Drowned bush
Dec 8, 2019 21:40:21 #
Mono Lake in the high desert of eastern California has no drainage. Fed mostly by snow melt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, its level would rise in the spring runoff and fall through the long, hot summer. Salt that washes in with the streams does not evaporate with the water, and the lake is salty.
Mono Lake is also home to a unique ecosystem, the base of which is algae and a kind of brine shrimp that hatches out in the billions. The brine shrimp and the flies that feed on them are both consumed by tens of thousands of birds that stop by the lake.
In the early twentieth century, most of the sources of water for the lake were diverted to Los Angeles, hundreds of miles to the south, and today the lake's level is hundreds of feet lower than it once was. The salinity of the lake has risen as the amount of water in it has fallen. By the late twentieth century, the lake had become so salty that it was approaching the point where it would become too salty even for the brine shrimp. The ecosystem was in danger of collapse.
A court settlement means that water is once again flowing into the lake. Eventually, it will be stabilized at the level it was in the 1950s, but it will take a long time to get there. If they fill it up too quickly, it will kill off the brine shrimp who have adapted to the higher salinity.
The lake still fluctuates seasonally. Most of the water it gets comes in the spring, and the long summer insures much of that will evaporate. The plant in these photos grew when the lake was low. In the spring, the water rose and the salt killed the plant.
Mono Lake is also home to a unique ecosystem, the base of which is algae and a kind of brine shrimp that hatches out in the billions. The brine shrimp and the flies that feed on them are both consumed by tens of thousands of birds that stop by the lake.
In the early twentieth century, most of the sources of water for the lake were diverted to Los Angeles, hundreds of miles to the south, and today the lake's level is hundreds of feet lower than it once was. The salinity of the lake has risen as the amount of water in it has fallen. By the late twentieth century, the lake had become so salty that it was approaching the point where it would become too salty even for the brine shrimp. The ecosystem was in danger of collapse.
A court settlement means that water is once again flowing into the lake. Eventually, it will be stabilized at the level it was in the 1950s, but it will take a long time to get there. If they fill it up too quickly, it will kill off the brine shrimp who have adapted to the higher salinity.
The lake still fluctuates seasonally. Most of the water it gets comes in the spring, and the long summer insures much of that will evaporate. The plant in these photos grew when the lake was low. In the spring, the water rose and the salt killed the plant.
Dec 9, 2019 00:38:19 #
Dec 9, 2019 05:41:19 #
htbrown wrote:
Mono Lake in the high desert of eastern California... (show quote)
Hugh, thank you for the education along with the photos. Good to see that even in California there are people who realize the value in a in this lake. The ecosystem can not have a price on it. Again, one more THANK YOU.
Greg
Dec 9, 2019 11:37:05 #
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