Salton Sink
{{Short description|Geographic sink in California}}
{{distinguish|Salton Sea|Salton Trough}}
{{Infobox landform
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| name = Salton Sink
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| type = Endorheic basin
| photo = Saltonseadrainagemap.jpg
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| photo_caption = The Salton Sink is part of the Salton Watershed (light green area).
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| location = California, United States
| coordinates = {{coord|33.3334|N|115.8342|W|display=inline,title}}
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The Salton Sink is the low point of an endorheic basin, a closed drainage system with no outflows to other bodies of water, in the Colorado Desert sub-region of the Sonoran Desert. The sink falls within the larger Salton Trough and separates the Coachella Valley from the Imperial Valley, which are also segments of the Salton Trough. The lowest point of the sink is {{convert|269|ft|abbr=on}} below sea level, and since 1906 the {{convert|343|sqmi|
adj=on}} Salton Sea has filled the lowest portion of the sink to a water depth of up to {{convert|13|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}.
Geology
The Salton Sink is the topographic low area within the Salton Trough, an active tectonic pull-apart basin.Kearey, Philip and Frederick J. Vine, Global Tectonics, Blackwell Science, 2nd ed., 1996, pp. 131–133 {{ISBN|0-86542-924-3}} The Salton Trough is a result of crustal stretching and sinking by the combined actions of the San Andreas Fault and the East Pacific Rise. The Brawley seismic zone forms the southeast end of the basin and connects the San Andreas Fault system with the Imperial Fault Zone to the south.Fuis, Cary S. and Walter D. Mooney, [http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/pp1515/chapter8/fig8-7.jpg Salton Trough Lithospheric Structure and Tectonics from Seismic-Refraction and Other Data in USGS Professional Paper 1515] The Salton Buttes are rhyolite lava domes within the basin which were active 10,300 (± 1000) years BP.{{cite gvp|vn=323200|name=Salton Buttes}}
History
A large lake, Lake Cahuilla, existed in the area from about 20,500 to 3,000 years ago and left evidence as wave-cut benches on the higher portions of the Salton Buttes. A beach mark outlines the shoreline of ancient Lake Cahuilla where archeologists found rock fish traps and charred remains of razorback sucker and bonytail bones. High water lines suggest the basin has filled many times, creating a lake some {{convert|105|mi|km|abbr=on}} in length and nearly {{convert|300|ft|m|abbr=on}} deep. Its most recent incarnation is evidenced by fish traps found some {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on}} below the high-water mark that were estimated to be between 300 and 1,000 years old.Wilke, P.J., ”Prehistoric weir fishing on recessional shorelines of Lake Cahuilla, Salton basin, southeastern California”. Proceedings of the Desert Fishes Council, 1980, vol. 11, pp. 101–102.
In recent times, the 1862 Colorado River flood waters reached the Salton Sink, filling it and creating a lake some {{convert|60|mi|km|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|30|mi|km|abbr=on}} wide.Wheeler, G.M., Annual report on the geographical surveys West of the one-hundredth meridian, in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, and Montana: Appendix JJ, Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1876: Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office In 1884 and 1891 the Colorado River had escapement flow into the Salton Sink.{{Cite journal|last=Carpelan|first=Lars H.|date=c. 1954|title=History of the Salton Sea|url=https://saltonsea.ca.gov/ltnav/library_content/Hydrology/19610000_carpelan.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041012144717/https://saltonsea.ca.gov/ltnav/library_content/Hydrology/19610000_carpelan.pdf|archive-date=2004-10-12|access-date=February 13, 2021|journal=Fish Bulletin |issue=113|via=Salton Sea Authority}} The 1891 flood created a lake that covered an area {{convert|30|mi|km|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|10|mi|km|abbr=on}} wide.James, G.W. (1906). The Wonders of the Colorado Desert: Volumes I and II. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company
A larger 1905 Colorado flood escaped into a diversion canal, forming the Alamo and New Rivers and creating the current Salton Sea in the sink's Coachella Valley.[http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/PeriscopeSaltonSeaCh1-4.html “A Sea in the Making in the Southland“ in The Salton Sea California's Overlooked Treasure] A 1907 dam prevents flood escapements, but leakage still occurs to the Salton Sea.
View
References
{{commons category|Salton Sink|
Salton Sink}}
{{Reflist}}
{{California Faults|state=collapsed}}
Category:Endorheic basins of the United States
Category:Geography of the Colorado Desert
Category:Geography of Imperial County, California
Category:Geography of Riverside County, California