Mono Lake
Mono Lake formed because it lies in the Mono Basin, an endorheic basin that has no outlet to the ocean. Dissolved salts in the runoff thus remain in the lake and raise the water's pH levels and salt concentration. The Mono Lake tributaries include Lee Vining Creek, Rush Creek and Mill Creek which flows through Lundy Canyon.
The basin was created by geological forces over the last five million years: Basin and Range crustal stretching and associated volcanism and faulting at the base of the Sierra Nevada. Five million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was an eroded set of rolling hills and Mono Basin and Owens Valley did not yet exist.
Mono Lake is believed to have formed at least 760,000 years ago, dating back to the Long Valley eruption. Sediments located below the ash layer hint that Mono Lake could be a remnant of a larger and older lake that once covered a large part of Nevada and Utah, which would put it among the oldest lakes in North America. At its height during the last ice age, the lake may have been 900 feet deep; prominent old shore lines, called strandlines by geologists, can be seen above Lee Vining and along volcanic hills northeast of the current lake.
In order to provide water needs for the growing City of Los Angeles, water was diverted from the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. In 1941 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power extended the Los Angeles Aqueduct system farther upriver into the Mono Basin. So much water was diverted that evaporation soon exceeded inflow and the surface level of Mono Lake fell rapidly. By 1982 the lake was reduced to 37,688 acres, having lost 31 percent of its 1941 surface area. As a result alkaline sands and once-submerged tufa towers became exposed
On December 2, 2010, NASA announced the discovery of an organism in Mono Lake, named GFAJ-1, that utilizes arsenic in its cellular structure. This would constitute the first discovery of a life form capable of replacing one of the six essential elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus) in its biomolecules
Read MoreThe basin was created by geological forces over the last five million years: Basin and Range crustal stretching and associated volcanism and faulting at the base of the Sierra Nevada. Five million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was an eroded set of rolling hills and Mono Basin and Owens Valley did not yet exist.
Mono Lake is believed to have formed at least 760,000 years ago, dating back to the Long Valley eruption. Sediments located below the ash layer hint that Mono Lake could be a remnant of a larger and older lake that once covered a large part of Nevada and Utah, which would put it among the oldest lakes in North America. At its height during the last ice age, the lake may have been 900 feet deep; prominent old shore lines, called strandlines by geologists, can be seen above Lee Vining and along volcanic hills northeast of the current lake.
In order to provide water needs for the growing City of Los Angeles, water was diverted from the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. In 1941 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power extended the Los Angeles Aqueduct system farther upriver into the Mono Basin. So much water was diverted that evaporation soon exceeded inflow and the surface level of Mono Lake fell rapidly. By 1982 the lake was reduced to 37,688 acres, having lost 31 percent of its 1941 surface area. As a result alkaline sands and once-submerged tufa towers became exposed
On December 2, 2010, NASA announced the discovery of an organism in Mono Lake, named GFAJ-1, that utilizes arsenic in its cellular structure. This would constitute the first discovery of a life form capable of replacing one of the six essential elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus) in its biomolecules
