DOCSLIB.ORG

Late Quaternary MIS 6–8 Shoreline Features of Pluvial Owens Lake, Owens Valley, Eastern California

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Late Quaternary MIS 6–8 Shoreline Features of Pluvial Owens Lake, Owens Valley, Eastern California Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on July 1, 2015 The Geological Society of America Special Paper 439 2008 Late Quaternary MIS 6–8 shoreline features of pluvial Owens Lake, Owens Valley, eastern California A.S. Jayko* U.S. Geological Survey, U.C. White Mountain Research Station, Bishop, California 93514, USA S.N. Bacon* Desert Research Institute, Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Reno, Nevada 89521, USA ABSTRACT The chronologic history of pluvial Owens Lake along the eastern Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley, California, has previously been reported for the interval of time from ca. 25 calibrated ka to the present. However, the age, distribution, and paleoclimatic context of higher-elevation shoreline features have not been formally documented. We describe the location and characteristics of wave-formed erosional and depositional features, as well as fluvial strath terraces that grade into an older shoreline of pluvial Owens Lake. These pluvial-lacustrine features are described between the Olancha area to the south and Poverty Hills area to the north, and they appear to be vertically deformed ϳ20 Ϯ 4 m across the active oblique-dextral Owens Valley fault zone. They occur at elevations from 1176 to 1182 m along the lower flanks of the Inyo Mountains and Coso Range east of the fault zone to as high as ϳ1204 m west of the fault zone. This relict shoreline, referred to as the 1180 m shoreline, lies ϳ20–40 m higher than the previously documented Last Glacial Maximum shoreline at ϳ1160 m, which occu- pied the valley during marine isotope stage 2 (MIS 2). Crosscutting relations of wave-formed platforms, notches, and sandy beach de- posits, as well as strath terraces on lava flows of the Big Pine volcanic field, bracket the age of the 1180 m shoreline to the time interval between ca. 340 Ϯ 60 ka and ca. 130 Ϯ 50 ka. This interval includes marine oxygen isotope stages 8–6 (MIS 8–6), corresponding to 260–240 ka and 185–130 ka, respectively. An additional age esti- mate for this shoreline is provided by a cosmogenic 36Cl model age of ca. 160 Ϯ 32 ka on reefal tufa at ϳ1170 m elevation from the southeastern margin of the valley. This 36Cl model age corroborates the constraining ages based on dated lava flows and re- fines the lake age to the MIS 6 interval. Documentation of this larger pluvial Owens Lake offers insight to the hydrologic balance along the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada and will assist with future regional paleoclimatic models within the western Basin and Range. Keywords: pluvial Owens Lake, Owens River system, deformed shorelines, marine isotope stage 6, MIS 6, Pleistocene lake, Great Basin, Owens Valley. *E-mail: Jayko: [email protected]; Bacon: [email protected]. Jayko, A.S., and Bacon, S.N., 2008, Late Quaternary MIS 6–8 shoreline features of pluvial Owens Lake, Owens Valley, eastern California, in Reheis, M.C., Hershler, R., and Miller, D.M., eds., Late Cenozoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic Perspectives: Geological Society of America Special Paper 439, p. 185–206, doi: 10.1130/2008.2439(08). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. ©2008 The Geo- logical Society of America. All rights reserved. 185 Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on July 1, 2015 186 Jayko and Bacon INTRODUCTION The graben floor is underlain by at least four fault-bound struc- tural blocks with late Quaternary and/or Holocene displacement. Owens Valley is part of the Owens River system, which, dur- The valley is asymmetric from west to east due in part to rela- ing wet periods of the Pleistocene, extended from Mono Basin in tive uplift of a horst block that lies west of the Owens Valley fault the north to Death Valley in the southeast (Gale, 1914; Black- zone and east of the Sierra Nevada frontal faults, and in part to the welder, 1933; Smith et al., 1983; Jannik et al., 1991). Throughout deposition of large, late Quaternary alluvial fans along the west- Holocene time, the watershed has been hydrologically connected ern margin of the valley. The location of the Owens River mean- along only a third of its length—from Long Valley to Owens Lake der belt reflects the position of the distal margins of these fans, (Fig. 1). The lower-elevation basins, including Indian Wells, Sear- which have deflected the river eastward toward the base of the les, Panamint, and Death Valleys, have unique lacustrine histories Inyo Mountains (Fig. 1). that are a consequence of the magnitude of glacial-pluvial events, During much of the middle and late Quaternary, a freshwater which in part control the available water in the Owens River sur- lake occupied Owens Valley (Gale, 1914; Smith and Bischoff, face and groundwater systems. So, from an evolutionary perspec- 1997). The current spillway or sill in Owens Valley at ϳ1145 m tive, the duration and times of climate-controlled hydrologic north of Haiwee Reservoir (Gale, 1914) likely last overflowed ca. connectivity of the basins and their respective geochemistries 15.5 cal ka (Bacon et al., 2006) (Fig. 1). However, the sill dropped have affected the distribution of various aquatic species (Hubbs to that elevation during the late LGM following an event that and Miller, 1948; Miller, 1948; Firby et al., 1997; Reheis, 1999; eroded the berm, which confined the early LGM highstand at Reheis et al., 2002a, 2002b). ϳ1160 m.The location of the former 1180 m spillway is unknown. In this study, we report the first age constraints and basin- It may be eroded from the Haiwee area at the southernmost part of wide documentation of shoreline features and fluvial strath ter- Owens Valley, or it may lie further to the south at the southern end races of a pluvial Owens Lake at elevations between ϳ1180 and of Rose Valley, where erosional fluvial terraces formed in late 1200 m, collectively referred to as the 1180 m shoreline. The Quaternary (ca. 440–130 ka) basalt flows were noted by Duffield 1180 m shoreline is distinct from, and considerably older than, and Smith (1978a, 1978b). Although an effort was made to estab- the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ca. 25 calibrated (cal) 14Cka lish the location of this feature, it remains problematic. highstand at ϳ1160 m elevation, and it is also separate from the younger, lower-elevation shorelines (Carver, 1970; Beanland Methods and Clark, 1994; Bacon et al., 2006; Orme and Orme, this vol- ume). Beanland and Clark’s (1994) paleoseismic study of the Documentation of the 1180 m shoreline is based primarily on OwensValleyfault zone noted the presence of an ϳ1183 m strand- field observations, crosscutting relations with dated volcanic line along the northwest flank of the Coso Range. Other benches rocks, and a cosmogenic 36Cl erosion age on tufa provided by and notches southeast of Olancha at approximately the same Fred Phillips (New Mexico Tech, 2007, personal commun.). The elevation were also considered to be possible wave-formed plat- spatial distribution of constructional and erosional lacustrine land- forms or river terraces (Beanland and Clark, 1994, their strand- forms and erosional fluvial features associated with the 1180 m line A; sites 1–3 herein; Fig. 1). However, they were uncertain shoreline are described here. A description of each location is whether these sites represented offset from the ϳ1160 m LGM included in Table 1. Elevations estimated by global positioning strandline or if they were older, and so they reported them as system (GPS) were cross-checked with 1:24,000 topographic “Ͼ25 ka (?)” (Beanland and Clark, 1994, p. 6). quadrangle maps and 30 m digital elevation models (DEMs). A tufa sample was analyzed for 36Cl by standard procedures Tectonic Setting (Zreda, 1994), employing addition of a 35Cl spike and dissolu- tion of the carbonate sample in only nitric acid (F.M. Phillips, Owens Valley lies adjacent to the southern part of the Sierra 2007, personal commun.). Field and analytical results are given Nevada in eastern California (Fig. 1), and it is a 15–40-km-wide, in Table 2. The sample age was calculated using the spreadsheet 200-km-long complex graben shaped by active transtensional program CHLOE (Phillips and Plummer, 1996) using the 36Cl tectonism (e.g., Beanland and Clark, 1994; Savage and Lisowski, production parameters of Phillips et al. (2001) and the elevation- 1995; Reheis and Dixon, 1996). The structural setting is impor- latitude scaling of Lal (1991). No correction for secular variation tant because of the high potential for deformation of shorelines of Earth’s magnetic field was applied. The production parameteri- and spillway elevations by active tectonic processes. The valley zation of Phillips et al. (1990) was largely calibrated using samples is bounded by the Sierra Nevada frontal faults on the west and the from the same region, as well as using the same elevation-latitude White and Inyo Mountains fault zones on the east (e.g., Pakiser scaling; thus, the age calculation should be relatively robust. The et al., 1964; Bryant, 1984; Bacon et al., 2005; Slemmons et al., age was calculated assuming that the dissolved material was only 2008). The valley floor is split longitudinally by the active, oblique- CaCO3 (i.e., 56 wt% CaO and 44 wt% CO2), given that dissolu- dextral Owens Valley fault zone, which last ruptured along an tion was only in nitric acid, and thus 36Cl should not have been ϳ120 km segment with a M 7.5–7.7 earthquake in A.D. 1872 liberated from phases other than carbonate minerals (Phillips, (e.g., Beanland and Clark, 1994; Slemmons et al., 2008) (Fig.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chapter 8 Manzanar
    CHAPTER 8 MANZANAR Introduction The Manzanar Relocation Center, initially referred to as the “Owens Valley Reception Center”, was located at about 36oo44' N latitude and 118 09'W longitude, and at about 3,900 feet elevation in east-central California’s Inyo County (Figure 8.1). Independence lay about six miles north and Lone Pine approximately ten miles south along U.S. highway 395. Los Angeles is about 225 miles to the south and Las Vegas approximately 230 miles to the southeast. The relocation center was named after Manzanar, a turn-of-the-century fruit town at the site that disappeared after the City of Los Angeles purchased its land and water. The Los Angeles Aqueduct lies about a mile to the east. The Works Progress Administration (1939, p. 517-518), on the eve of World War II, described this area as: This section of US 395 penetrates a land of contrasts–cool crests and burning lowlands, fertile agricultural regions and untamed deserts. It is a land where Indians made a last stand against the invading white man, where bandits sought refuge from early vigilante retribution; a land of fortunes–past and present–in gold, silver, tungsten, marble, soda, and borax; and a land esteemed by sportsmen because of scores of lakes and streams abounding with trout and forests alive with game. The highway follows the irregular base of the towering Sierra Nevada, past the highest peak in any of the States–Mount Whitney–at the western approach to Death Valley, the Nation’s lowest, and hottest, area. The following pages address: 1) the physical and human setting in which Manzanar was located; 2) why east central California was selected for a relocation center; 3) the structural layout of Manzanar; 4) the origins of Manzanar’s evacuees; 5) how Manzanar’s evacuees interacted with the physical and human environments of east central California; 6) relocation patterns of Manzanar’s evacuees; 7) the fate of Manzanar after closing; and 8) the impact of Manzanar on east central California some 60 years after closing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Abandonment of the Cerro Gordo Silver Mining Claim 1869-1879: Abstracted to the Exchange of Energies Marley Mclaughlin Chapman University
    Voces Novae Volume 6 Article 4 2018 The Abandonment of the Cerro Gordo Silver Mining Claim 1869-1879: Abstracted to the Exchange of Energies Marley McLaughlin Chapman University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/vocesnovae Recommended Citation McLaughlin, Marley (2018) "The Abandonment of the Cerro Gordo Silver Mining Claim 1869-1879: Abstracted to the Exchange of Energies," Voces Novae: Vol. 6 , Article 4. Available at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/vocesnovae/vol6/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Voces Novae by an authorized editor of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. McLaughlin: The Abandonment of the Cerro Gordo Silver Mining Claim 1869-1879: The Abandonment of Cerro Gordo Voces Novae: Chapman University Historical Review, Vol 6, No 1 (2014) HOME ABOUT USER HOME SEARCH CURRENT ARCHIVES PHI ALPHA THETA Home > Vol 6, No 1 (2014) The Abandonment of the Cerro Gordo Silver Mining Claim 1869--1879: Abstracted to the Exchange of Energies Marley McLaughlin The mountain air of November echoed the screeching of brake pads from one lone stagecoach as it bumped down the Inyo mountain range's Yellow Grade Road in 1879. The 8,000--foot descent down the wagon road sent that last sound careening from the mine of Cerro Gordo as if the land was celebrating its own emptiness. After the fall of the mine's heyday years, all but the physical body of the town proved evanescent. Pioneers loaded the last wagon with only a couple bars of lead and one 420--pound ingot of pure silver despite the town's promise of wealth.[1]The metals, brick, and wood left scattered in the town were more enduring than men.
    [Show full text]
  • Lower Owens River Draft Recreation Use Plan
    LOWER OWENS RIVER RECREATION USE PLAN JANUARY 2012 DRAFT MIG, Inc. 815 SW 2ND AVE. SUITE 200 PORTLAND, OR 97204 503.297.1005 www.migcom.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary..............................................................................i I. Introduction ................................................................................1 II. Existing Conditions ....................................................................6 III. Recreation Preferences and Goals ...........................................11 IV. Recreation Use Plan Alternatives.............................................20 V. Next Steps.................................................................................37 Appendix A: Potential Impacts for Further Study ......................... A-1 Appendix B: Community Involvement Findings ............................ B-1 LOWER OWENS RIVER RECREATION USE PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary..............................................................................i I. Introduction ................................................................................1 II. Existing Conditions ....................................................................6 III. Recreation Preferences and Goals ...........................................11 IV. Recreation Use Plan Alternatives.............................................20 V. Next Steps.................................................................................37 Appendix A: Potential Impacts for Further Study ......................... A-1 Appendix
    [Show full text]
  • Owens Lake Land Art Keeler, CA
    Owens Lake Land Art Keeler, CA Owens Dry Lake is located in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Range in Inyo County, California. Unlike most dry lakes in North America’s Basin and Range Province which have been dry for thousands of years, Owens held significant water until 1913. To supply Southern California’s rapid population growth, the Owens River was diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, causing Owens Lake to desiccate by 1926. The lake became the largest single source of dust pollution in the United States. Legislation passed in 1983 initiated the dust mitigation effort. Since then, significant reductions in dust production have been realized through the implementation of mitigation measures (shallow flood, gravel cover, and managed vegetation) over engineered parcels on the dry lake playa. Purpose of Project and Role of Landscape Architect Owens Lake Land Art project (located on a 700 acre parcel named T30) began with a mandate from California State Lands to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to meet the following goals: provide public access and hiking trails, create bird and mammal habitat, and preserve cultural resources while still meeting the dust emission controls. The landscape architect, adhering to the approved yet limited dust mitigation palette (shallow flood, gravel cover, and managed vegetation where soil conditions allow), designed a solution which evolved into a land art project named the ‘Whitecaps’. The project did not start out as an art commission yet the design developed into a spiritual composition of simple materials and forms inspired by the Owens Valley.
    [Show full text]
  • Floods, Droughts, and Lawsuits: a Brief History of California Water Policy
    1Floods, Droughts, and Lawsuits: A Brief History of California Water Policy MPI/GETTY IMAGES The history of California in the twentieth century is the story of a state inventing itself with water. William L. Kahrl, Water and Power, 1982 California’s water system might have been invented by a Soviet bureaucrat on an LSD trip. Peter Passell, “Economic Scene: Greening California,” New York Times, 1991 California has always faced water management challenges and always will. The state’s arid and semiarid climate, its ambitious and evolving economy, and its continually growing population have combined to make shortages and conflicting demands the norm. Over the past two centuries, California has tried to adapt to these challenges through major changes in water manage- ment. Institutions, laws, and technologies are now radically different from those brought by early settlers coming to California from more humid parts of the United States. These adaptations, and the political, economic, technologic, and social changes that spurred them on, have both alleviated and exacerbated the current conflicts in water management. This chapter summarizes the forces and events that shaped water man- agement in California, leading to today’s complex array of policies, laws, and infrastructure. These legacies form the foundation of California’s contemporary water system and will both guide and constrain the state’s future water choices.1 1. Much of the description in this chapter is derived from Norris Hundley Jr.’s outstanding book, The Great Thirst: Californians and Water: A History (Hundley 2001), Robert Kelley’s seminal history of floods in the Central Valley, Battling the Inland Sea (Kelley 1989), and Donald Pisani’s influential study of the rise of irrigated agriculture in California, From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California (Pisani 1984).
    [Show full text]
  • Owens Lake Screening Level Ecological Risk Assessment
    O WENS L AKE V ALLEY PM10 P LANNING A REA S CREENING E COLOGICAL R ISK A SSESSMENT OF P ROPOSED D UST C ONTROL M EASURES July 2007 Owens Lake SLERA Report Cover Photo: From GBUAPCD SCREENING LEVEL ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT OF SELECT DUST CONTROL MEASURES BEING APPLIED AT OWENS LAKE KEELER, INYO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA JULY 2007 Prepared by: Prepared for: Kleinfelder East, Inc. Sapphos Environmental, Inc. 99 Lamberton Road, Suite 201 133 Martin Alley Windsor, CT 06095 Pasadena CA 91115 (860) 683-4200 (626) 683-3547 99 Lamberton Road, Suite 201, Windsor, CT 06095 (800) 929-4472 toll free (860) 683-4200 office (860) 683-4206 fax Owens Lake DCM SLERA Report Kleinfelder East, Inc. July 30, 2007 SCREENING LEVEL RISK ASSESSMENT OF SELECT DUST CONTROL MEASURES BEING APPLIED AT OWENS LAKE KEELER, INYO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Quality Assurance/Quality Control The undersigned Kleinfelder personnel certify that this report is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge. Kurt A. Frantzen, PhD, CHMM July 30, 2007 Project Manager The following personnel have reviewed this report for accuracy, content and quality of presentation: Scott Dwyer, PhD, DABT July 30, 2007 Report Reviewer Proj #82820 Owens Lake SLERA kaf-final Page i Owens Lake DCM SLERA Report Kleinfelder East, Inc. July 30, 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................1 1.1 BACKGROUND...............................................................................................................................................1
    [Show full text]
  • City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
    Meeting Date: 08/20/20 Application Number: A2600 Staff: R. B. Greenwood Staff Report 52 Non-Exclusive Geological Survey Permit APPLICANT: City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power PROPOSED ACTION: TERM: 1 year and 1 month, beginning August 20, 2020, through September 20, 2021 BACKGROUND: The City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has applied for a 1- year Geological Survey Permit to collect geological and geotechnical information by hollow stem auger drilling on up to 49 shallow borings (less than 15 feet deep) on State sovereign land (Exhibits A and A1). The proposed geotechnical investigation is being conducted to support the condition assessment, risk analysis, and infrastructure investment strategies for portions of the Owens Lake Dust Mitigation facilities. The data collected under this permit will be used to evaluate and provide recommendations for the Los Angeles Department of Power’s long-term investment strategies that are necessary to improve the resiliency of existing dust mitigation infrastructure on Owens Lake. The proposed sampling locations were selected in consideration of data gaps in existing soil mapping and past geotechnical boring locations, and location of existing infrastructure. Sampling locations may need to be adjusted in the field to avoid potential environmental impacts, to avoid existing buried utilities, and based upon site access conditions. Locations could be shifted up to 500 feet from the proposed sites. Access to sampling locations for equipment and staff conducting the investigations will be from the existing roads and berms constructed within the dust control project; equipment will only traverse off these existing berms and roads once it reaches the proposed sampling location and must reach the exact drilling coordinates.
    [Show full text]
  • Nomination of Owens Lake to the National Register of Historic Places
    Phillip L. Kiddoo Air Pollution Control Officer GREAT BASIN UNIFIED AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT 157 Short Street, Bishop, California 93514-3537 Tel: 760-872-8211 www.gbuapcd.org Information and Frequently Asked Questions Nomination of Owens Lake to the National Register of Historic Places 1. What is the purpose of the nomination? Owens Lake is a source of dust that must be controlled by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The construction, operation, and maintenance of dust control measures may impact cultural resources. The nomination will assist agencies in meeting state and federal requirements for considering the effects of projects to cultural resources and provide a useful framework for future planning, project implementation, and long-term stewardship while recognizing the lake’s importance to indigenous culture. 2. Who is leading the nomination? The nomination of Owens Lake, known as Patsiata in the Paiute and Shoshone languages, is being led by the Patsiata Tribal Oversight Committee, composed of the Tribal Historic Preservation Officers of five local Tribes with close ties to the lake: the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of Owens Valley, the Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians, and the Bishop Paiute Tribe. The nomination is being sponsored by the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (District) with support from California State Lands Commission (CSLC), the primary landowner. 3. Where is the boundary? The proposed boundary is shown on the attached map. The boundary covers 186 square miles including the current Owens Lake and surrounding historic shorelines associated with indigenous use.
    [Show full text]
  • To Download the 2018 Inyo County
    VISITOR’S GUIDE TO IINNYYOOCCOOUUNNTTYY 11 TH EDITION www.TheOtherSideOfCalifornia.com Table of Contents Chamber of Commerce of Inyo County Birds Come Back to Owens Lake Page 4 Bishop Chamber of Commerce & Borax Wagons Find A New Home Page 6 Visitor Center 690 N. Main St. Bishop, CA 93514 Enchanting Fall Colors Page 8 760-873-8405 1-888-395-3952 760-873-6999 Enjoy Bishop’s Big Backyard Page 10 [email protected] www.bishopvisitor.com Appealing Adventures in Lone Pine Page 11 Death Valley Chamber of Commerce 118 Highway 127 Everyone Loves A Parade Page 12 P.O. Box 157 Shoshone, CA 92384 760-852-4524 Historic Independence Page 14 760-852-4144 www.deathvalleychamber.org Direct Results Media, Inc. Direct ResultsLone Media, Pine Inc. Big Pine: An Adventure Hub Page 15 Chamber of Commerce 124 Main St BusinessPO B oCardsx 749 Inyo County Fun Facts Page 16 Lone Pine, CA 93545 Rodney Preul Ph: 760-876-4444 Fx: 760-876-9205 Sales Associate Owens River Links LA And Inyo Page 17 [email protected] https://w3.5x2ww.lonepinechamber.org Inyo Attractions At A Glance Page 19 6000 Bel Aire Way Cell: 760-382-1640 Bakersfield, CA 93301 [email protected] The 2018 Inyo County Visitor Guide is produced by the Lone Pine Chamber of Government Agencies: Commerce and the County of Inyo. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contents do not necessarily reflect the views 760-872-4881 of the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce or the County of Inyo. (Except for our view that Inyo County is a spectacular place to visit.
    [Show full text]
  • Owens Lake – from Dustbowl to Mosaic of Salt Water Habitats
    Terminal Lakes Owens Lake – From Dustbowl to Mosaic of Salt Water Habitats David B. Herbst and Michael Prather t’s hard to call this a lake. The body of 100 years ago, in 1913, and captured in a basin of about 4,000 feet above water that once covered this basin from all streams flowing east from the Sierra sea-level, its shores are bounded on Ishore to shore is gone, having dwindled as far north as Bishop. It also cut off 62 the west side by the majestic Sierra to a hypersaline pool in the area where miles of the Owens River channel above Nevada, rising abruptly to towering it was once deepest after the city of Los Owens Lake. Over the next decade or peaks of 14,000 to 15,000 feet; and Angeles famously diverted the Owens so Owens Lake dried down to a chain on the east side by the precipitous River to support booming growth some of small wetlands and mudflats along its Inyo range, with the famous mines 100 years ago. Along with the brine pool shoreline. In 1969, a second aqueduct of Cerro Gordo and an altitude of though, there is now a mosaic of about 40 was completed and began pumping 10,000 feet. Standing on the summit square miles of ponded waters of varied groundwater as well as diverting streams. of this range, the panorama spread extent, scattered across much of the Massive pumping began in 1970 causing out in all directions is one of the ancient lakebed, maintained not by natural the extinction of the largest natural grandest, most overwhelming views to inflow but by a system of irrigation pipes springs in the Owens Valley as well as the behold, although there is no verdure and sprinklers.
    [Show full text]
  • MINEEAL EESOUKCES of the INYO and WHITE MOUNTAINS, CALIFOENIA. the First Chain of Mountains East of the Southern Part of The
    MINEEAL EESOUKCES OF THE INYO AND WHITE MOUNTAINS, CALIFOENIA. By ADOLPH KNOPF. INTRODUCTION. The first chain of mountains east of the southern part of the Sierra Nevada is known as the White Mountain Eange; the southern por­ tion of it is termed the Inyo Mountains and the northern portion the White Mountains. Since 1860 mining has been in progress in this region, but the period from 1869 to 1877 comprises the years of greatest activity, for it was then that the mines of Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains, were yielding the great output of base bullion that made this locality the only notable producer of silver- lead ore in the State of California. Gold ores have also been im­ portant, and recently zinc carbonate ore has been developed on a com­ mercial scale. The previous knowledge of the geology and ore deposits of the range has been brought together by Spurr from various scattered sources of information,1 and W. T. Lee, on the basis of his own work, has briefly described the geology of Owens Valley and the origin of the valley with reference to the confining mountain ranges.2 The present report is based on field work in progress from July 6 to October 18, 1912, during which time that portion of the White and Inyo mountains lying within the Bishop, Mount Whitney, and Ballarat quadrangles was geologically surveyed, special attention^ being given to the phenomena of mineralization and to the mining districts contained in the area. During this work the writer was effi­ ciently assisted by Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Saga of the Bessie Brady by Al Millspaugh Desert Magazine – July 1971
    The Saga of the Bessie Brady By Al Millspaugh Desert Magazine – July 1971 IN 1872, THE steamship Bessie Brady gegan her maiden voyage. It was the start of a service that would last years within sight of Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental United States. The steamship navigated a lake that hardly exists today. She carried a cargo of charcoal from kilns now decaying in towns that do not appear on most modern maps. The Cerro Gordo mines, high in California's Inyo Mountains, were operating at full capacity in l870. The silver-lead ore was conveyed down the rugged mountain by cable and bucket to smelters at Swansea and Keeler on the eastern shore of Owens Lake. At that time, before the Los Angeles Aqueduct had been built, Owens Lake was full to the brim from the abundant waters of the Owens River. The sparse forests of the Inyos were soon stripped of its pinyon and juniper trees to feed the hungry smelters, but across Owens Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, there was an endless supply of fuel. On the Beacon light from the Bessie Brady. eastern slope of the Sierras at Cottonwood Creek, a sawmill was built. Trees were cut into small blocks of wood which were sent streaming down a giant flume to the western shore of the lake where newly-constructed adobe kilns awaited them. The kilns turned the wood into charcoal and the first cargo of the Bessie Brady was ready for shipment. The charcoal was delivered across the lake to the smelters and, on the return trip, she carried the silver-lead ingots to the docks of Cartago at the southern end of Owens Lake.
    [Show full text]