Lake Humboldt

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Lake Humboldt
2012-05-28 View of Humboldt Sink and Lake from Topog Peak in Nevada.jpg
Humboldt Sink and Lake
Relief map of U.S., Nevada.png
Red pog.svg
Lake Humboldt
Location in Nevada
Location Churchill / Pershing counties, Nevada, United States [1]
Coordinates 40°00′02.88″N118°37′27.12″W / 40.0008000°N 118.6242000°W / 40.0008000; -118.6242000
Type Endorheic
Primary inflows Humboldt River
Primary outflows none (Humboldt Sink)
Basin  countries United States

Lake Humboldt or Humboldt Lake is an endorheic basin lake in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County in the state of Nevada in the United States. [2] The lake has the name of Alexander von Humboldt, a German natural scientist. [3]

The lake receives the Humboldt River from the north but has no outlet. Humboldt Sink, an intermittent extension of the lake to the south, crosses into northern Churchill County. [2] Since the lake is fed by a freshwater source but has no outlet, its water varies between brackish and extremely salt-laden depending on its distance from the inlet.

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The Lahontan Valley is a basin in Churchill County, Nevada, United States. The valley is a landform of the central portion of the prehistoric Lake Lahontan's lakebed of 20,000-9,000 years ago. The valley and the adjacent Carson Sink represent a small portion of the lake bed. Humboldt Lake is to the valley's northeast. Pyramid Lake is west. Walker Lake is to the south. The valley is part of the larger Great Basin Desert, however during the California Gold Rush the valley was often called the Forty Mile Desert.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carson Desert</span>

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The Grass Valley of Pershing and Humboldt counties in northern Nevada, United States, is a 30-mile (48 km) long valley. The north section of the valley is part of the southwest portion of Winnemucca on the Humboldt River. Clear Creek flows down the valley center, north-northwesterly and joins the Humboldt at Rose Creek, Nevada, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Winnemucca. The census-designated place of Grass Valley, with a population of 1,161, occupies the central 8 miles (13 km) of the valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humboldt Cave</span> United States historic place

Humboldt Cave is an archeological site in Churchill County, Nevada. Thirty-one caches were excavated from the cave, but there is only one radiocarbon date of 1953±175 14C BP from the cave, which suggests that Humboldt Cave may have only been a single cultural component. In other words, the caches from the cave may have only been deposited once and at the same time.

Camp McGarry was a U.S. military camp located in what is now the Summit Lake Indian Reservation in Humboldt County, Nevada.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Humboldt
  2. 1 2 Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed., Springfield MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997, ISBN   978-0-87779-546-9
  3. Federal Writers' Project (1941). Origin of Place Names: Nevada (PDF). W.P.A. p. 11.