Alkali Lake (Oregon)
| Alkali Lake | |
|---|---|
| Location | Lake County, Oregon |
| Coordinates | 42°58′38″N 120°01′41″W / 42.97722°N 120.02806°WCoordinates: 42°58′38″N 120°01′41″W / 42.97722°N 120.02806°W |
| Lake type | seasonal, alkali |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface elevation | 4,332 ft (1,320 m) |
Alkali Lake is a geographic sink in Lake County, Oregon, United States. It is in the Alkali Subbasin of the Summer Lake Basin watershed in southeastern Oregon,[1] located 26 miles east of Christmas Valley, Oregon, northeast of Lake Abert,[2] to the immediate west of Abert Rim and Highway 395.
Alkali Lake is thought to have reached a prehistoric maximum depth of 270.7 feet (82.5 meters) and covered about 1448.4 square miles (2,331 square kilometers). Since then, its water level has varied, with a drying trend.[1] Notable features include dissolved alkaline salts averaging 10% of total brine weight[2] in its seasonal waters and a nearby chemical disaster, Alkali Lake Chemical Waste Dump.
Plants
Plants known to occur in the dunes immediately north of the lake include:[3]
- Buckwheat Family
- Goosefoot Family
- Mustard Family
- Evening-primrose family
- Parsley Family
- Rhysopterus plurijugus
- Phlox Family
- Great Basin Gilia
- Borage Family
- Sunflower Family
- Desert Pincushion
- Gray Rabbitbrush
- Showy Townsend Daisy
Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Alkali Lake has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 US Fish & Wildlife Service website
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McArthur, p. 10
- ↑ http://science.halleyhosting.com/nature/bloomtime/centralo/03/30.htm
- ↑ Climate Summary for Alkali Lake (Oregon)
Works cited
- McArthur, Lewis A. Oregon Geographic Names, Fourth ed. 1974. Edwards Brothers. Ann Arbor, MI
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Field Office