The Soda Lakes are two lakes located northwest of Fallon, Nevada. They occupy two basalticmaar volcano craters which may have erupted in the last 1500 years. The larger lake, called Soda Lake or Big Soda Lake,[3] is somewhat elongated, stretching 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) in length. The smaller one, Little Soda Lake,[4] is 200 meters (660 ft) across. Considered to be a single volcano, the combined craters are young enough that future activity can't be ruled out.[5] A geothermal power plant is located on the northeast flank of the volcano.[6]
A significant increase in level of Big Soda Lake occurred in the early 20th century due to increased groundwater table. It became a meromictic lake where the deeper water no longer mixes with surface waters.[2] New tufa formations have served as a rare research example of tufa's rate of growth within a century.[7]
Maar volcanoes such as at Soda Lakes are formed by explosive eruptions when magma comes into contact with groundwater.[8]
The Lahontan Valley floor around Soda Lakes consists of ancient Lake Lahontan sediments. The Soda Lakes volcano's age is inferred as less than 6000 years because it is younger than the lake sediments.[9] Fault lines in the Carson Valley trend to the northeast. Other older volcanoes nearby include the Upsal Hogback[10] basalt cone 7 miles northeast and Rattlesnake Hill[11] in Fallon.[12]
Volcano monitoring
Soda Lakes is the only volcano in Nevada currently listed on the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. It was added in 2018 with an initial assessment as a moderate threat potential. Since the volcano's age was inferred to be younger than local Lake Lahontan sediments, that qualified as eruptive activity within the Holocene for inclusion on the list.[5][9] It is monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory, which includes Nevada in its region.[13]
Exploration of the geothermal field in the Carson Desert near Soda Lakes began in the 1970s.[12] The Soda Lake I & II geothermal energy plants came online in 1987 and 1991 respectively, with continuing development by multiple owners.[6]
A spring at Big Soda Lake provided the first drinkable water for 1800s wagon travelers on the Carson Trail at the end of the Forty Mile Desert, 2 miles before reaching the Carson River.[14]
The lakes are classified as soda lakes, hence the name.[15] In 1875, two commercial facilities were built for extraction of soda from the lake, for use by the Nevada mining industry.[16]
According to an early study of Soda Lakes, Russell (1885) describes the Soda Lake basin at the time as follows:
The rim of the larger lake in its highest part rises 80 feet above the surrounding desert, and is 165 feet higher than the surface of the lake which it incloses. The outer slope of the cone is gentle and merges almost imperceptibly with the desert surface; but the inner slope is abrupt and at times approaches the perpendicular. A series of careful soundings gives 147 feet as the greatest depth of the lake. The total depth of the depression is therefore 312 feet, and its bottom is 232 feet lower than the general surface of the desert near at hand.[17]
Early 20th-century lake level increase
Following the construction of Lahontan Dam on the Carson River in 1911–1916, the groundwater table rose in the Lahontan Valley downstream of the reservoir. Additional water for irrigation was brought to Lahontan Reservoir from the Truckee River via a canal from Derby Dam. Rising groundwater increased the depth of Big Soda Lake by 60 feet (18 m) from 147 feet (45 m) to 207 feet (63 m), bringing the commercial soda operations to an abrupt end by submerging the machinery. The facility was eventually under a depth of 35 feet (11 m) of water when the lake level stabilized in 1930.[2][16][5]
Panorama of Big Soda Lake in 2018
Meromictic lake
Due to the rise in water level, Big Soda Lake became a meromictic lake. The denser lower layer is colder and more saline, and no longer mixes with the surface layer at any time of year. It is anoxic, or completely depleted of oxygen, below the chemocline boundary.[2][18]
A 1978 paper on "Recent changes in the meromictic status of Big Soda Lake" reported the depth of the chemocline was first detected in 1933 as at 18 meters (59 ft). It had fallen to 37.5 meters (123 ft) at the time of the paper, leading to speculation that the lake would fully mix and cease to be meromictic within a few decades.[18] The chemocline was listed as at 35 meters (115 ft) depth in 1983 and 2015 papers, showing it had not continued to fall but remained stable around the level measured in the 1970s.[19][20]
Tufa formations
The lake level increase also started tufa formations to grow from interaction of incoming springs with lake minerals and bacteria. In less than a century the tufa became over 3 meters (9.8 ft) high. Due to fluctuations in the lake level, sometimes the tops of the tufa are out of the water. These tufa formations became subject of research interest because lake level increase constrains their age to a century, which is a geologically short period of time. Compared to other usually-slower geological processes, the rate of growth of the tufa surprised observers.[7]
Roads
Nevada State Route 723 is a 2 mile long state highway on part of Soda Lake Road since 1978. Its southern terminus is at US Route 50, which passes about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Little Soda Lake.[21]
^ abcdeRush, F Eugene (1972). "Hydrologic reconnaissance of Big and Little Soda Lakes, Churchill County, Nevada" (PDF). Nevada Division of Water Resources. USGS. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
^ abBenoit, Dick (2016). "Soda Lake Geothermal Field Case History 1972 to 2016" (PDF). GRC Transactions. Vol. 40. Geothermal Resources Council. pp. 523–534. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
^ abRosen, Michael R; Arehart, Greg B; Lico, Michael S (2004-05-01). "Exceptionally fast growth rate of <100-yr-old tufa, Big Soda Lake, Nevada: Implications for using tufa as a paleoclimate proxy". GeoScienceWorld. 32 (5): 409–412. doi:10.1130/G20386.1.
^ abEwert, John W; Diefenbach, Angela K; Ramsey, David W (2018-10-22). 2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment (Report). United States Geological Survey. doi:10.3133/sir20185140. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
^ abSibbett, Bruce (December 1979). "GEOLOGY OF THE SODA LAKE GEOTHERMAL AREA" (PDF). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH RESEARCH INSTITUTE. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
^Federal Writers' Project (1941). Origin of Place Names: Nevada(PDF). W.P.A. p. 13.
^ abMoreno, Rich (2011-01-29). "Nevada Traveler: More to Soda Lake's story". Nevada Appeal. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
^Russell, I.C. 1885. Soda Lakes, near Ragtown, Nevada. In: Geological History of Lake Lahontan, a Quaternary lake of northwestern Nevada. United States Geological Survey, Monograph 11, pp. 73-80.
^ abKimmel, Bruce; Gersberg, Richard; Paulson, Larry; Axler, Richard; Goldman, Churles (1978). "Recent changes in the meromictic status of Big Soda Lake, Nevada". Limnology and Oceanography. 23 (5): 1021–1025. doi:10.4319/lo.1978.23.5.1021.
^Cloern, James E.; Cole, Brian E. & Oremland, Ronald S. (November 1983). "Autotrophic Processes in Meromictic Big Soda Lake, Nevada". Limnology and Oceanography. 28 (6): 1049–1061. doi:10.4319/lo.1983.28.6.1049. JSTOR 2836268.
^Zimmerman, Susan H; Adams, Kenneth D; Rosen, Michael R (2015). "Trip 3.—Modern, Holocene, and Pleistocene Lake Locales in the Western Great Basin, Nevada and California, June 21–25, 2015". In Rosen, Michael R (ed.). Sixth International Limnogeology Congress — Field Trip Guidebook, Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 2015. United States Geological Survey. pp. 65–67. doi:10.3133/ofr20151108.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soda Lakes.
"Sparkling or still? A tour of geology from Soda Lakes to Stillwater Marsh, Nevada", geology field trip guide from Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Science Week tour in Oct 2018
"Biogeochemical investigation of Soda Lake", posterboard from 2010 presentation on Soda Lakes chemistry by University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Carson Trail at Emigrant Trails West, mentions spring at Soda Lakes used by wagon trail after Forty Mile Desert
Videos
Big Soda Lake (day 1), YouTube video by arsenicbug with discussion of meromictic lakes and their bacteria, tufa formations
Steam Tractor at Soda Lake, YouTube video by ucam1 (SCUBA diver view of submerged soda production facility)
August 23, 2023
soda, lakes, lakes, located, northwest, fallon, nevada, they, occupy, basaltic, maar, volcano, craters, which, have, erupted, last, 1500, years, larger, lake, called, soda, lake, soda, lake, somewhat, elongated, stretching, kilometers, length, smaller, little,. The Soda Lakes are two lakes located northwest of Fallon Nevada They occupy two basaltic maar volcano craters which may have erupted in the last 1500 years The larger lake called Soda Lake or Big Soda Lake 3 is somewhat elongated stretching 2 kilometers 1 2 mi in length The smaller one Little Soda Lake 4 is 200 meters 660 ft across Considered to be a single volcano the combined craters are young enough that future activity can t be ruled out 5 A geothermal power plant is located on the northeast flank of the volcano 6 Soda Lakeseast rim of Big Soda LakeSoda LakesLocation in NevadaLocationChurchill County Nevada USCoordinates39 31 48 N 118 52 12 W 39 53000 N 118 87000 W 39 53000 118 87000 1 Typemeromictic volcanic crater lakePrimary inflowsaquiferPrimary outflowsevaporationMax depth207 feet 63 m 2 Surface elevation1 251 m 4 104 ft 1 References 1 2 A significant increase in level of Big Soda Lake occurred in the early 20th century due to increased groundwater table It became a meromictic lake where the deeper water no longer mixes with surface waters 2 New tufa formations have served as a rare research example of tufa s rate of growth within a century 7 Contents 1 Geology 1 1 Volcano monitoring 1 2 Geothermal plant 2 19th century exploration 3 Early 20th century lake level increase 3 1 Meromictic lake 3 2 Tufa formations 4 Roads 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksGeology Editeruption of Soda Lakes volcanoDateless than 6000 years ago 5 TypeMaarMaar volcanoes such as at Soda Lakes are formed by explosive eruptions when magma comes into contact with groundwater 8 The Lahontan Valley floor around Soda Lakes consists of ancient Lake Lahontan sediments The Soda Lakes volcano s age is inferred as less than 6000 years because it is younger than the lake sediments 9 Fault lines in the Carson Valley trend to the northeast Other older volcanoes nearby include the Upsal Hogback 10 basalt cone 7 miles northeast and Rattlesnake Hill 11 in Fallon 12 Volcano monitoring Edit Soda Lakes is the only volcano in Nevada currently listed on the USGS Volcano Hazards Program It was added in 2018 with an initial assessment as a moderate threat potential Since the volcano s age was inferred to be younger than local Lake Lahontan sediments that qualified as eruptive activity within the Holocene for inclusion on the list 5 9 It is monitored by the USGS California Volcano Observatory which includes Nevada in its region 13 Geothermal plant Edit Main article Soda Lake Geothermal Plant Exploration of the geothermal field in the Carson Desert near Soda Lakes began in the 1970s 12 The Soda Lake I amp II geothermal energy plants came online in 1987 and 1991 respectively with continuing development by multiple owners 6 19th century exploration Edit West half of Soda Lake T H O Sullivan in the late 1800sA spring at Big Soda Lake provided the first drinkable water for 1800s wagon travelers on the Carson Trail at the end of the Forty Mile Desert 2 miles before reaching the Carson River 14 The lakes are classified as soda lakes hence the name 15 In 1875 two commercial facilities were built for extraction of soda from the lake for use by the Nevada mining industry 16 According to an early study of Soda Lakes Russell 1885 describes the Soda Lake basin at the time as follows The rim of the larger lake in its highest part rises 80 feet above the surrounding desert and is 165 feet higher than the surface of the lake which it incloses The outer slope of the cone is gentle and merges almost imperceptibly with the desert surface but the inner slope is abrupt and at times approaches the perpendicular A series of careful soundings gives 147 feet as the greatest depth of the lake The total depth of the depression is therefore 312 feet and its bottom is 232 feet lower than the general surface of the desert near at hand 17 Early 20th century lake level increase EditFollowing the construction of Lahontan Dam on the Carson River in 1911 1916 the groundwater table rose in the Lahontan Valley downstream of the reservoir Additional water for irrigation was brought to Lahontan Reservoir from the Truckee River via a canal from Derby Dam Rising groundwater increased the depth of Big Soda Lake by 60 feet 18 m from 147 feet 45 m to 207 feet 63 m bringing the commercial soda operations to an abrupt end by submerging the machinery The facility was eventually under a depth of 35 feet 11 m of water when the lake level stabilized in 1930 2 16 5 Panorama of Big Soda Lake in 2018 Meromictic lake Edit Due to the rise in water level Big Soda Lake became a meromictic lake The denser lower layer is colder and more saline and no longer mixes with the surface layer at any time of year It is anoxic or completely depleted of oxygen below the chemocline boundary 2 18 A 1978 paper on Recent changes in the meromictic status of Big Soda Lake reported the depth of the chemocline was first detected in 1933 as at 18 meters 59 ft It had fallen to 37 5 meters 123 ft at the time of the paper leading to speculation that the lake would fully mix and cease to be meromictic within a few decades 18 The chemocline was listed as at 35 meters 115 ft depth in 1983 and 2015 papers showing it had not continued to fall but remained stable around the level measured in the 1970s 19 20 Tufa formations Edit The lake level increase also started tufa formations to grow from interaction of incoming springs with lake minerals and bacteria In less than a century the tufa became over 3 meters 9 8 ft high Due to fluctuations in the lake level sometimes the tops of the tufa are out of the water These tufa formations became subject of research interest because lake level increase constrains their age to a century which is a geologically short period of time Compared to other usually slower geological processes the rate of growth of the tufa surprised observers 7 Roads EditNevada State Route 723 is a 2 mile long state highway on part of Soda Lake Road since 1978 Its southern terminus is at US Route 50 which passes about 1 5 miles 2 4 km south of Little Soda Lake 21 See also EditLORAN C transmitter Fallon now closed is located near Soda Lakes off State Route 723 Ragtown is a historical emigrant trail stop and ghost town near Soda LakesReferences Edit a b c Soda Lakes Global Volcanism Program Smithsonian Institution Retrieved 2018 09 11 a b c d e Rush F Eugene 1972 Hydrologic reconnaissance of Big and Little Soda Lakes Churchill County Nevada PDF Nevada Division of Water Resources USGS Retrieved 2019 06 30 Soda Lake Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior Little Soda Lake Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior a b c d Soda Lakes USGS California Volcano Observatory Retrieved 2019 06 30 a b Benoit Dick 2016 Soda Lake Geothermal Field Case History 1972 to 2016 PDF GRC Transactions Vol 40 Geothermal Resources Council pp 523 534 Retrieved 2019 06 22 a b Rosen Michael R Arehart Greg B Lico Michael S 2004 05 01 Exceptionally fast growth rate of lt 100 yr old tufa Big Soda Lake Nevada Implications for using tufa as a paleoclimate proxy GeoScienceWorld 32 5 409 412 doi 10 1130 G20386 1 Glossary Maar USGS Volcano Hazards Program Retrieved 2019 07 23 a b Ewert John W Diefenbach Angela K Ramsey David W 2018 10 22 2018 update to the U S Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment Report United States Geological Survey doi 10 3133 sir20185140 Retrieved 2019 07 23 Upsal Hogback Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior Rattlesnake Hill Geographic Names Information System United States Geological Survey United States Department of the Interior a b Sibbett Bruce December 1979 GEOLOGY OF THE SODA LAKE GEOTHERMAL AREA PDF Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology UNIVERSITY OF UTAH RESEARCH INSTITUTE Retrieved 2019 06 22 USGS Volcano Hazards Program California Volcano Observatory USGS California Volcano Observatory Retrieved 2019 06 30 Carson Trail Emigrant Trails West Retrieved 2019 07 05 Federal Writers Project 1941 Origin of Place Names Nevada PDF W P A p 13 a b Moreno Rich 2011 01 29 Nevada Traveler More to Soda Lake s story Nevada Appeal Retrieved 2019 06 22 Russell I C 1885 Soda Lakes near Ragtown Nevada In Geological History of Lake Lahontan a Quaternary lake of northwestern Nevada United States Geological Survey Monograph 11 pp 73 80 a b Kimmel Bruce Gersberg Richard Paulson Larry Axler Richard Goldman Churles 1978 Recent changes in the meromictic status of Big Soda Lake Nevada Limnology and Oceanography 23 5 1021 1025 doi 10 4319 lo 1978 23 5 1021 Cloern James E Cole Brian E amp Oremland Ronald S November 1983 Autotrophic Processes in Meromictic Big Soda Lake Nevada Limnology and Oceanography 28 6 1049 1061 doi 10 4319 lo 1983 28 6 1049 JSTOR 2836268 Zimmerman Susan H Adams Kenneth D Rosen Michael R 2015 Trip 3 Modern Holocene and Pleistocene Lake Locales in the Western Great Basin Nevada and California June 21 25 2015 In Rosen Michael R ed Sixth International Limnogeology Congress Field Trip Guidebook Reno Nevada June 15 19 2015 United States Geological Survey pp 65 67 doi 10 3133 ofr20151108 Nevada Department of Transportation January 2019 State Maintained Highways of Nevada Descriptions and Maps Retrieved 2019 06 24 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soda Lakes Sparkling or still A tour of geology from Soda Lakes to Stillwater Marsh Nevada geology field trip guide from Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Science Week tour in Oct 2018 Biogeochemical investigation of Soda Lake posterboard from 2010 presentation on Soda Lakes chemistry by University of Nevada Las Vegas Carson Trail at Emigrant Trails West mentions spring at Soda Lakes used by wagon trail after Forty Mile Desert Videos Big Soda Lake day 1 YouTube video by arsenicbug with discussion of meromictic lakes and their bacteria tufa formations Steam Tractor at Soda Lake YouTube video by ucam1 SCUBA diver view of submerged soda production facility Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Soda Lakes amp oldid 1050983479, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
