Mono Lake

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Mono Lake
Mono Lake, CA.jpg
Mono Lake from the west
Geographical location California , USA
Tributaries Rush Creek, Lee Vining Creek, Mill Creek, Wilson Creek
Drain Los Angeles Aqueduct and Evaporation
Islands 2 (Negit, Pahoa)
Places on the shore Lee Vining
Data
Coordinates 38 ° 0 ′  N , 119 ° 2 ′  W Coordinates: 38 ° 0 ′  N , 119 ° 2 ′  W
Mono Lake (California)
Mono Lake
Altitude above sea level 1946  m
surface 182.47 km²
length 20.6 km
width 14.6 km
volume 3.207 km³
Maximum depth 48 m
Middle deep 17 m
Catchment area 2020 km²

particularities

Alkaline salt lake

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The Mono Lake is a Natron ; it is therefore both particularly alkaline and particularly salty . It is located in Mono County in the central-eastern part of California , in a drainless basin on the western edge of the Great Basin under the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada . Due to the harsh environmental conditions animals and plants have both the adjusted high pH be and stand the salinity can. Therefore, an ecosystem has developed from very few adapted species with a very high number of individuals, which is of particular importance for some bird species.

Since 1941, drinking water has been drawn from the catchment area of the lake into a 520 km long aqueduct that supplies the city of Los Angeles . As a result, the lake's water level fell continuously, the salt content rose, and parts of the lake bed dried out. There were serious ecological consequences for the tributaries and the lake. At the same time, numerous underwater tufa formations in bizarre shapes became visible in the lake and on the shore , which contributed to the fame of the lake. From the beginning of the 1980s, conservationists addressed the issue of lowering the water level. After court rulings to limit the discharge, it has been slowly increasing again since the mid-1990s.

Satellite image showing Mono Lake and the volcanic area
Tufa formations at Mono Lake
Tufa formations at Mono Lake
Fresh water source on the north bank of the lake with small tuff formations
Sand tuff on the shores of Mono Lake

geography

The mono basin is located on the western edge of the basin and range region, which was created by an expansion of the crust . In the process, predominantly parallel horst and ditch structures were formed or individual basins such as at Mono Lake. The Basin and Range region continues north, east, and south of the lake into California and Nevada . In the southeast are the White Mountains , in the west the steep flank of the Sierra Nevada rises. The catchment area of ​​Mono Lake with around 2020 km² extends in height from the main ridge of the Sierra with Mount Lyell (3994 m) and Mount Dana (3978 m) down to the water level of currently 1945 m above sea level (as of 2017). Neighboring catchment areas are the Walker River in the north, the Owens Valley with the Long Valley Caldera as the upper valley head in the south and the Yosemite National Park with the Merced River and the Tuolumne River in the west beyond the Sierra Main Ridge and the Tioga Pass . The San Joaquin River has its source in the southwest . The basin extends 500 to 1350 m below today's ground level and is filled with sediments deposited by glaciers, surface waters and volcanoes.

The basin was formed around three million years ago, and with an age of at least 760,000 years, the lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America. At the end of the last ice age (known as Wisconsin glaciation in North America ), the mono basin was completely filled with meltwater and overflowed to the east into the neighboring basins. The resulting prehistoric lake, known as Lake Russell , had an area of ​​almost 900 km² and a depth of around 100 m about 12,500 years ago. The shoreline at that time can be read from the terrace structure on the slopes to the west. After the end of the Ice Age, the glaciers feeding the lake melted; As a result of the associated climate change, precipitation also decreased significantly. Finally, around 9,000 years ago, the lake was roughly the size it is today, with which it is now known as Mono Lake .

The current appearance of Mono Lake is strongly influenced by historical volcanism . The Mono-Inyo Craters south of the lake are rhyolithic lava domes and with an age of 2000 to 600 years the youngest range of hills in North America. The Panum crater, the northernmost of the crater field, is the youngest at around 650 years and is only a little over a kilometer south of the lake. The dark Negit Island in the north of the lake is of volcanic origin and almost 2000 years old. The larger, central Pahoa Island is the most recent volcanic impact in the region. Not even made of volcanic material, it was lifted by the magma rising below it and broke through the surface of the water around 250 years ago. Black Point on the northwest bank is the remnant of a basaltic cinder cone volcano that erupted underwater about 13,300 years ago.

Since the basin is east of the Sierra Nevada, it is in its rain shadow . While the eastern high altitudes of the mountains receive precipitation of 1300 mm / a, there is a semi- arid climate on the slopes and in the hill country , and on the lake itself an arid climate with 140 mm / a on the northeast bank. The inflow to the lake comes from winter snowfall on the higher elevations of the Sierra, which runs down to the lake via Lee Vining Creek and Rush Creek after the snow melts ; both streams are tapped from the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Smaller tributaries are Mill Creek and Wilson Creek in the northwest. Other tributaries in the south and north only carry water at times and play no role in the lake's water level. Rush Creek and Mill Creek will be dammed to generate hydropower .

With its long geological existence, the climate and precipitation caused the water level of the lake to fluctuate sharply again and again; in the last 3800 years the water level varied by at least 40 m. The highest water level of 1980 m above sea level was dated using the radiocarbon method to around 3800 years ago, the lowest detectable level was around 1800 years ago at 1940 m. When historical records began in 1857, it was 1949 m. This was followed by an increase to the highest level in the time recorded by direct measurements at 1959 m in 1919 and a slow decline to 1956 m at the beginning of the diversion in 1941. As a result, the water level in the last 2000 years was predominantly below that found before the diversion Values, so that the planning for water supply and use must take into account that their models are based on a phase with above-average precipitation and that they should expect more drought than previously assumed.

Since the Mono Lake has no natural runoff, it only loses water through evaporation . As a result, all the minerals dissolved in the incoming water collect in the lake. As a result, the salinity increased and the lake water became increasingly alkaline . The lake contains approximately 258 million tons of salts dissolved in the water. The salinity varies according to the fluctuating water volume. Before 1941 it was 50 grams per liter (the world's oceans have an average value of 31.5 grams per liter). When the lake sank to its lowest level in 1982, the salinity had doubled to 99 grams per liter. In 2002 it was 78 grams of salt per liter. It is expected that as the water level rises, the salt content will stabilize in the long term at an average level of 69 grams of salt per liter. The lake is strongly alkaline due to the large number of dissolved carbonates with a pH of 9.8. Higher concentrations of salt occur in other lakes in the United States and other parts of the world, but no other lake on earth has a comparable combination of salinity and alkalinity.

Other substances were also concentrated in the lake - the high values ​​of ≈130  micromoles of sulfur per liter of lake water, 35 micromoles of boron and, in particular, the high content of around 200 to in individual cases 300 micromoles of arsenic per liter represent another environmental factor of the lake that is only endure few adapted organisms.

The characteristic limestone tufa formations on the lake shores arise under water, those that are visible today were only exposed when the water level fell. Springs emerge in the lake that transport water with dissolved calcium carbonate from the surrounding mountains. Due to the different acid values ​​of spring water and lake, the carbonates precipitate as tufa. A specialty of Mono Lake is the sand-tuff . Sources with high discharge on sandy shores can swirl fresh water, sand and the salt water of the lake in such a way that tufa precipitations appear in thin layers in the sand. If the sand is later washed out by the current, small, filigree structures made of tuff remain, which in some cases fall dry and thus escape rapid destruction by the current.

Another mineral found on Mono Lake is hazenite . The biogenic phosphate is formed in the algae of the lake that grow on the tufa columns. It was first described in 2007 and has not yet been found anywhere else.

ecology

Brine shrimp Artemia monica
Salt flies of the species Ephydra hians
Black-necked Grebe
Wilson water treaders
California Gull on Mono Lake
Kentish plover

The high salinity of Mono Lake in connection with the alkalinity of a pH value of almost 10 severely restricts the ecosystem in and around the lake. Only species can live in the lake whose metabolism is particularly adapted to the osmotic pressure and the resulting low content of free water in the organism.

The lake is divided into two main habitats:

Because fish cannot live in Mono Lake, the food chain from phytoplankton as primary producers to zooplankton and insects as primary consumers to birds as end consumers is very short. But the species occur in large numbers. The highest measured density of Artemia crabs in Mono Lake was 31,000 animals / m², the value fluctuates strongly over time and space. The salt flies and their pupae form carpets and mats in the bank area in summer. The mats made from salt fly pupae are mainly found underwater in the eastern part of the lake, where they find an ideal substrate on tuff towers. The adult animals live predominantly on the shoreline, where they form dense stands that resemble dark clouds.

Some types of end consumers are also found in very high densities, so that Mono Lake is of particular importance for their populations. Black-necked grebes use the lake as a resting place on the bird migration , where they eat up food reserves and use the time to moult . Peak numbers of 600,000 to 900,000 specimens were observed. With the total population of black-necked grebes in North America estimated at about 2.5 million, Mono Lake is of great importance to at least a quarter to about a third of all individuals. The Artemia crabs and the larvae of the salt flies make up around 95% of their food intake during their stay at the lake.

Wilson water treaders are particularly reliant on resting places with a good supply of food because they migrate from North America on a non-stop flight to the winter quarters in South America. Mono Lake is by far the most important gathering and resting place for this species in western North America with around 100,000 to 125,000 animals per year, of which around 70,000 are simultaneously present as a peak population. They also use their stay at the lake to moult. The closely related Odin's chicken is described with over 50,000 individuals per year at Mono Lake, but this represents a much smaller proportion of the total North American population, which is why this species is less dependent on the lake. The lake is of no importance to another species of water treadmill, the Thor's chicken .

The California gull is the third species of bird for which Mono Lake has an essential function of continental importance. It breeds with around 50,000 specimens on the islands of the lake. With a world population of 220,000 animals, the Mono Lake is important for the population of the species. It suffered particularly from the lowering of the water level at the times of the low tide in the early and late 1980s. At that time part of the northern lake fell dry and Negit Island became a peninsula. Coyotes were able to reach the breeding areas via the land bridge and prevented any breeding success on this island in the years affected.

The lake is also of particular importance to the Kentish plover , although it only partially feeds on the larvae of the salt flies and mainly looks for its food in the vegetation of the bank. Since it only creates its well-camouflaged nests on terrain that is largely free of vegetation, it makes particular use of the parts of the former seabed that have fallen dry. He therefore benefited from the lowering of the water level. The species is under protection of species of the regions by Endangered Species Act , the bank levels of Mono Lake breed about 10% of California stock. American avocets and the wedge-tailed plover are other limes that make particular use of the food available in Mono Lake . The lake is of no great importance for these species.

The bank areas as well as the mountain and hill slopes in the mono-basin range from high mountains to various forest and bush ecosystems, mugwort steppe and grassland of different densities to the largely vegetation-free salt soils of the dry lake bed. Only the salt vegetation is of particular importance. Due to the high demands of the habitat, it is also poor in different species and consists in particular of the crucifer Cleomella parviflora , the Radmelde Bassia hyssopifolia , the salt swath Puccinellia airoides , the sweet grass Distichlis spicata and several species from the genus of the Simsen . When the first whites reached the area, there were no fish in the waters of the mono-basin. It is believed that they were extinct due to the relatively recent volcanic activity, as relatively young, fossil fish were found in the area. While no fish can live in the lake itself, ten species of fish, including five species of trout , were used in the tributaries to promote fishing . Over 290 bird species have been identified in the mono area. Mammals are found in the lake's catchment area with over 70 species, but species of particular importance only in the higher elevations of the mountains, so that Mono Lake itself does not play a special role for mammals.

The special environmental conditions at Mono Lake are being intensively researched. The largest project to date was the Mono Lake Microbial Observatory at the University of Georgia from 2000 to 2006 . The NASA research for her Astrobiology laboratory on the lake, to find out how life forms to adapt to extreme conditions. At the end of 2010, a NASA team announced that a bacterial strain called GFAJ-1 had been isolated from sediments in the lake , which is said to be able to incorporate arsenate into the DNA instead of phosphate . This would expand the current understanding of the biochemical possibilities for living things. The publication was heavily criticized, a review in 2012 showed that arsenic has no part in the genetic information of the bacterial strain and that the original thesis must therefore be rejected.

In the sediment of the bank area, roundworm species were discovered that are particularly adapted to the environmental conditions. In particular, Auanema spec. that is extremely arsenic-resistant and survives concentrations 500 times as high as humans. In addition to hermaphrodite and male animals, there are also female animals. In addition, this species does not lay eggs, but is viviparous .

History of land use

The original inhabitants of the Mono Lake area were Paiute Indians. The regional tribe called themselves Kutzadika'a, which seems to be derived from the word for the salt flies in their Uto-Aztec language . They collected the fly larvae, dried them and used them as a protein-rich food. Their neighbors, the Yokut , called them Monachi, which was probably shortened to Mono by the first whites . The meaning of the word is considered lost. The western Mono lived all year round in the valleys of the western flank of the Sierra Nevada, especially in the Yosemite - and the Hetch-Hetchy Valley . The eastern Mono spent most of the year east of the mountains around Mono Lake, only moving over the ridge in the fall to gather acorns and other tree fruits for winter supplies.

In 1852, when a division of the US Army under Lieutenant Tredwell Moore pursued Miwok Indians from the west over the ridge of the Sierra, white people entered the Mono area for the first time. Shortly thereafter, prospectors explored the deposits of raw materials on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. One of the first prospectors to come to the area, Leroy Vining found no lucrative natural resources and turned to forestry. The tributaries of Mono Lake became the center of a modest pasture economy with cattle and sheep, which was mainly supplied to the miners who first dug for gold and later for other metals. Today's ghost town Bodie in the northern neighboring valley of the lake was the largest mining town in the region. In addition, the mountain forests were used for forestry. The Mono Mill was founded as the largest sawmill in the region in 1881 and existed until 1917. The supply of wood to Bodie was the main reason for the establishment of the Bodie Railway in 1881, which ran from Mono Lake via the sawmill to the gold digging settlement and was also discontinued in 1917.

Mark Twain stayed in 1861 and 62 in the region and wrote in Roughing It (dt .: Through thick and thin ) fascinated about the "millions of ducks and gulls." On behalf of the construction management for the railway, the geologist Israel Russell moved to the region in 1881 and stayed here for several years. He researched the geology of the area - his book Quaternary History of Mono Valley, California (1884) is still a reference today. In 1886, John Muir came to the lake from the Yosemite Valley via an Indian trail. He wrote in his diary (first published as My First Summer in the Sierra in 1911 ) in detail about the interaction of glaciers and volcanism that shape the landscape of the basin. The lake itself did not play a major role for him.

Local residents developed humble beginnings of tourism early on. In the 1920s, bathing facilities were opened on the beaches of the lake, the water was about one and a half times the salinity of an ocean, and before the water drained, there were extensive sandy beaches on the north shore. From 1928 until the Second World War, beach festivals with motorboat races and beauty contests in bathing costumes took place every year. In the 1960s, when the water level was already falling sharply, there was a marina on the northwestern bank , from which boat trips and water skiing were offered. But operations had to be stopped before the end of the decade because the water from the boathouse was no longer accessible and large areas of the bank turned into muddy zones.

Today the small settlement Lee Vining , named after the pioneer Leroy Vining, lies on the western shore of the lake, on the slopes of the Sierra the somewhat larger village June Lake . There is still a modest amount of pumice mining at the mono-craters. Otherwise the region lives from tourism. In summer it is attractive for hikers and anglers and the lake is a major stop for tourists over the Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park go or come from there. In winter, the June Lake Ski Area on the upper reaches of Rush Creek attracts the most visitors.

los Angeles
Los Angeles Aqueduct in the San Fernando Valley
Rush Creek 2010. The streambed is deeply deepened by years of interventions

Water drainage

Los Angeles , a settlement in the deserts of Southern California, could not have grown into a metropolis with a population of millions if it had not developed permanent sources of drinking water at the beginning of the 20th century. William Mulholland , as head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power , planned to use the precipitation on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada. In 1913, the first Los Angeles Aqueduct was opened, which drained from the Owens River in the Owens Valley , which was south of the Mono Basin . From 1934 to 1940 Los Angeles extended the aqueduct system into the mono basin and from 1941 tapped surface water. For this purpose, the Lee Vining Creek was connected by a pipeline on the slopes of the Sierra with the Grant Lake Reservoir on the dammed Rush Creek and a tunnel with a pressure tube was drilled to the southeast under the mono-craters in the Long Valley Caldera. There the water is first used in a hydropower plant to generate energy; it then flows south in the bed of the Owens River until it is diverted into the aqueduct between Big Pine and Lone Pine . The permit stipulated that Los Angeles may discharge up to 200 cubic feet per second (≈5.66 m³ / s) from the Mono-Basin and the Owens Valley, without stipulating residual amounts of water that must remain in the streams and flow into the lake. In 1970 the capacity of the pipeline was expanded when the second Los Angeles Aqueduct was opened in Owens Valley. Only now could Los Angeles actually divert and use the approved water volumes.

Consequences for the ecosystems

The natural evaporation soon exceeded the reduced water inflow into Mono Lake, so that the level of the lake dropped dramatically. In 1941, before the tributaries were diverted, the lake's water level was 1956 m above sea level. The lowest value was reached in 1982 with 1933 m above sea level. The streams to the lake were largely dry or only carried water in the wet season. Freshwater swamps on the west bank, where tens of thousands of duck birds lived until 1940, dried up. The ducks disappeared from the Mono Basin. On the shore, the seabed fell dry and was covered with alkaline sand. Once dried, it was whirled up in storms and produced caustic sandstorms that far exceeded the limit values ​​for particles in the air and were hazardous to health. On the other hand, most of the bizarre limestone tufa towers that are visible today have been drained and made accessible, which in turn has contributed significantly to the degree of awareness of the lake.

In 1974 David Gaines, then a graduate student at the University of California, Davis , mapped the lake. He wrote a text on the crisis in the threatened ecosystem. In 1976 he was part of a student research group at Stanford University that wrote the first comprehensive study of the Mono Lake ecosystem. Gaines founded the Mono Lake Committee in 1978 as an organization within the Audubon Society and played a pivotal role in the campaign to inform the California public and politicians about the effects of the lowered level. In addition, the nature conservation organization, together with fishing associations and other interest groups, filed lawsuits against the permits for water diversion.

When the sinking water level made Negit Island a peninsula so that coyotes could plunder the nests of the California gulls, the Forest Service experimented with blasting to create a moat. After the lowest water level in 1982, above-average rainfall allowed the lake to grow again until 1986. Several years of drought then set in. When Negit Island in the north of the lake became a peninsula again in 1989, conservationists built electric fences to protect the breeding grounds. In addition, they stepped up lobbying campaigns with which politicians from the state of California, the federal level and, over time, increasingly representatives of the city of Los Angeles were won over to the protection of Mono Lake.

Fight before politics and courts

In contrast, the interests of the City of Los Angeles stood. On the one hand, it uses the drinking water from the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada directly; on the other hand, it generates energy from hydropower on the way and in the aqueduct , which is also available to Los Angeles. The Department of Water and Power took the position that their permits for water use were incontestable and initially did not respond to generous offers from California politicians to extract water from other areas or to use potential savings. When the trials showed that the diversion permits could be successfully challenged and public opinion strongly advocated the protection of the mono area, the position of the department slowly changed. From the late 1980s and increasingly in the first few years after 1990, the city council was involved in projects that expanded sewage treatment plants throughout Southern California. Clarified water could thus be used for purposes that previously required drinking water, which was then free for higher-value uses. More effective irrigation methods in agriculture saved considerable amounts of water that could be made available to the settlement areas. Through water conservation campaigns aimed at protecting natural areas such as Mono Lake and Santa Monica Bay , the water consumption of households in Los Angeles was permanently reduced by over 15% over the same period.

The water drainage did not only affect Mono Lake. Owens Lake , which is fed by the Owens River and about 190 km south of Mono Lake , in which a similar ecosystem previously existed, dried up completely. Mono Lake escaped the fate of Owens Lake after a 1983 lawsuit by the Mono Lake Committee and affiliated organizations in the Supreme Court of California found that the Water Management Authority had failed to give due consideration to public concerns when considering drainage. A lower court then determined a provisional minimum level of 1944 m above sea level and restricted the discharge until this was reached. In 1984 the United States Congress commissioned a study to examine Mono Lake and the basin for the effects of various water levels. In 1987 , a working group set up by the National Research Council presented a comprehensive study on the ecology of the area and the consequences of the lowering of the water level. Additional studies were commissioned by the State of California and the Department of Water Use.

Lee Vining Creek 2009, again with near-natural water volume

Arrangement of protective measures

Based on the 1987 study, other studies and an environmental impact assessment, and after a series of lengthy trials, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued a decision in September 1994 to protect Mono Lake and its tributaries, which limited water drainage. The authority stipulated residual water quantities for Rush Creek and Lee Vining Creek, the tributaries of the lake, which enable an ecosystem with stable fish stocks below the weirs for water drainage. In the long term, parts of the freshwater swamp areas that are important for duck birds are to be created again. For Mono Lake itself, she specified a water level of 1948 meters as the target. The value was determined by weighing the influences of different water levels on the individual eco-factors and the species that are particularly dependent on the lake.

Since then the level has risen slowly; Negit Island is safe from land predators again. From the level of 1948 meters defined as the target in 1994, the water level at the end of 2017 was still around three meters above sea level. Originally it was planned that after 20 years, i.e. in September 2014, the authority for water resources would check whether the target had been achieved and, if necessary, order further restrictions on water drainage. This did not happen because an agreement was reached in August 2013 between the original plaintiffs, the city of Los Angeles and the California conservation authorities. It stipulates that the city administration must rebuild the Grant Lake reservoir in the Mono Lake catchment area at its own expense so that it can simulate a natural runoff into Rush Creek . As a result, the ecosystems of the stream and the confluence with Mono Lake are being renatured. In return, the City of Los Angeles receives the right to drain off additional amounts of water once. Data collection on the lake and in its catchment area continues, the California water authority will review compliance by 2020 and, if necessary, order further measures.

Total ammonium distribution in micromoles according to water depth during the meromictic phase from 1982 to 1988

Continue

When large amounts of fresh water flowed into the lake, in which there was a high salt concentration, for the first time at the end of 1994 due to the restriction of water drainage, the light fresh water laid over the heavy salt water. For this reason, the complete water circulation in the lake, otherwise triggered by seasonal temperature fluctuations in spring and autumn, did not take place in 1995 . This condition is called meromictic and has consequences for the distribution of oxygen and nutrients, especially nitrogen in the lake. Without mixing surface and deep water, no oxygen can get into the depths; on the other hand, nutrients that sink in the form of metabolic products or dead organisms are no longer transported into the more biologically active layers near the surface.

A meromictic period had already occurred during the diversion between 1982/83 and the end of 1988 due to particularly high precipitation; for the years 1938 and 1969, due to the known high precipitation, it is suspected that a meromictic phase was present, but only because of the lower salinity at the time could last a year. The beginning of the meromictic phase in 1995 as a result of the renaturation triggered scientific investigations. Based on the models at the time , it was assumed that this phase would last 44 to 63 years and would have a significant negative impact on the lake's ecosystem. So a working group funded by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power suggested resuming full drainage to break up the stratification in this way.

In fact, the longest known meromictic period of Mono Lake followed, but the duration was considerably shorter than predicted. At the end of 2003 there was complete mixing and the resumption of nutrient transport between the water layers. Another, short phase lasted from 2005/2006 to 2007. In all cases there were no lasting effects. The salt crab population declined during the meromictic conditions, which also affected the breeding success of the California gull, but not to a serious extent.

In addition to restricting water drainage, the stream beds of the tributaries are also directly renatured. At Mill Creek , the watercourse below the power station was converted in 2012 and 2013 so that the legally guaranteed amount of water can actually flow into the stream.

The US Forest Service Visitor Center at Lee Vining

Protected areas by the lake

Since 1982, the part of the former lake bed that has fallen dry since the beginning of the diversion in 1941 has been designated as a protected area of ​​the State of California under the name Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve . Due to the budgetary emergency of the state of California, the closure of the state reserve was planned in 2012. Only because the Bodie Foundation, a non-profit organization, took over some administrative functions does the reserve remain accessible. The area around the lake, with the exception of the settlement area of ​​Lee Vining, is almost entirely owned by the federal government and is largely subject to the Inyo National Forest within the United States Forest Service . Since 1984 the valley floor, the lower slopes and large parts of the mono crater field have been designated as the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area . This form of a protected area under the administration of the Forest Service is unique. At Lee Vining, a small visitor center provides information about the problem of water drainage and the ecological importance of the lake during the summer months.

In the high elevations of the Sierra Nevada, on the eastern flank and thus at least partially within the Mono Lake Basin, there are two wilderness areas , the strictest class of nature reserves in the USA. The Ansel Adams Wilderness and the Hoover Wilderness were established in 1964, have a total of 1,440 km² and are under the administration of the US Forest Service. To the east of the lake, another wilderness area was established in 2009 in the hill country, the Granite Mountain Wilderness . It has 139 km² and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management .

Bodie State Historic Park is 20 kilometers north of Mono Lake and is accessible via a gravel road. The state park serves to preserve the old gold mining town of Bodie, one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the United States.

Mono Lake in the media

Clint Eastwood had a village built on the southern lakeshore for the film A Stranger Without a Name (1973). The bizarre landscape of the lake became internationally known from 1975, when a photo of Storm Thorgerson adorned the inside cover and an enclosed postcard of the Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here . It shows Mono Lake with tuff towers and a swimmer who seems to plunge into the water without a splash. It was created in shallow water, the swimmer was practiced in yoga and was able to hold a handstand underwater until the waves ran out. In 1979 conservationists put together an exhibition of photos of the lake and realized that by 1868 almost all of America's prominent landscape photographers had photographed the lake and its tuff structures. The exhibition featured works by Ansel Adams , Timothy H. O'Sullivan , Philip Hyde and Brett Weston , among others , and traveled across the western United States. It can be seen today at Lee Vining's Visitor Center. Since then, a large number of illustrated books and photo calendars have been published depicting the lake and its unusual landscapes.

and display information about the image
Range of hills with the tree-lined lower reaches of Lee Vining Creek, in the background the lake with the two largest islands

literature

  • Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee: The Mono Basin ecosystem - effects of changing lake level . National Academy Press, 1987, ISBN 0-309-03777-8 .
  • John Hart: Storm over Mono: The Mono Lake Battle and the California Water Future . University of California Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 0-520-20121-3 (also online in the University of California Press E-Books Collection).
  • Don Banta, David Carle: Mono Lake Basin . Arcadia Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7385-5909-4 (historical photos of the lake and its surroundings).
  • Scott Stine: Late Holocene fluctuations of Mono Lake, eastern California . In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Volume 78 (1990), pp. 333-381.
  • Robert Jellison, Jose Romero, John M. Melack: The Onset of Meromixis During Restoration of Mono Lake, California: Unintended Consequences of Reducing Water Diversions . In: Limnology and Oceanography, Volume 43, No. 4 (June 1998), pp. 706-711.

Web links

Commons : Mono Lake  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, this chapter is based on: Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, Chapter Introduction. Pages 8-22.
  2. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, p. 122.
  3. ↑ Hart 1996, page 9 f.
  4. ↑ a b Hart 1996, page 14.
  5. ↑ a b Stine 1990, page 334.
  6. ↑ Stine 1990, page 265 and the following detailed representations.
  7. ↑ Stine 1990, p. 335.
  8. ↑ Stine 1990, pages 379 f.
  9. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 14.
  10. ↑ a b Mono Lake Committee: FAQ.
  11. ^ Mono Lake Committee: Chemistry.
  12. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 91.
  13. ↑ Jodi Switzer Blum, Allana Burns Bindi, et al .: Bacillus arsenicoselenatis, sp. nov., and Bacillus selenitireducens, sp. nov .: two haloalkaliphiles from Mono Lake, California that respire oxyanions of selenium and arsenic. In: Archive of Microbiology, Volume 171 (1998), pages 19-30.
  14. ↑ California State Parks: Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve
  15. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 50.
  16. ↑ Webmineral.com: Hazenite - Factsheet.
  17. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, this chapter is based on: Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, chapter Biological System of Mono Lake. Pages 69-120.
  18. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 69 f.
  19. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, p. 92.
  20. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 75.
  21. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 77 f.
  22. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 95.
  23. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 101 f.
  24. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 10 ff.
  25. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 20.
  26. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, pp. 164 f., 198.
  27. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, Chapter: Shoreline and Upland Systems - Wildlife . Pages 161-166.
  28. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 143.
  29. ↑ Mono Lake Committee: Bird List (only regularly observed species).
  30. ↑ nasa.gov: NASA Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical, December 2 of 2010.
  31. ↑ Felisa Wolfe-Simon, Jodi Switzer Blum, et al .: A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. In: Science 332, 1163 (2011); online pre-publication on December 2, 2010 doi : 10.1126 / science.1197258 .
  32. ↑ ML Reaves, S. Sinha, JD Rabinowitz, L. Kruglyak, RJ Redfield: Absence of detectable arsenate in DNA from arsenate-grown GFAJ-1 cells. In: Science . Volume 337, Number 6093, July 2012, pp. 470-473. doi : 10.1126 / science.1219861 . PMID 22773140 . Free preprint online (PDF; 3.3 MB).
  33. ↑ Pei-Yin Shih, James Siho Lee, Ryoji Shinya, Natsumi Kanzaki, Andre Pires-daSilva: Newly Identified Nematodes from Mono Lake Exhibit Extreme Arsenic Resistance . In: Current Biology . tape 0 , no. 0 , September 26, 2019, ISSN  0960-9822 , doi : 10.1016 / j.cub.2019.08.024 ( cell.com [accessed September 29, 2019]).
  34. ↑ Evolution: Extreme worm with three sexes discovered. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 22 f.
  36. ^ Francis Farquhar: Place Names of the High-Sierra, San Francisco, Sierra Club , 1926.
  37. ↑ Mono Lake Committee: Kutzadika'a People.
  38. ^ Mono Lake Committee: Prospectors & Pioneers.
  39. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, this section is based on: Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, Chapter Shoreline and Upland Systems - Historic Land Use, pp. 134-139.
  40. ↑ a b c d e Hart 1996, pages 26-29.
  41. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 50.
  42. ↑ June Mountain: Trails and Stats.
  43. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 42.
  44. ↑ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee 1987, page 135.
  45. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 57.
  46. ↑ Hart 1996, pp. 52-54, 154-156.
  47. ↑ David Winkler et al .: Ecological Study of Mono Lake, revised version 1977 of the work from 1976, with an updated appendix from 1980 (PDF; 4.5 MB).
  48. ^ Mono Lake Committee: History.
  49. ↑ Hart 1996, page 72 f.
  50. ↑ Hart 1996, pages 131-133.
  51. ↑ Hart 1996, pages 147 ff.
  52. ↑ Supreme Court of California: 33 Cal. 3d 419 - SF No. 24368, February 17, 1983.
  53. ↑ California Wilderness Act - Public Law 98-425 (PDF; 218 kB), September 28, 1984.
  54. ^ Mono Basin Ecosystem Study Committee: The Mono Basin Ecosystem - Effects of Changing Lake Level . National Academy Press, 1987, ISBN 0-309-03777-8 .
  55. ↑ Hart 1996, page 157 f.
  56. ↑ Mono Basin Committee: Background to Decision 1631 with a link to the full text of the decision.
  57. ^ California State Water Resources Control Board: Decision and Order Amending Water Right Licenses to Establish Fishery Protection Flows in Streams Tributary to Mono Lake and to Protect Public Trust Resources at Mono Lake and in the Mono Lake Basin, Decision 1631 of September 28, 1994.
  58. ↑ See Mono Lake Level (data updated daily with specifications and target dates).
  59. ^ Mono Lake Committee: Groundbreaking agreement gives Los Angeles Aqueduct new purpose: Healing streams , August 24, 2013
  60. ^ Robert Jellison, John M. Melack: Meromixis in Hypersaline Mono Lake, California. 1. Stratification and Vertical Mixing During the Onset, Persistence, and Breakdown of Meromixis. In: Limnology and Oceanography, Volume 38, No. 5 (July 1993), pp. 1008-1019.
  61. ^ Robert Jellison, Laurence G. Miller, et al .: Meromixis in Hypersaline Mono Lake, California. 2. Nitrogen fluxes. In: Limnology and Oceanography, Volume 38, No. 5 (July 1993), pp. 1020-1039.
  62. ↑ a b Jellison, Romero, Melack 1998, page 708.
  63. ↑ Jellison, Romero, Melack 1998, p. 709.
  64. ↑ Jellison, Romero, Melack 1998, p. 710.
  65. ↑ Charles R. Budinoff, James T. Hollibaugh: Ecophysiology of a Mono Lake Picocyanobacterium. In: Limnology and Oceanography, Volume 52, No. 6 (November 2007), pages 2484-2495, page 2491.
  66. ^ A b Greg Reis: Lakewatch . In: Mono Lake Committee: Mono Lake Newsletter, Volume 2011, Issue 2 (Summer 2011), Page 12.
  67. ↑ Morgan Lindsay:FERC approves Mill Creek return pipeline(PDF; 265 kB) . In: Mono Lake Committee: Mono Lake Newsletter, Volume 2011, Issue 2 (Summer 2011), Pages 6, 7, 9.
  68. ↑ California State Parks: Bodie Foundation to Keep Mono Lake Open (PDF; 170 kB), December 1, 2011.
  69. ^ Inyo National Forest: Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area.
  70. ↑ Wilderness.net: Hoover Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness.
  71. ↑ Wilderness.net: Granite Mountain Wilderness.
  72. ↑ Flickr: Scan of the postcard.
  73. ↑ MOJO magazine: Floyd Extra! How Wish You Were Here Went Up in Flames ( October 13, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ) - Interview with Storm Thorgerson. September 2011
  74. ↑ Hart 1996, p. 80.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on February 3, 2013 in this version .