If you spend much time in and around Moab, perhaps you've seen these ponds. From above, they look like stained glass windows, situated in the middle of a vast, red rock landscape. What are they? Take a look.
Next to the banks of the Colorado River, near Moab, you'll find something unexpected.
Intrepid Potash owns a mine here that produces potassium chloride - also known as potash.
Potash is used for a number of products, including fertilizer and de-icing products.
The mine was originally built as a traditional underground mine in 1963.
That same year, a mine explosion trapped 25 miners; only seven survived.
After the explosion, mining operations shifted to a system of solution mining and evaporation.
Intrepid Potash pumps water from the Colorado River into the mine to dissolve the potash. The solution is then pumped into these large ponds on the surface of the desert.
The water is tinted with blue dye, to increase the rate of evaporation.
During the evaporation process, the pools turn different colors. Once the water completely evaporates, just the potash is left.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the Paradox Basin contains about 2.0 billion tons of potash.
In this aerial-view photo, you can see the mine just left of the Colorado River, along with the two large ponds a little farther south.
Union Pacific trains take the potash from the mine.
From the air above, the potash ponds look like vividly-colored, stained-glass windows, in the middle of Utah's vast red rock country.
Have you seen these ponds near Moab?
Intrepid Potash is located about 20 miles west of Moab.
Some interesting Utah landscape features are manmade, but most are part of our state's natural beauty. Check out this incredible slot canyon - it's one of the longest and deepest in the country!
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