Mount Tallac Black And White

by Mitch Shindelbower

Title

Mount Tallac Black And White

Artist

Mitch Shindelbower

Medium

Photograph

Description

Mount Tallac Black And White..Fallen Leaf Lake is a mountain lake located in El Dorado County, California, near the California-Nevada state border, about one mile south of the much larger Lake Tahoe. It is approximately aligned north-to-south and oval in shape, measuring approximately 2.9 miles (4.6 km) on the long axis and 0.9 miles (1.4 km) on the short axis. The lake was created by at least two glaciers that traveled northward down the Glen Alpine Valley. If the glacier had continued instead of stopping, Fallen Leaf Lake would be a bay of Lake Tahoe, similar to nearby Emerald Bay. A terminal moraine is visible at the north end of the lake on the northeast edge.Fallen Leaf is approximately 415 feet (125 m) deep at its deepest point, which is east of the sheer face of Mount Tallac and north of Stanford Sierra Camp. The average depth of the lake is around 240 feet (72 m), and the bottom falls away rapidly as one moves away from the shorelines. Due to the action of the glaciers that carved the lake, the northern end of the lake has a much more gradual depth change, and the bottom can be seen from the surface for a quarter-mile (400 m) offshore. Along other shores, the bottom may be hidden in as little as 100 feet (30 m) offshore.

The water quality is extremely good due to the lack of commercial development (including golf courses and their fertilizer-rich runoff), the universal use of sewers, and modern sediment retention techniques associated with new development. Visibility runs around 40–50 feet (10–15 m) under most conditions. The water is potable, and many homes along the shoreline run a pipe offshore to provide water during the winter when other water systems may be turned off.

The water in the lake is exchanged every eight years, compared to the much deeper, therefore slower, Lake Tahoe, which exchanges every 700 years.[4]

The surface elevation of the lake is 152 feet (46 m) above Lake Tahoe.

Mature conifer trees can be found on the bottom of Fallen Leaf Lake, preserved for some 800 years by the cold water. Some scientists believe that these trees show evidence of a so-called "megadrought" occurring between the 9th and 12th centuries that eliminated or reduced the lake, allowing conifers to grow to maturity. Even older trees have been identified by dendrologists dating to between 18 and 35 centuries ago.[5] A recent expedition by the Undersea Voyager Project concluded that the ancient trees did not grow there during an ancient drought, but rather slid into the lake during one of the many seismic events that have occurred in the Tahoe Basin since it was formed.[6]

After the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency banned two-stroke outboard boat motors in the late 1990s, pollution from these engines was virtually eliminated.[7]

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December 20th, 2016

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