- Salton Sea
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/sawl"teuhn, -tn/a shallow saline lake in S California, in the Imperial Valley, formed by the diversion of water from the Colorado River into a salt-covered depression (Salton Sink). 236 ft. (72 m) below sea level.
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Saline lake, southeastern California, U.S. The area that is now the lake was a salt-covered sink or depression about 280 ft (85 m) below sea level until 1905–06, when diversion controls on the Colorado River broke below the California-Mexico border and floodwaters rushed north, filling the depression.In 1907 a line of protective levees was built to prevent further deepening of the depression. The lake has an area of 344 sq mi (890 sq km). Its surface is now about 235 ft (72 m) below sea level, and its salinity is similar to that of seawater. Part of a state recreation area, it has swimming, boating, and camping facilities.* * *
saline lake, in the lower Colorado Desert, southern California, U.S. The area that is now the lake was formerly a salt-covered sink or depression (a remnant of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla) about 280 feet (85 metres) below sea level until 1905–06, when diversion controls on the Colorado River broke a few miles below the California-Mexico border and floodwaters rushed northward, filling the depression. Subsequent deepening of the sink was stopped in 1907, when a line of protective levees was built. The lake at that time was about 40 miles (60 km) long and 13 miles (21 km) wide and covered an area of about 400 square miles (1,000 square km). Its surface lay 195 feet (60 metres) below sea level. Over the next five years, evaporation decreased the water level by 25 feet (7.5 metres).In subsequent years, increasing amounts of irrigation drainage water from the Imperial (Imperial Valley) and Coachella (Coachella Valley) valleys (southeast and northwest), flowing through the New and Alamo rivers and San Felipe Creek, stabilized the lake at its present size—about 35 miles (55 km) long, 15 miles (25 km) wide, 50 feet (15 metres) deep, and covering an area of 375 square miles (970 square km). Its surface is now about 227 feet (69 metres) below sea level, and its salinity (some 45 parts per thousand) far exceeds that of seawater; efforts have been made to decrease the sea's level of salts and biologically dangerous materials such as selenium and cyanobacteria. The lake is now a focus of a state recreation area with facilities for hiking, swimming, boating, camping, and bird-watching; part of the lake has been designated a national wildlife refuge.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
