Mono Lake
6 February 2007
Props to Wooten for informing me of the existence of this amazing lake in California. The pH is so high that only small shrimp and algae can live in it and the surrounding trees and brush are bleached an amazing alkaline white. The lake turns seasonally from an radiant blue to a “pea soup” green.
Wikipedia – Mono Lake is likely the oldest lake in the US 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, making it among the oldest lakes in North America.
Mono lake is a terminal lake in a watershed fed from melting runoff with no outlet. Dissolved salts in the runoff thus remain in the lake and raise the pH and the salt concentration. 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 lake is famous for the Mono Lake brine shrimp, a tiny species of brine shrimp, no bigger than a thumbnail, that are found nowhere else on earth. During the warmer summer months, an estimated 4-6 trillion brine shrimp inhabit the lake. The brine shrimp feed on microscopic planktonic algae which 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. Brine shrimp has no food value for humans, but is a staple for birds of the region. Also an important food source, alkali flies live along the shores of the lake and walk underwater encased in small air bubbles to graze and to lay eggs. The whole food chain of the lake is based on the high population of single-celled algae present in the warm shallow waters.
The early people of Mono Lake were called the Kutzadika’a who were the Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes. Mono Lake Paiutes cultivated alkali fly larvae called kutsavi in their language. Mono Lake was also referred to as Teniega Bah. The origin of the term “Mono Lake” is unknown. Apparently, “Mono” is a Yokut term for “fly eater”.
