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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature:  Salton Sea


The Salton Sea is a saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault in California's Border Region. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside Counties in Southern California. Like Death Valley, it is below sea level; currently, its surface is 226 feet below sea level.

The deepest area of the sea is 5 feet higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. The sea is fed by the New, Whitewater, and Alamo rivers, as well as agricultural runoff drainage systems and creeks.

With over 90% of California wetlands gone, the Salton Sea is one of the few remaining wetland areas left. On any given day, 3.5 million birds use the Salton Sea and surrounding area, making it one of the nation’s premier bird watching areas. The Sony Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge preserves over 35,000 acres of salt water marsh, plus 2,000 acres of freshwater marsh, with the most birds visiting in December and January. “The Salton Sea serves millions of birds, not because it is the best habitat, but because it is the only one left”, said Thomas Kirk, former director of the Salton Sea Authority.
One of Californias premier lakes is the Salton sea As the Salton Sea dries up, the lake will become saltier, thus no longer being a suitable habitat for birds or fish. Winds blowing across the exposed lake beds will carry fine dust containing heavy metals, salts, and other chemicals, harming crops and further degrading air quality in a region where already state and federal air quality standards are regularly violated.

The lake covers about 376 square miles, making it the largest in California. While it varies in dimensions and area with changes in agricultural runoff and rain, it averages 15 miles by 35 miles, with a maximum depth of 52 feet, giving a total volume of about 7,500,000 acre feet, and annual inflows averaging 1,360,000 acre-feet. 

The lake's salinity, about 44 g/L, is greater than the waters of the Pacific Ocean (35 g/L), but less than that of the Great Salt Lake; the concentration is increasing by about 1 percent annually. Presently, the fishery in the Salton Sea is thriving. If the concentrated salt level of the Sea increases greater than 44 TH PPM., it is expected that all the fish, except the Tilapia, will cease to reproduce.

It is estimated that for 3 million years, at least through all the years of the Pleistocene glacial age, the Colorado River worked to build its delta in the southern region of the Imperial Valley. Eventually, the delta had reached the western shore of the Gulf of California (the Sea of Cortez/Cortés) creating a massive dam which excluded the Salton Sea from the northern reaches of the Gulf.

As a result, the Salton Sink or Salton Basin has long been alternately a fresh water lake and a dry desert basin, depending on random river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. A lake would exist only when it was replenished by the river and rainfall, a cycle that repeated itself countless times over hundreds of thousands of years - most recently when the lake was recreated in 1905.

There is evidence that the basin was occupied periodically by multiple lakes. Wave-cut shorelines at various elevations are still preserved on the hillsides of the east and west margins of the present lake, the Salton Sea, showing that the basin was occupied intermittently as recently as a few hundred years ago.
The salton sea is a wonderful nature spot in California nature 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. 

In the 1920s, the Salton Sea developed into a tourist attraction, because of its water recreation, and waterfowl attracted to the area. The Salton Sea remains a major resource for migrating and wading birds. The Salton Sea has had some success as a resort area, with Salton City, Salton Sea Beach, and Desert Shores on the western shore and Desert Beach, North Shore, and Bombay Beach built on the eastern shore in the 1950s. The town of Niland is located 2 miles southeast of the Sea as well. The evidence of geothermal activity is also visible. There are mud pots and mud volcanoes on the eastern side of the Salton Sea.
Dedicated in 1955, the Salton Sea State Recreation Area is the largest recreation provider on the Salton Sea. Operated by the California State Park Service, it is located in the northeastern shores of the Sea. This large recreation area extends from the town of North Shore to Bombay Beach. It has 1,400 campsites, hundreds of day-use and picnic sites, trails, a Visitor Center, playground, boat ramp and boat wash areas.

Over 150,000 people visit the popular recreation area each year, and visitation is on the increase. Popular activities at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area include boating, water-skiing, fishing, jet-skiing, hiking, bird watching, and sail boarding. It is estimated that over 1 million visitors spend time at the Salton Sea each year.

The park has over 1,400 campsites in five campgrounds. Three campgrounds are primitive, two are developed and one offers full hookups. Camping at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area is best from October through May. The park is open all year, but summer temperatures can be extreme.
 
 
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