets, ostracodes, mollusks, and C14 dates. By integrating the several climatic indicators and other data the following conclusions were reached.

(1) The core probably penetrated sediments deposited during the Wisconsin, Sangamon, Illinoian, Yarmouth, Kansan, and part of the Aftonian ages of the Pleistocene. The several times of soil formation represent hiatuses in the sedimentary record, but they were probably short.

(2) The Pleistocene is calculated from the Saltair core to be about 800,000 years long, whereas the deep-sea cores, according to Emiliani, indicate a length of 300,000 years. The rhythms of solar radiation, according to Milankovitch and Zeuner, indicate a length of 600,000 years. The Saltair core age seems as substantial as any, yet it is very tenuous and is posted simply for future consideration.

(3) No relation of the pluvial stages of the core to the Lake Bonneville beaches could be established.

(4) Little firm evidence correlates the pluvial stages of the core with Rocky Mountain glacial stages.

(5) The Pearlette tuff at 548 feet is a significant time marker and according to the succession of lakes recognized in the core is early Kansan.

(6) Five strong pluvial cycles are recognized, and these correlate well with the Lower Mississippi Valley chronology.

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