A few photos from Mono Lake showing its famous tufa towers rising above its alkaline waters. The tufa towers are clustered in “groves” in several places around the lake. We checked out the South Grove. While we were walking around the edge of Mono Lake, we had low dense clouds of thousands of tiny alkali flies swarming over our feet, but only to a height of 6 inches or so, emitting a soft buzzing sound that moved around as they did. Its sounds strange but it was actually quite cool. The flies covered the ground so thickly in some places right at the edge of the water that the soil beneath them could barely be seen.
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| Tufa towers rise from Mono Lake. Tufa towers are formed when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with lakewater rich in carbonates, forming calcium carbonate (limestone) structures below the surface of the lake. The towers were eventually revealed when the water level in the lake was lowered starting in 1941. South tufa grove, Navy Beach. Mono Lake, California, USA. Image: 09929 Location: Mono Lake, California, USA  View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Tufa towers rise from Mono Lake with the Eastern Sierra visible in the distance. Tufa towers are formed when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with lakewater rich in carbonates, forming calcium carbonate (limestone) structures below the surface of the lake. The towers were eventually revealed when the water level in the lake was lowered starting in 1941. South tufa grove, Navy Beach. Mono Lake, California, USA. Image: 09932 |
Tufa towers rise from Mono Lake. Tufa towers are formed when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with lakewater rich in carbonates, forming calcium carbonate (limestone) structures below the surface of the lake. The towers were eventually revealed when the water level in the lake was lowered starting in 1941. South tufa grove, Navy Beach. Mono Lake, California, USA. Image: 09928 |
Tufa towers rise from Mono Lake. Tufa towers are formed when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with lakewater rich in carbonates, forming calcium carbonate (limestone) structures below the surface of the lake. The towers were eventually revealed when the water level in the lake was lowered starting in 1941. South tufa grove, Navy Beach. Mono Lake, California, USA. Image: 09931 |
Keywords: Mono Lake, tufa towers, saline, brine shrimp, Lee Vining
