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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature:  Lakes


Lakes are not permanent. Over time all lakes will shrink and disappear. Some will dry out, others will fill up with sediment. This doesn't happen overnight. It can take thousands and thousands of years! Lakes can range in size from small to large. They can be very deep or relatively shallow. Lakes that have depths of less than six or seven feet and plant life on the bottom, are often called ponds. There are no rooted plants at the bottom of lakes, because the water is too deep for sunlight to reach. Lakes get their water from precipitation,  from rivers and streams and from underground water.

Natural lakes can form by various processes. Although many of these processes occurred in the geologic past, lakes continue to form and to be destroyed. Many lakes have formed as a result of tectonic movements of the Earth's crust.
California has over 2,000 lakes Lakes can be divided into three zones based on how much light penetrates the water. The littoral zone stretches across the lake surface and penetrates to  where light can reach the lake bottom. The photic zone is the middle zone. Some sunlight reaches this zone and some plants grow here. The last zone is the aphotic zone. No sunlight reaches this zone, so there are no plants.

A pluvial lake is a lake that experiences significant increase in depth and extent as a result of increased precipitation and reduced evaporation. These type of lakes formed from rainwater falling into a landlocked basin during a glacial period marked by greater precipitation than is found in the region in prior or subsequent periods.

Lake Lahontan is a pluvial lake that covered nearly all of northwestern Nevada as well as parts of northeastern California and southern Oregon. At its peak about 12,700 years ago it covered approximately 8,500 square miles
A caldera is a large, usually circular depression. A caldera forms when the top of a volcano collapses and becomes wedged into the nearly empty magma chamber. The large, sunken crater can become filled with water, forming scenic lakes and landscapes.

Calderas can be up to 50 km in diameter. Volcanic eruptions that form calderas are often the largest eruptions on Earth. Crater Lake Caldera is 597 meters deep. The lake partly fills a nearly 1,220 meter deep caldera that was formed around 6,900 years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama.

The Earth is constantly shifting and moving. Lots of the world's lakes formed because of changes in the land caused by earthquakes. Earthquakes sometimes leave basins in the Earth that become lakes. Many lakes in the western United States, like Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border, were formed in depressions formed by earthquakes.
200 major lakes can be found in California nature California has, at the present time, more than 2,000 lakes, most of which are man-made. There are 2,440 dams within California and 1,013 small dams not under the jurisdiction of the state, mostly for agricultural use. Most of the state's natural lakes have been messed with in one way or another. There are 200 major lakes and reservoirs in California. Some of the biggest lakes in California exist no more!

Owens Lake was drained by the City of Los Angeles. This lake was once one of the largest in California, at 112 square miles. In 1872, it was crossed by steamboat.  Owens Lakebed is now the single most important source of air pollution in the United States, caused by dust from winds howling across its salty bed.

Mono Lake, on the east side of the Sierra near Yosemite, was almost destroyed by LA in recent times for yet more water. But some hard-working environmentalists managed to save what is left of it. Mono Lake is now on a long, slow road to recovery.
Located in California's spectacular Eastern Sierra, Mono Lake is an oasis in the dry Great Basin and a vital habitat for millions of migratory and nesting birds. One of the oldest lakes in the western hemisphere, Mono Lake is hauntingly beautiful, reflecting the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in its shimmering blue waters. An immense inland sea, the 70 square-mile lake fills a natural basin, 700 square-miles in size.

 In the western part of the state is Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake by area entirely in California. Though Lake Tahoe is larger, it is divided by the California/Nevada border.

One of the world's largest inland seas and lowest spots on earth at -227 below sea level, Salton Sea was re-created in 1905 when high spring flooding on the Colorado River crashed the canal gates leading into the developing Imperial Valley.  For the next 18 months the entire volume of the Colorado River rushed downward into the Salton Trough.  By the time engineers were finally able to stop the breaching water in 1907, the Salton Sea had been born at 45 miles long and 20 miles wide, equaling about 130 miles of shoreline. 
 
 
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