Pyramid Lake
Encyclopedia
Pyramid Lake is the geographic sink
of the Truckee River
Basin and is located 40 mi (64.4 km) northeast of Reno
. The inflow is moderately high silt-loaded surface runoff
.
Pyramid Lake is fed by the Truckee River
after leaving Lake Tahoe
upstream and enters the lake from its southern end. There is no outlet, with water leaving only by evaporation
, or sub-surface seepage. The lake has about 10% of the area of the Great Salt Lake
, but it has about 25% more volume. The salinity
is approximately 1/6 that of sea water. Although clear Lake Tahoe forms headwaters that eventually drain to Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River delivers more turbid waters to Pyramid Lake after traversing the steep Sierra terrain and collecting moderately high silt-loaded surface runoff
.
Lake Lahontan
(~890 feet deep), the lake area was inhabited by the 19th century Paiute
, which used the Tui chub
and Lahontan cutthroat trout
from the lake (the former is now endangered
and the latter is threatened
). The lake was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont
, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.
Chronology
In the 19th century two battles were fought near the lake, a marker was placed in the 1960s commemorating these battles. As a result of water diversion from 1905 onwards by Derby Dam, the lake's existence was threatened. As a result, the Paiute sued the Department of the Interior. By the mid 1970s, the lake had lost 80 feet of depth, and according to Paiute fisheries officials, the life of the lake was seriously under threat. The beneficiary of the water diversion in the 1970s was a racially exclusive sportsman's and leisure reserve used for white hunting and recreation near the town of Fallon. In the opinion of John Pilger, the irrigation scheme for which water was diverted was an economic failure.
The lake is the largest remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan
that covered much of northwestern Nevada at the end of the last ice age
. Pyramid Lake was the deepest point in Lake Lahontan, reaching an estimated 890 feet (271.3 m) due to its low elevation level relative to the surrounding basins. In the 19th century the vicinity of the lake was inhabited by the Paiute
. The lake is now completely within the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
. It was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont
, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.
The name of the lake comes from the impressive tufa
formations nearby. The largest such formation, Anaho Island
, is home to a large colony of American White Pelican
s and is highly restricted for ecological reasons. Access to the Needles, another spectacular tufa formation at the northern end of the lake has also been restricted due to recent vandalism.
Pyramid Lake was used as the filming location of Sea of Galilee
in the 1965 film, The Greatest Story Ever Told
.
species include the cui-ui
lakesucker, which is endemic to Pyramid Lake, the Tui chub
and Lahontan cutthroat trout
(the world record cutthroat trout was caught in Pyramid Lake). The former is endangered
, and the latter is threatened
. Both species were of critical importance to the Paiute people in pre-contact times. As they are both obligate freshwater spawners, they rely on sufficient inflow to allow them to run up the Truckee River to spawn, otherwise their eggs
will not hatch. Diversion of the Truckee for irrigation
since the early 20th century has reduced inflow such that it is rarely sufficient for spawning in modern times. Due to the construction of Derby Dam
in 1903 made to divert water to croplands in Fallon, an adjacent town, the Lahontan cutthroat trout
(the "salmon-trout" as described by Frémont) became extinct in Pyramid Lake and its tributaries due to the immediate lowered water level, increased water salinity, and lack of fish-ladders on the dam (for upstream spawning runs), and were replaced with Lahontan cutthroat trout from hatcheries. Fish populations are now sustained by several tribally-run fish hatcheries.
Basin comprises the headwaters of the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake has been the focus of several water quality investigations, the most detailed starting in the mid-1980s. Under direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
, a comprehensive dynamic water quality computer model, the DSSAM Model
was developed to analyze impacts of a variety of land use and wastewater management
decisions throughout the 3120 square miles (8,080.8 km²) Truckee River
Basin. Analyte
s addressed included nitrogen
, reactive phosphate
, total dissolved solids
, dissolved oxygen and nine other parameters. Based upon use of the model, some decisions have been influenced to enhance Pyramid Lake water quality and aid the viability of Pyramid Lake biota
.
Sink (geography)
A geographic sink is a depression within an endorheic basin where water collects with no visible outlet. Instead of discharging, the collected water is lost due to evaporation and/or penetration...
of the Truckee River
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
Basin and is located 40 mi (64.4 km) northeast of Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. The inflow is moderately high silt-loaded surface runoff
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
.
Pyramid Lake is fed by the Truckee River
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
after leaving Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
upstream and enters the lake from its southern end. There is no outlet, with water leaving only by evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
, or sub-surface seepage. The lake has about 10% of the area of the Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
, but it has about 25% more volume. The salinity
Salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
is approximately 1/6 that of sea water. Although clear Lake Tahoe forms headwaters that eventually drain to Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River delivers more turbid waters to Pyramid Lake after traversing the steep Sierra terrain and collecting moderately high silt-loaded surface runoff
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
.
History
A remnant of the PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
Lake Lahontan
Lake Lahontan
Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon...
(~890 feet deep), the lake area was inhabited by the 19th century Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
, which used the Tui chub
Tui chub
The Tui chub, Gila bicolor, is a cyprinid fish native to western North America. Widespread in many areas, it is an important food source for other fish, including the cutthroat trout.- Range :...
and Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the state fish of Nevada.-Natural history:...
from the lake (the former is now endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
and the latter is threatened
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
). The lake was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.
Chronology
- 1903 - Irrigation diversion of the Truckee via the Derby DamDerby DamDerby Dam is a diversion dam on the Truckee River, located between Reno and Fernley in Storey and Washoe counties in the U.S. state of Nevada. It diverts water that would otherwise feed Pyramid Lake into the Carson River watershed for irrigation use. It is operated by the Truckee-Carson...
eliminated naturally-spawning Lahontan cutthroat troutLahontan cutthroat troutLahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the state fish of Nevada.-Natural history:...
, which are now stocked. - 1936 - The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe approved their constitution and by-laws.
- 1987 - A water quality model was completed for the Truckee River.
In the 19th century two battles were fought near the lake, a marker was placed in the 1960s commemorating these battles. As a result of water diversion from 1905 onwards by Derby Dam, the lake's existence was threatened. As a result, the Paiute sued the Department of the Interior. By the mid 1970s, the lake had lost 80 feet of depth, and according to Paiute fisheries officials, the life of the lake was seriously under threat. The beneficiary of the water diversion in the 1970s was a racially exclusive sportsman's and leisure reserve used for white hunting and recreation near the town of Fallon. In the opinion of John Pilger, the irrigation scheme for which water was diverted was an economic failure.
Background
Lake Lahontan
Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon...
that covered much of northwestern Nevada at the end of the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. Pyramid Lake was the deepest point in Lake Lahontan, reaching an estimated 890 feet (271.3 m) due to its low elevation level relative to the surrounding basins. In the 19th century the vicinity of the lake was inhabited by the Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
. The lake is now completely within the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation
The Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation is a United States reservation in northwestern Nevada ~approximately northeast of Reno, in Washoe, Storey, and Lyon Counties. It lies almost entirely in Washoe County , with but tiny amounts of land in the other two counties . It is governed by the Pyramid Lake...
. It was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.
The name of the lake comes from the impressive tufa
Tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...
formations nearby. The largest such formation, Anaho Island
Anaho Island
Anaho Island is an island in Pyramid Lake, Nevada, USA, on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. It is located in the southeastern part of the lake, approximately four miles east of the community of Sutcliffe...
, is home to a large colony of American White Pelican
American White Pelican
The American White Pelican is a large aquatic bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America, in winter....
s and is highly restricted for ecological reasons. Access to the Needles, another spectacular tufa formation at the northern end of the lake has also been restricted due to recent vandalism.
Pyramid Lake was used as the filming location of Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
in the 1965 film, The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
.
Fish
Major fishFish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
species include the cui-ui
Cui-ui
The cui-ui, Chasmistes cujus, is a large sucker fish endemic to Pyramid Lake and, prior to its desiccation in the 20th century, Winnemucca Lake in northwestern Nevada. It feeds primarily on zooplankton and possibly on nanoplankton...
lakesucker, which is endemic to Pyramid Lake, the Tui chub
Tui chub
The Tui chub, Gila bicolor, is a cyprinid fish native to western North America. Widespread in many areas, it is an important food source for other fish, including the cutthroat trout.- Range :...
and Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the state fish of Nevada.-Natural history:...
(the world record cutthroat trout was caught in Pyramid Lake). The former is endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
, and the latter is threatened
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
. Both species were of critical importance to the Paiute people in pre-contact times. As they are both obligate freshwater spawners, they rely on sufficient inflow to allow them to run up the Truckee River to spawn, otherwise their eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
will not hatch. Diversion of the Truckee for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
since the early 20th century has reduced inflow such that it is rarely sufficient for spawning in modern times. Due to the construction of Derby Dam
Derby Dam
Derby Dam is a diversion dam on the Truckee River, located between Reno and Fernley in Storey and Washoe counties in the U.S. state of Nevada. It diverts water that would otherwise feed Pyramid Lake into the Carson River watershed for irrigation use. It is operated by the Truckee-Carson...
in 1903 made to divert water to croplands in Fallon, an adjacent town, the Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout
Lahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the state fish of Nevada.-Natural history:...
(the "salmon-trout" as described by Frémont) became extinct in Pyramid Lake and its tributaries due to the immediate lowered water level, increased water salinity, and lack of fish-ladders on the dam (for upstream spawning runs), and were replaced with Lahontan cutthroat trout from hatcheries. Fish populations are now sustained by several tribally-run fish hatcheries.
Water quality
Because of the endangered species present and because the Lake TahoeLake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
Basin comprises the headwaters of the Truckee River, Pyramid Lake has been the focus of several water quality investigations, the most detailed starting in the mid-1980s. Under direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
, a comprehensive dynamic water quality computer model, the DSSAM Model
DSSAM Model
The DSSAM Model is a computer simulation developed for the Truckee River to analyze water quality impacts from land use and wastewater management decisions in the Truckee River Basin. This area includes the cities of Reno and Sparks, Nevada as well as the Lake Tahoe Basin...
was developed to analyze impacts of a variety of land use and wastewater management
Sewage treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
decisions throughout the 3120 square miles (8,080.8 km²) Truckee River
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
Basin. Analyte
Analyte
An analyte, or component , is a substance or chemical constituent that is of interest in an analytical procedure. Grammatically, it is important to note that experiments always seek to measure properties of analytes—and that analytes themselves can never be measured. For instance, one cannot...
s addressed included nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
, reactive phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
, total dissolved solids
Total dissolved solids
Total Dissolved Solids is a measure of the combined content of all inorganic and organic substances contained in a liquid in: molecular, ionized or micro-granular suspended form. Generally the operational definition is that the solids must be small enough to survive filtration through a sieve...
, dissolved oxygen and nine other parameters. Based upon use of the model, some decisions have been influenced to enhance Pyramid Lake water quality and aid the viability of Pyramid Lake biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
.
See also
- Black Rock DesertBlack Rock DesertThe Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...
- Carson SinkCarson SinkCarson Sink is a playa in the northeastern portion of the Carson Desert that was formerly the terminus of the Carson River. The sink is currently fed by drainage canals of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District...
- Honey LakeHoney LakeHoney Lake is an endorheic sink within the Honey Lake Valley located in northeastern California, near the Nevada border. Summer evaporation reduces the lake to a lower level of 12 km² and creates an alkali flat....
- Humboldt SinkHumboldt SinkHumboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi long, and 4 mi across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
- Smoke Creek DesertSmoke Creek DesertThe Smoke Creek Desert is an arid region of northwestern Nevada, USA that lies to the north of Pyramid Lake, west of the Fox Range and east of the Smoke Creek Mountains. The southern end of the desert lies on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, and a rail line lies at the eastern edge...
- Walker LakeWalker Lake (Nevada)Walker Lake is a natural lake, 50.3 mi² in area, in the Great Basin in western Nevada in the United States. It is 18 mi long and 7 mi wide, located in northwestern Mineral County along the eastern side of the Wassuk Range, approximately 75 mi southeast of Reno...