Lake Tahoe not losing clarity, test shows

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/9/06 | Carl T. Hall

[SierraWasp]

Wull... whateryew doin up there? Everybudy knows dat Wershingtun ain't near as good as Cauleeforneeah!!! (Arnoild's pronunciation)

[SierraWasp]

Well, geologically speaking... It certainly is more stable than your pristine presentation from your private porch!!!

But, before you react too strongly, I realize that the geological timeline is more cryptic that the prophecies buried in the tombs of Egypt... But when mutha naychur decides to "blow up those boxes," she gits 'er done!!! (unlike Arnoiled Schwartzenrenegger)

We're sittin here waitin for the big blowhard to come to the microphone to give us a news conference, or some such!!! (listening to the radio)

Were you aware he slapped a humoungous Sierra-Nevada CONservancy land-use governmental body over the entire 25 million acres of the Sierra-Nevada range? 1/5th of CA!!!

He's on now proclaiming he jumped the gun just to look good! (just kidding)

Those are truly beautiful pictures!!!

[Riverman94610]

We used to have a place at Marla Bay near Zephyr Cove.A true paradise on Earth.

[Riverman94610]

Ever swam to the island in Emerald Bay?
Man,that will TEST you!

[Riverman94610]

The posting of this picture is what will keep me from losing my mind at work tonight!
Thanks,Riverman,who"summered"at Tahoe from 1948-1971.

[socal_parrot]

Lake Tahoe fun fact...

Lake Tahoe was originally named for former California Governor, John Bigler. The name was changed to the Indian name of Tahoe during the Civil War because Bigler was pro-secessionist. Mark Twain wrote an editorial blasting the name change in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise...

"I yearn for the scalp of the soft-shell crab, be he injun or white man, who conceived of that spoony, slobbering, summer complaint of a name. Why, if I had a complaint against a half-price n*gg*r, I wouldn't be mean enough to call him by such an epithet as that."

[Carry_Okie]

What about all the rivers of pine pollen that is loaded with proteins washing into all the storm drains and stream beds and then into the lake?

My guess is that the pollen count is pretty steady, regardless of the condition of the forest, compared to the difference between a young forest after a fire versus a decadent forest full of rotting biomass. There may be a lot of pollen, but given the historical data the lake can clearly handle that amount.

[SierraWasp]

Here's another fun fact! The water in Tahoe, if spread throughout the central valley, would cover the floor the the valley to a depth of one foot!!!

Another weird fact! There a tree trunks preserved over 200 feet deep in Lake tahoe with over 200 rings!!!

[SierraWasp]

Well, I realize, I think, that the lake can handle the pollen, but I still wonder if there isn't something that is fed by all that pollen protein that would affect the clarity of the lake's waters.

I mean there's the golf course fertilizers that feed the algea that everybody keeps screaming about as a token of all the dastardly development by greedy capitalistic devilish developers/speculators for fun and profit in the evil America that allows such sport at the expense of the fragile, pristine environment!!!(dripping sarcasm in response to a total overload of militant environmentalistic rhetoric for the past 40 years)

[Carry_Okie]

Here's another fun fact! The water in Tahoe, if spread throughout the central valley, would cover the floor the the valley to a depth of one foot!!!

I didn't believe it was that much, so I checked. We may both be wrong.

According to the USGS, Lake Tahoe has an average depth of 1000 feet and covers 191 square miles, or 191,000 square-mile-feet.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the floor of the Central Valley is about 18,000 square miles.

Dividing, (191,000 square miles * feet) / (18,000 square miles) and we obtain 10.6 feet of coverage, not one foot.

California covers 163,707 square miles.

Dividing, (191,000 square miles * feet) / (163,707 square miles) and we obtain 1.16667 feet, or 14 inches of depth covering the entire state, which is confirmed elsewhere.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Let's steal people's property so we can see the damn disc!

[Atlas Sneezed]

Tahoe becoming dirty is a man made one.

---

It's nature's dirt. Erision from areas of fire, etc. Not garbage, oil slicks, etc.

Nothing to affect the health of wildlife.

Just ignorant human aesthetics.

Will someone tell me what problem would occur if they could see the disc at only 50 feet?

Is it worth stealing people's property to do that?

[editor-surveyor]

"Tahoe becoming dirty is a man made one."

Nonsense! Gentrification is a natural process, and if man never set foot there it would still be happening.

[SierraWasp]

I thought for sure you'd check out the story of 200 ring tree trunks being found deep in the lake. There was either some academic (Peter Moyle I think), or some radical group trying to frighten everyone that the California Desert has had such huge historic droughts that have lasted for multiple centuries, proven by these ancient tree trunks deep in Lake Tahoe.

Another theory is that a siezemic slide dammed Tahoe up to where it is today, drowning those trees.

Thanks for checking out the inland sea concept and finding out we were both wrong. Amazing, isn't it?