Re: WHY IS PYRAMID LAKE IN NEVADA SALTY?

Dear Jake,

This is a good question.  As you may know, salty lakes are not uncommon in 
arid (desert) environments.  Mono Lake (on the east side of the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains in California)is salty, as is the body of water called the 
Salton Sea (southern Calif.) and of course the Great Salt Lake.  These salt 
lakes are almost always found in environments where the rates of  
evaporation of water from the lake's surface is very high -- that's why 
there are several salty lakes in the southwestern part of the US.  However, 
you also probably know that not ALL lakes are salty, and there are some 
fresh-water lakes not very far from Pyramid Lake -- for example, Lake Tahoe 
is NOT salty.  It depends on where each lake is getting its water. water 
going into a lake comes from several sources, mainly: 1) inflow from 
streams and rivers, 2) rainfall, and 3) groundwater discharging into thlake 
bottom.  All of this water contains some dissolved elements, so all lakes 
are accumulating a certain amount of dissolved salts, all the time.  It 
just depends on how fast the water evaporates from the surface relative to 
how fast water comes into the lake. When the water evaporates, the salts 
are left behind and become more concentrated in the water that doesn't 
evaporate.  For some, such as Pyramid Lake, the rate of evaporation is so 
high that the lake is perpetually salty.

Hope this helps!

Sincerely,

Carol