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Picture a thin slab of sandy, inhospitable desert land by the side of Highway 78, just a few miles from the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea, once an icon of opportunity as a resort destination, continues to shrink rapidly, exposing toxic dust and polluted earth.

For example, it would take more than a minute for a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that starts at the Salton Sea along San Andreas fault to be felt 150 miles away in Los Angeles.

And some days, its dusty air carries the stench of the polluted Salton Sea eight miles west.

A new study finds fertilized soil is a major driver of smog-forming pollution near the Salton Sea.