Mono Lake, California, sits at the western edge of The Great Basin, the expansive drainage area that lies between the Rocky Mountains in the east, and the Sierra Nevada range in the west. All lakes from Salt Lake in Utah across to Mono Lake in the west have no outlet to the sea and over thousands of years as a result of evaporation have become highly concentrated in salts.Despite the waters of Mono Lake being too alkaline to support fish life, the waters abound with brine shrimp and alkali fly pupa which support millions of migrating birds.
Limestone towers known as "tufa" rise from the lake, formed by freshwater springs percolating up into the lake. The calcium in the fresh water combines with the carbonate in the lake water to form the calcium carbonate from which the tufas form. If you've ever been in limestone caves with stalagmites, you will recognize them as essentially the same things but formed by different processes.
In the photos of Mono Lake that I have published, you will see nature's dramatic primary color palette composed of a bright green lake and bright blue sky. It was quite a sight! I also did several of them as sepia-toned photos. And right there to the west is the very edge of the Sierra Nevada range. What a place! Get in a visit if you can some day.
By the way, if the bottom of the photos are cut off on your computer screen, did you know that by pressing the F11 key on your computer keyboard, you can hide your browser menu bars and get to see more of the picutures. When you're done, just press the F11 key again to show you menu bars again. This works for Internet Explorer - I'm not sure if it works the same with other browers.
Slide Show of Photos of Mono Lake
Read more about Mono Lake
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