Lake Tahoe On West Coast Essays - Lake Tahoe, Northern California

Lake Tahoe On West Coast An Introduction Lake Tahoe is the pristine jewel of the West Coast, known around the world for its beauty. The Lake Tahoe area was even in the spotlight for the winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley in 60's. Over the decades we have learned, by mistake, what needs to be done to protect the lakes' beauty and character. The lake is foremost known for its color and clarity, and has been capitalized on for these qualities. However, upon enjoying the lake and creating a tourist and recreational draw we have jeopardized the lake for all the features that we most enjoy and treasure. Simply put the clarity, color and beauty of the lake are in trouble, and the transparency is decreasing at a frightening rate. The build up of phosphorous and nitrates in the lake has promoted the growth of algae that clouds the water, changing the famous aqua, sapphire blue color to a murky, cloudy green. Let's take a look at why we should be concerned with the declining clarity of a lake, and why this lake is so special and unique, and why the surrounding environment is so important. There are many factors involved in causing the decline briefly discussed in this paper; including soil erosion, air quality/pollution, stream conditions which are water flow, and algae growth. Concluding with some positive measures that will help the lake over the long term. Lake Tahoe -- History In exploring what makes this lake unique and special we must first explore where it is, how it got there, and it's aquatic makeup. Lake Tahoe known only to the Paiute Indians until it was "discovered" by General Fremont in 1844. The Lake's exceptional transparency was described by Mark Twain as "the finest picture earth affords." The lake is over a mile high and is nestled amongst the Sierra Nevada, snowcapped, mountain range. Lake Tahoe is uniquely divided between two states, Nevada and California, which presents difficulties in long-term studies, developmental controls, and protection goals.(See figure one) The Tahoe Basin has many political arms wrapped around it , often with overlapping jurisdiction, including the Federal Government, two States, five Counties, and a City. One example of this problem is the fact that: "Lake Tahoe is designated as an Outstanding National Resource Water (ONRW) under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Quality Standards Program and the Clean Water Act. With this designation, Lake Tahoe is provided the highest level of protection under the antidegradation policy and no further degradation should be permitted. The state of California recognizes this designation, while Nevada does not."(1:1) The one fact that everyone seems to agree on is Lake Tahoe needs its purity protected and preserved. Contrary to the belief that the lake was formed by a volcanic crater collapse; the lake actually, was formed by the rise and fall of the landscape due to faulting. The Sierra Nevada is a batholith, "an enormous, complex masses of solidified magma, usually granite .... composed of many individual plutons that push aside some of the rocks of the crust while melting and digesting others" (2:403). This pushing aside and uplifting formed a "deep graben fault basin" (3:42). The lake has a surface area of 193 square miles (122,200 acres); a depth of 1,645 feet at maximum and 989 feet at average; a surface temperature of 68?F maximum and 41?F minimum; a capacity of 122,160,280 acre-feet of water; a length of 22 miles and width of 12 miles; a surface elevation of 6,229 feet above sea level; and a shoreline of 71 miles, divided into 42 miles in California and 29 miles in Nevada. Lake Tahoe's great depth makes it the third largest in North America and the tenth deepest in the World, rivaled by such lakes as Oregon's Crater Lake and Russia's Lake Baikal(3:42,4:1,5:2,6:87). "Lake Tahoe is as long as the English Channel is wide. The Panama Canal, 700 ft wide and 50 ft Deep, could be filled with Lake Tahoe's water even if it circled the globe, at the equator, and there would still be enough water left to fill a canal of the same size running from San Francisco to New York." (3:1) The altitude of the area and freezing mountains would cause one to think the lake would freeze over, however, the tremendous depth prevents the lake from freezing. The theory of convection is proven here; the volume is always in motion, as the surface cools it gets heavier and sinks, and the warmer, deeper, water is lighter and rises, mixing with the