Lake Thompson is a former lake in California. The name is derived from an academic who first speculated on the possibility that a lake existed in lower Antelope Valley. [1] It occupied the area of the lower Antelope Valley and of the lakes Rogers Lake and Rosamond Lake during the Pleistocene. It dried up during the Holocene.
During the Pleistocene, a number of lakes formed in the deserts of North America, [2] these include Lake Bonneville in Utah, Lake Lahontan in Nevada, a cascade of lakes after Owens Lake, Lake Mojave and Lake Manly in California. [3] Their formation was directed by cold periods of the last glacial maximum and other climate oscillations such as the Younger Dryas that reduced evaporation in the deserts, as well as storm tracks that were displaced south by the continental ice sheets. [4]
Lake Thompson was kidney shaped and covered a surface of 950 square kilometres (370 sq mi) (at first it was believed to have covered a surface of 518 square kilometres (200 sq mi)). [5] It developed in the westernmost Mojave Desert, [2] covering much of the Antelope Valley to elevations of 710 metres (2,330 ft), [1] with additional shorelines suggested at elevations of 732 metres (2,402 ft). [6] Two islands existed in the water body, cliffs have been cut at some sites along its former shore [7] and there are dunes as well. [8]
Stickleback fish may have entered the lake through Peninsular Ranges drainages [9] and a number of different animals from snails over fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds to mammoths have been found in lake sediments. [8]
Present-day Boron, California, Kramer, California, [8] Lancaster, California and Rosamond, California lie in the bed of the former lake; [6] urbanization along with the growth of alluvial fans has buried the shores of the former lake at many sites. [5]
The catchment of Lake Thompson covers a surface area of 5,633 square kilometres (2,175 sq mi) and is bordered by the San Gabriel Mountains to the south and the Tehachapi Mountains in the west. Several creeks (such as Little Rock Creek) descending from the mountains nourished the lake, [1] the lake had a number of tributaries. [10]
When waters reached an elevation of 710 metres (2,330 ft), the maximum depth of the lake would have been about 70 metres (230 ft) based on borehole data. [11] It is possible that Lake Thompson overflowed northwards, into the Fremont Valley;. [1] presently the sill that water would have to flow over is too high for spilling of a 710 metres (2,330 ft) lake to occur, but later sedimentation may have raised the sill. An overflow eastward close to Boron, California towards the Mojave River and/or Lake Harper is also possible but less likely. [11] [12]
A number of lakes developed in the basin of Lake Thompson during the Cenozoic. Deep lakes existed around 36,000 and later as well as 16,200 - 12,600 years before present, with shallower lakebodies around 26,000 - 21,000 years before present, and desiccation between 21,000 - 16,200 years before present as well as during the Holocene. [11] A further lake level increase may have occurred 7,700 years before present. [4]
The lake does not exist anymore, owing to a drier present-day climate, although parts of its former bed can flood during wet winters. Rogers Lake, Rosamond Lake and Buckskin Lake are located on the bed of former Lake Thompson. [1] The rest of the lakebed is covered with lacustrine sediments, although fluvial and aeolian sediments also cover parts of the lakefloor. [10]
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Oregon and Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Baja California, Mexico. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and the San Gabriel Mountains. The valley was named for the pronghorns that roamed there until they were all but eliminated in the 1880s, mostly by hunting, or resettled in other areas. The principal cities in the Antelope Valley are Palmdale and Lancaster.
The Calico Early Man Site is an archaeological site in an ancient Pleistocene lake located near Barstow in San Bernardino County in the central Mojave Desert of southern California. This site is on and in late middle-Pleistocene fanglomerates known variously as the Calico Hills, the Yermo Hills, or the Yermo formation. Holocene evidence includes petroglyphs and trail segments that are probably related to outcrops of local high-quality siliceous rock.
Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its hard surface provides a natural extension to the paved runways. It was formerly known as Muroc Dry Lake.
Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the Colorado River north of Blythe.
Lake Manix is a former lake fed by the Mojave River in the Mojave Desert. It lies within San Bernardino County, California. Located close to Barstow, this lake had the shape of a cloverleaf and covered four basins named Coyote, Cady/Manix, Troy and Afton. It covered a surface area of 236 square kilometres (91 sq mi) and reached an altitude of 543 metres (1,781 ft) at highstands, although poorly recognizable shorelines have been found at altitudes of 547–558 metres (1,795–1,831 ft). The lake was fed by increased runoff during the Pleistocene and overflowed into the Lake Mojave basin and from there to Lake Manly in Death Valley, or less likely into the Bristol Lake basin and from there to the Colorado River.
Tibitó is the second-oldest dated archaeological site on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia. The rock shelter is located in the municipality Tocancipá, Cundinamarca, Colombia, in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna. At Tibitó, bone and stone tools and carbon have been found. Bones from Haplomastodon, Cuvieronius, Cerdocyon and white tailed deer from the deepest human trace containing layer of the site is carbon dated to be 11,740 ± 110 years old. The oldest dated sediments are lacustrine clays from an ancient Pleistocene lake.
Lake Cahuilla was a prehistoric lake in California and northern Mexico. Located in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys, it covered surface areas of 5,700 square kilometres (2,200 sq mi) to a height of 12 metres (39 ft) above sea level during the Holocene. During earlier stages of the Pleistocene, the lake reached even higher levels, up to 31–52 metres (102–171 ft) above sea level. During the Holocene most of the water came from the Colorado River with little contribution from local runoff; in the Pleistocene local runoff was higher and it is possible that Lake Cahuilla was supported solely from local water sources during the Wisconsin glaciation. The lake overflowed close to Cerro Prieto into the Rio Hardy, eventually draining into the Gulf of California.
Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi) during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by active tectonic processes that have modified the elevations of the various shorelines of Lake Manly; during the Blackwelder stage they reached 47–90 metres (154–295 ft) above sea level. The lake received water mainly from the Amargosa River and at various points from the Mojave River and Owens River. The lake and its substantial catchment favoured the spread of a number of aquatic species, including some lizards, pupfish and springsnails. The lake probably supported a substantial ecosystem, and a number of diatoms developed there.
Kelso Wash is an ephemeral stream in San Bernardino County, California, United States, that drains into Soda Lake. The town of Kelso lies southeast of the wash.
Lake Palomas is a former lake in New Mexico, United States, and Chihuahua, Mexico. This lake was relatively large and reached a size of about 9,100 square kilometres (3,500 sq mi) during its highstands. Preceded by Lake Cabeza de Vaca, it formed during the Pleistocene and continued into the Holocene, when several different lake phases occurred. Presently its basin is a major source of airborne dust in the region.
The Sabana Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of shales with at the edges of the Bogotá savanna lignites and sandstones. The Sabana Formation dates to the Quaternary period; Middle to Late Pleistocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 320 metres (1,050 ft), varying greatly across the savanna. It is the uppermost formation of the lacustrine and fluvio-glacial sediments of paleolake Humboldt, that existed at the edge of the Eastern Hills until the latest Pleistocene.
Neopluvial is a term referring to a phase of wetter and colder climate that occurred during the late Holocene in the Western United States. During the Neopluvial, water levels in a number of now-dry lakes and closed lakes such as the Great Salt Lake rose and vegetation changed in response to increased precipitation. The event was not exactly synchronous everywhere, with neopluvial lake-level rises occurring between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. It is correlative to the Neoglacial period.
Lake Tecopa is a former lake in Inyo County, southern California. It developed during the Miocene and the Pleistocene within a tectonic basin close to the border with Nevada. Fed by the Amargosa River and some neighbouring washes, it eventually culminated to a surface area of 235 square kilometres (91 sq mi) around 186,000 years ago and left sediments. Afterwards, the Amargosa River cut a gorge out of the lake and into Death Valley with its Lake Manly, draining the lake. The present-day towns of Shoshone, California and Tecopa, California lie within the basin of the former lake.
Lake Tengger is a paleolake in China. It formed within the Tengger Desert during the Pleistocene and in reduced form during the Holocene as well. It is not certain when it existed.
Cima volcanic field is a volcanic field in San Bernardino County, California, close to the border with Nevada. The volcanic field covers a surface area of 600 square kilometres (230 sq mi) within the Mojave National Preserve west of the Cima Dome and consists of about 40 volcanic cones with about 60 lava flows. The volcanic cones range from simple cones over multi-cratered mountains to eroded hills, and lava flows are up to 9.1 kilometres (5.7 mi) long. At least one lava tube exists in the field and can be visited.
Lake Panamint is a former lake that occupied Panamint Valley in California during the Pleistocene. It was formed mainly by water overflowing through the Owens River and which passed through Lake Searles into the Panamint Valley. At times, Lake Panamint itself overflowed into Death Valley and Lake Manly.
Lake Modoc is a former lake in California and Oregon, in the location of present-day Upper Klamath Lake, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake. It existed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, its formation probably influenced by volcanism and faulting. The bed of the former lake had plentiful resources for early humans, and today it is used for agriculture.
Lake Estancia is a former lake in the Estancia Valley, central New Mexico. Water levels reached 1,939 metres (6,362 ft), 1,897 metres (6,224 ft) and 1,870 metres (6,140 ft) during its various stages, leaving various coastal landforms in the valley. Cutthroat trout lived in the lake when it existed, presumably having reached it during a possible past overflowing stage. The lake was mostly fed by water coming from the Manzano Mountains in the form of creek and groundwater and fluctuated between freshwater stages and saltier stages.
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