Visiting Mono Lake and the Tufa Towers!!


[Tufa Towers]
WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT BEAN CURD
Sunrise at South Tufa.Call them weird, call them bizarre, call them what you will, but the unusual rock formations that grace Mono Lake's shores are known to geologists as tufa (too'-fah). Tufa forms in a variety of ways at Mono Lake, but the most visible and remarkable formations are the towers that grace Mono's shoreline. The greatest concentration of these towers is located at the South Tufa grove just off of Hwy 120 East, at the south end of Mono Lake. Many first-time visitors to Mono Lake, unfamiliar with the geologic term "tufa" have been known to ask directions to the "tofu." Your nearest grocery store or the Mono Market is the best bet.

A COMMON ROCK IN RARE FORM
Tufa above the water no longer grows and is susceptible to erosion.Tufa is essentially common limestone. What is uncommon about this limestone is the way it forms. Typically, underwater springs rich in calcium (the stuff in your bones) mix with lakewater rich in carbonates (the stuff in baking soda). As the calcium comes in contact with carbonates in the lake, a chemical reaction occurs resulting in calcium carbonate--limestone. The calcium carbonate precipitates (settles out of solution as a solid) around the spring, and over the course of decades to centuries, a tufa tower will grow. Tufa towers grow exclusively underwater, and some grow to heights of over 30 feet. The reason visitors see so much tufa around Mono Lake today is because the lake level fell dramatically after water diversions began in 1941.

TUFA POTPOURRI
Tufa towers are not the only form of tufa at Mono Lake. Calcium carbonate crystals will also precipitate out of lakewater far from springs and coat lakebottom surfaces like pumice boulders, beer cans, dead vegetation, dead birds, and anything else that might end up in the lake (instant fossils!). Another way tufa is formed is through biogenesis, the biological activity of organisms like the alkali fly. When an adult alkali fly emerges from an underwater pupae case it leaves behind a minute deposit of calcium carbonate, a waste product from its earlier life stage beneath the salty, alkaline lake. Alkali flies, on a small scale, actually contribute to the growth of underwater tufa towers!


[Mono Lake]
Mono Lake ( MOH-noh) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake and make its water alkaline.

The desert lake has an unusually-productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, which thrive in its waters, and provides critical habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and alkali flies (Ephydra hians). Historically, the native Kutzadika'a people ate the alkali flies' pupae, which live in the shallow waters around the edge of the lake. The Kutzadika'a name for Mono Lake is Kootza Paatsehota.When the city of Los Angeles diverted water from the freshwater streams flowing into the lake, it lowered the lake level, which imperiled the migratory birds. The Mono Lake Committee formed in response and won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially replenish the lake level.

#MonoLake #Tufa #SaltyLakes


Video Title: Mono Lake - Tufa Towers - Salty Lake - VIDEO TOUR (California)

Video File Created Date: Saturday, June 27, 2020 (Video may or may not have been captured on this date, it shows the date the video was last converted.)

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