Lake Level Changes in the Arid West

Many basins in the arid West today contain small lakes, but also contain shoreline deposits that indicate these lakes were once much larger. In this lab students explore the impact of changes in climate on the level of lakes in the Owens River system. These lakes, which were separated by bedrock sills and which were fed by runoff from the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, were headed by Owens Lake. When Owens Lake filled to its maximum level, it overflowed into the China Lake Basin, which in turn overflowed into Searles Lake. During particularly wet periods in the geologic past Searles overflowed into Panamint Lake, which ultimately overflowed into Manly Lake in Death Valley. Students use the STELLA modeling software to see what combinations of runoff and evaporation might have led to Pleistocene lake level oscillations.