SALT LAKE CITY—Since it was constructed in 1970, Spiral Jetty, the late sculptor Robert Smithson’s coil-shaped earthwork sculpture on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, has been subjected to natural threats, such as rising lake levels that have left it submerged. Now a possible man-made occurrence — an expansion of evaporation pools in the lake’s northern end — is raising concerns.

According to the Dia Art Foundation, the sculpture’s owner, there are several ways the project, planned by Great Salt Lake Mining, would significantly threaten the jetty’s integrity. The pools could change the Jetty's part of the lake so substantially that the northern end would no longer be recognizable, Dia says. Also, the Jetty would be left totally out of the water, and the expanse between it and Gunnison Island could be deprived of water. Finally, a permanently lowered lake level might mean wind-blown sand would cover the Jetty, and there would no longer be red algae blooms around the sculpture, a natural element Smithson considered key to the work. As Dia considers how it will address these concerns, the plan is undergoing a federal review process that will take until at least early 2011.

Read more at the Modern Art Notes blog.