mhmmed Frozen Winter Across Mono Basin California

Winter has frozen the wilderness of Mono Basin in eastern California in this image I lensed while exploring the wilderness area north of Mammoth Lake.

Mono basin was formed by powerful geological forces beginning five million years: basin and range crustal stretching and associated volcanism and faulting at the base of the Sierra Nevada. It is amazing to realize that five million years ago, the Sierra Nevada range (on the right side of this image) was an eroded set of rolling hills and Mono Basin and Owens Valley did not even exist yet.

Mono Lake (on the left side of this image) is a large, shallow lake located in Mono County, California. Intensely saturated with saline and soda the lake formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. Mono Lake occupies part of the Mono Basin, an endorheic basin with no direct outlet to the ocean. The absence of any streams, rivers of creeks to drain the water from the lake causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake causing the lake water to become alkaline.
(Research Source)

Mono Lake is thought to have formed around 760,000 years back, placing the formation during the Long Valley eruption. Sediments located below the local ash layer that Mono Lake could be a remnant of a larger and much older lake that once covered a huge part of Nevada and Utah. This would make it one of the oldest lakes in North America.

During the most recent ice age, the lake would have been about 900 feet (270 m) deep. Prominent old shore lines, called strandlines by geologists, can be seen west of the Lake, especially when flying around the lake. Currently, Mono Lake is geologically active, being the north end of the Mono–Inyo Craters volcanic chain and located close by the Long Valley Caldera.

Volcanic activity continues in the Mono Lake vicinity: the most recent eruption occurred a mere 350 years ago, resulting in the formation of Paoha Island. Panum Crater (on the south shore of the lake) is an excellent example of a combined rhyolite dome and cinder cone.
(Research Source)

This basin is the ancestral homelands of the First Nations Kucadikadi people. Kucadikadi translates to "eaters of the brine fly pupae" or Kwicathyhka, "larvae eaters". They are also known as the Kutsavidökadö, Koza'bittukut'teh, Kotsa'va, Mono Basin Paiute, and Kuzedika.
(Research Source)

I lensed this image of the basin and Mount Warren (on the right of the photo) while flying throughout the Owens Valley and Mammoth California. The storm was closing in an I was able to get this image before it closed in completely.To see a larger view of the image simply click on it.

This image is from my ongoing project in which I am trying to raise awareness of the 47% of the USA and 90% of Canada that remain unpopulated wilderness.

Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition is my personal mission to introduce people to these amazing locations that surround us.

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