How Lake Tahoe was Formed

GEToutside

the outdoors | recreation | events | mountain life

How was Lake Tahoe formed?

BY ELISE MATERA

EDUCATION PROGRAMS ASSOCIATE, UC DAVIS TAHOE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER

SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS FOR FREE

Visit TheTahoeWeekly.com to add your Event for our print & online calendars.

Click on Events; then the blue Add Event button.

Lake Tahoe was formed through a series of geological processes over the past 2 to 3 million years. e three main processes integral to Tahoe’s formation are faulting and earthquakes, volcanic activity and glaciation.

Lake Tahoe sits between two mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada to the west and the Carson Range (or Pine Nut Mountains to the Wašiw peoples native to the area) to the east. ese mountain ranges form a deep crevice between them and it is constantly getting deeper through a process called normal faulting, in which seismic activity along the three fault lines that run through the lake cause the crust to shift downward.

About 12,000 to 21,000 years ago, there was an earthquake so big, it dislodged some of the land mass from the West Shore, creating what is now McKinney Bay.

Lake Tahoe is currently 1,644 feet deep at its deepest point and the fault lines continue to inch the lake deeper with every rumble and shake. ese earthquakes caused by faulting created the mountains on either side and give Lake Tahoe its depth and its west and east barriers.

Volcanos to the northwest plugged the basin at the top and glaciers to the south sculpted the bottom, creating a shape that could hold water like a basin. Over time, Lake Tahoe lled with water from rain, snow and melting glaciers. Today, there are 63 streams that ow into Lake Tahoe and only one that ows out, the Lower Truckee River, which is dammed to hold back the top 6.1 feet as a reservoir for downstream users.

Watch UC TERC’s video on how Lake Tahoe was formed at TheTahoeWeekly.com

About 12,000 to 21,000 years ago, there was an earthquake so big, it dislodged some of the land mass from the West Shore, creating what is now McKinney Bay. e enormous boulders that slid from the shore can still be seen today where they settled on the bottom of the lake. e force of this rockslide shifted the water in Lake Tahoe dramatically, creating an initial tsunami and subsequent seiche waves that destroyed everything near the edge of the lake.

18,215 lbs. of trash pulled from Tahoe

Although rare, a big enough earthquake could cause a similar event today. e small earthquakes we have felt over the past few months do not have nearly the magnitude required to create a landslide or tsunami. Since earthquakes are caused by extreme buildups of pressure, perhaps it is a good thing that the energy is being released a Clean Up the Lake has covered more than 43.5 miles of shoreline since the clean-up effort began to remove garbage from Lake Tahoe on May 14 removing 18,215 pounds of trash, according to a press release from the nonprofi t.

Clean Up the Lake will collaborate with scientifi c institutions and environmental consultants to study the submerged litter to develop a better understanding of its impact on Lake Tahoe. Divers will continue the clean-up throughout the winter as conditions allow, and expect to complete the effort in early 2022, weather permitting. | tahoefund.org, cleanupthelake.org

James Howle, U.S. Geological Survey | Courtesy UC Davis TERC

little at a time, rather than all at once.

UC Davis TERC runs Tahoe Science Center on the campus of Sierra Nevada University in Incline Village, Nev. ose interested in learning more about Lake Tahoe and how it was formed can make reservations to visit the center for a onehour tour. | tahoe.ucdavis.edu 

Help keep bears out of trash

The BEAR League has launched an educational campaign to remind residents and visitors at Lake Tahoe to lock up their trash and don’t feed the bears by offering free magnetic signs for use on bear trash enclosures, vehicles and refrigerators to remind everyone to secure trash and to not feed

The group along with Sustain Tahoe, the Conservation Society of California and an anonymous foundation has produced 25,000 magnets and will provide them for free everyone. The magnets are available at local businesses. Visit savebears.org for locations.

Bring Your Own Brigade | Jeff Frost

Tahoe Film Festival on tap

The seventh Tahoe Film Fest will take place from Dec. 2 to 5 with films being screened at Incline Village Cinema in Incline Village, Nev., Northstar Village Cinema in Truckee and Crystal Bay Casino in Crystal Bay, Nev. All proceeds and ticket sales benefit UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC).

Enjoy environmental films such as “Bring Your Own Brigade,” which takes a sharp look at the apocalyptic wildfires in California while “After Antarctica” follows polar explorer Will Steger’s life journey as an eyewitness to the greatest changes to the polar regions.

National Geographic has provided new adventure films, such as “The Rescue” about the 12 young soccer players rescued from a cave in Thailand and “Torn” about the legendary climber Alex Lowe who died in an avalanche.

New music documentaries include films about legendary performers and counterculture influencers of the 1960s and 70s.

Descriptions of each film, the festival schedule and ticket sales are online. Participants can buy tickets for each showing or an All-Access Pass for $60. The Tahoe Weekly is a sponsor of the film festival. | tahoefilmfest.com

Lead cables to be removed from Tahoe

AT&T’s PacBell subsidiary will pull 8 miles of decrepit telephone cable out of Lake Tahoe where it has been leaching toxic lead into the lake’s water for decades, under a settlement agreement finalized last week in federal court in Sacramento, according to a press release from the Center for Environmental Health.

Local divers discovered the abandoned cables years ago while removing other trash from the lake bottom and the nonprofit California Sportfishing Protection Alliance sued under federal law and California’s Proposition 65.

PacBell switched to fiber optic phone cables more than 30 years ago and the old cables were abandoned in place on the lake’s bottom. The old cables extend for 8 miles from Baldwin Beach to Rubicon Bay, including across the mouth of Emerald Bay. | ceh.org

Donner Lake film teaser released

Clean Up the Lake has released a sneak peak of the environmental feature documentary “Make A Difference: Donner Lake” on the work that the nonprofit is doing with its SCUBA clean up initiatives of freshwater alpine lakes in the Sierra Nevada. The feature-length documentary will be released in 2022. | cleanupthelake.org, vimeo.com

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Call (530) 546-5995, ext. 110, to be included in Home Improvement.

- Since 2000 Rooster

to Cricket Maintenance

• Landscaping • Snow Removal

• Painting/Staining • Window Cleaning 530.412.1105

SIDESHOW BOB’S

Window Cleaning Since 2000