skip to main content

Overview: Why the Fastest Place on Earth Is Disappearing

7 minutes 23 seconds

Now Playing As: Captioned (English) (change)

The Bonneville Salt Flats are perfect for speed. Every year, cars and motorcycles break land speed records on the flat expanse of the Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s been a tradition for more than a century, and racers have built a thriving community around the salt races. But how did these salt flats form, and why are they disappearing now? Part of the "Overview" series.

Media Details

Runtime: 7 minutes 23 seconds

Close-up of a section of sandstone rock from the Red River Gorge. The tan-colored rock is built up by thin layers of sediment, creating a rough, striated texture.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 5
8 minutes
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Split screen video. On the left, a man stands in a yard with a portable controller, operating a drone. On the right, a blurry view of mountains, pines, and rock captured by drone.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 8
7 minutes 49 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Overhead view of a tall, icy, snow-covered cliff, which a climber is rappelling down with a rope.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 9
7 minutes 46 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Bird's eye view of dense forests full of leafy tree canopies that border either side of a paved and curved two-lane road on which one car is traveling.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 1
6 minutes 52 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 10
Black and white frame shows a man wearing personal protective equipment bending over while wielding an axe near a tree in a field as a tall fire burns in the background.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 2
7 minutes 51 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Landscape view of a sand dune dotted with grass and sea oats leading out onto the sandy beach and ocean, along which two people are walking alone.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 3
7 minutes 24 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Rural landscape with a red barn on a hill, in front of a vast forest of trees with bright fall colors, before a sloping mountain background. Scene begins to transition to a small town landscape embedded into an autumnal mountain valley.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 4
7 minutes 12 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Close-up side-angle view of a small three-ring binder full of pages of notes.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 6
7 minutes 19 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Five or six trucks gather around a herd of buffalo in a wide, dry field, appearing to corral the animals near a fence.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 7
8 minutes 28 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Drone-view of a cityscape showing multi-story buildings, high rises, tall trees, and other structures receding into the distance. In the foreground, a green courtyard surrounds a white steepled clocktower that towers over everything.
Overview
Season 1 / Ep 10
9 minutes 45 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 10