Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake in Mono County, California,
formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The
lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake. These
salts also make the lake water alkaline. This desert lake has an unusually
productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp that thrive in its waters, and
provides critical nesting habitat for two million annual migratory birds that
feed on the shrimp and blackflies. The human history of Mono Lake is
associated with its productive ecosystem. The native Kutzadika'a people
derived nutrition from the pupae of the alkali flies that live in the lake. When
the city of Los Angeles diverted water from the lake, it lowered the lake
level, which imperiled the migratory birds. The Mono Lake Committee formed in
response and won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially restore
the lake level. Geology
Mono Lake occupies part of 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 tributaries of Mono
Lake include Lee Vining Creek, Rush Creek and Mill Creek which flows through
Lundy Canyon. The basin was formed 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.
From 4.5 to 2.6 million years ago, large volumes of basalt were extruded around
what is now Cowtrack Mountain; eventually covering 300 square miles and
reaching a maximum thickness of 600 feet. Later volcanism in the area
occurred 3.8 million to 250,000 years ago. This activity was northwest of Mono
Basin and included the formation of Aurora Crater, Beauty Peak, Cedar Hill,
and Mount Hicks. 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 most
recent ice age, the lake would have been about 900 feet deep. Prominent old shore
lines, called strandlines by geologists, can be seen west of the Lake.
Currently, Mono Lake is in a geologically active area at the north
end of the Mono–Inyo Craters volcanic chain and is close to Long Valley
Caldera. Volcanic activity continues in the Mono Lake vicinity: the most recent
eruption occurred 350 years ago, resulting in the formation of Paoha
Island. Panum Crater is an excellent example of a combined rhyolite dome and
cinder cone. Limnology
The limnology of the lake shows it contains approximately 280 million tons
of dissolved salts, with the salinity varying depending upon the amount of
water in the lake at any given time. Before 1941, average salinity was
approximately 50 grams per liter. In January 1982, when the lake reached its
lowest level of 6,372 feet, the salinity had nearly doubled to 99 g/l. In 2002,
it was measured at 78 g/l and is expected to stabilize at an average 69
g/l as the lake replenishes over the next 20 years.
An unintended consequence of ending the water diversions was the onset of a
period of "meromixis" in Mono Lake. In the time prior to this, Mono Lake was
typically "monomictic"; which means that at least once each year the deeper
waters and the shallower waters of the lake mixed thoroughly, thus bringing
oxygen and other nutrients to the deep waters. In meromictic lakes, the deeper
waters do not undergo this mixing; the deeper layers are more saline than the
water near the surface, and are typically nearly devoid of oxygen. As a
result, becoming meromictic greatly changes a lake's ecology.
Mono Lake has experienced meromictic periods in the past; this most recent
episode of meromixis, brought on by the end of the water diversions, commenced
in 1994 and had ended by 2004. Ecology
= Aquatic life= The hypersalinity and high alkalinity of
the lake means that no fish are native to the lake. An attempt by the
California Department of Fish and Game to stock the lake failed.
The whole food chain of the lake is based on the high population of
single-celled planktonic algae present in the photic zone of the lake. These
algae reproduce rapidly during winter and early spring after winter runoff
brings nutrients to the surface layer of water. By March the lake is "as green as
pea soup" with photosynthesizing algae. The lake is famous for the Mono Lake
brine shrimp, Artemia monica, a tiny species of brine shrimp, no bigger than
a thumbnail, that are endemic to the lake. During the warmer summer months,
an estimated 4–6 trillion brine shrimp inhabit the lake. Brine shrimp have no
food value for humans, but are a staple for birds of the region. The brine
shrimp feed on microscopic algae. Alkali flies, Ephydra hians live along
the shores of the lake and walk underwater, encased in small air bubbles
for grazing and to lay eggs. These flies are an important source of food for
migratory and nesting birds. = Birds=
Mono Lake is a vital resting and eating stop for migratory shorebirds and has
been recognized as a site of international importance by the Western
Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Nearly 2,000,000 waterbirds, including
35 species of shorebirds, use Mono Lake to rest and eat for at least part of the
year. Some shorebirds that depend on the resources of Mono Lake include American
avocets, killdeer and sandpipers. Over 1.5 million eared grebes and phalaropes
use Mono Lake during their long migrations.
Late every summer tens of thousands of Wilson's phalaropes and red-necked
phalaropes arrive from their nesting grounds, and feed until they continue
their migration to South America or the tropical oceans respectively.
In addition to migratory birds, a few species spend several months to nest at
Mono Lake. Mono Lake has the second largest nesting population of California
gulls, Larus californicus, second only to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Since
abandoning the landbridged Negit Island in the late 1970s, California gulls have
moved to some nearby islets and have established new, if less protected,
nesting sites. Cornell University and Point Reyes Bird Observatory have
continued the study of nesting populations on Mono Lake that was begun
over 20 years ago. Snowy plovers also arrive at Mono Lake each spring to nest
along the remote eastern shores. History
= Native Americans= The indigenous people of Mono Lake are
from a band of the Northern Paiute, called the Kutzadika'a. They speak the
Northern Paiute language. The Kutzadika'a traditionally forage alkali
fly pupae, called kutsavi in their language. Mono Lake was also referred to
as Teniega Bah. The origin of the name "Kutzadika'a" is uncertain but could be
a Yokut Native American term for "fly eater".
The term "Mono" is derived from "Monachi", a Yokut term for the tribes
that live on both the east and west side of the Sierra Nevada.
During early contact the first known Mono Lake Paiute chief was Captain John.
He was also referred to by the Paiute names of Shibana or Poko Tucket. Captain
John was the son of a Northern Paiute named 'older Captain John.'
The Mono tribe has two bands: Eastern and Western. The Eastern Mono joined the
Western Mono bands' villages annually at Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite Valley,
and along the Merced River to gather acorns, different plant species, and to
trade. The Western Mono traditionally lived in the south-central Sierra Nevada
foothills, including Historical Yosemite Valley.
Present day Mono Reservations are currently located in Big Pine, Bishop,
and several in Madera County and Fresno County, California.
= Conservation efforts= The city of Los Angeles diverted water
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 69 percent of its 1941 surface
area. "[By 1990, the lake had dropped 45 vertical feet and had lost half its
volume]" relative to the 1941 pre-diversion water level. As a result,
alkaline sands and formerly submerged tufa towers became exposed, the water
salinity doubled, and Negit Island became a peninsula, exposing the nests
of sea gulls to predators, and forcing the sea gull colony to abandon this
site. In 1974, Stanford University graduate
student David Gaines studied the Mono Lake ecosystem, and he became
instrumental in alerting the public of the effects of the lower water level.
The National Science Foundation funded the first comprehensive ecological study
of Mono Lake, conducted by Gaines and undergraduate students from the
University of California at Davis, the University of California at Santa Cruz,
and Earlham College. In June 1977, the Davis Institute of Ecology of the
University of California published a report, "An Ecological Study of Mono
Lake, California," which alerted California to the ecological dangers
posed by the redirection of water away from the lake for municipal uses.
Gaines formed the Mono Lake Committee in 1978. He and Sally Judy, a UC Davis
student, led the committee and pursued an informational tour of California.
They joined with the Audubon Society to fight a now famous court battle, the
National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, to protect Mono Lake through
state public trust laws. While these efforts have resulted in positive
change, the surface level is still below historical levels, and exposed
shorelines are a source of significant alkaline dust during periods of high
winds. Owens Lake, the once-navigable terminus
of the Owens River which had sustained a healthy ecosystem, is now a dry lake bed
during dry years due to water diversion beginning in the 1920s. Mono Lake was
spared this fate when the California State Water Resources Control Board
issued an order to protect Mono Lake and its tributary streams on September 28,
1994. Since that time, the lake level has steadily risen. In 1941 the surface
level was at 6,417 feet above sea level. As of October 2013, Mono Lake was at
6,380.6 feet above sea level. The lake level of 6,392 feet above sea level is
the goal, a goal made more difficult during years of drought in the American
West. In popular culture
= Artwork= The Diver, a photo taken by Storm
Thorgerson for Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were Here, features what appears to
be a man diving into a lake, creating no ripples. The photo was taken at Mono
Lake, and the tufa towers are a prominent part of the landscape. The
effect was actually created when the diver performed a handstand underwater
until the ripples dissipated. = Film=
The volcano scene from the film Fair Wind to Java was shot at Mono Lake.
Today, the remnants of the volcano host California gull researchers on their
visits to the island. The Clint Eastwood film High Plains
Drifter was shot on location at Mono Lake, and the lake features prominently.
In the TV show Weeds, Peter Scottson mentions Mono Lake as his favorite body
of water. Season 1 episode 8. = Music=
The music video for glam metal band Cinderella's 1988 power ballad Don't
Know What You Got was filmed by the lake.
= In print= Mark Twain's Roughing It, published in
1872, provides a humorous and informative early description of Mono
Lake in its natural condition in the 1860s Twain found the lake to be a
"lifeless, treeless, hideous desert... the loneliest place on earth."
Chapter 1 of James Rollins' tenth Sigma Force novel, The 6th Extinction, opens
with a tour and talks about the lake by a nature guide and Park Ranger. The
lake's characteristics play an integral role throughout the book, whose
fictional story draws heavily from science.
See also List of lakes in California
Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve Mono Basin National Scenic Area
GFAJ-1, an organism from Mono Lake that has been at the center of a scientific
controversy over hypothetical arsenic in DNA.
List of drying lakes Notes
References Harris, S.L.. Fire Mountains of the
West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes. Mountain Press. ISBN
978-0-87842-511-2. Jayko, A.S., et al.. Methods and Spatial
Extent of Geophysical Investigations, Mono Lake, California, 2009 to 2011.
Reston, Va.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
Miller, C.D.; et al.. "Potential hazards from future volcanic eruptions in the
Long Valley-Mono Lake area, east-central California and southwest Nevada : a
preliminary assessment". U.S. Geological Survey Circular 877.
Tierney, Timothy. Geology of the Mono Basin. Lee Vining, California: Kutsavi
Press, Mono Lake Committee. ISBN 0-939716-08-9.
External links Mono Lake Area Visitor Information
Mono Lake Tufa State Nature Reserve Mono Lake Committee website
Mono Lake Visitor Guide "World Lake Database entry for Mono
Lake". Retrieved 2010-12-02. Landsat image of Mono Lake
Roadside Geology and Mining History of the Owens Valley and Mono Basin