In the early 1940s, due to engineering projects to bring water to Los Angeles, Mono Lake began to dry. Around the periphery of the lake, limestone columns as tall as thirty feet, once submerged, began to gleam in the sun and now form one of the most appreciated resources of the lake, often for photographers.
Mono Lake tufa forms in a few geochemical ways and one includes the life processes of the alkali fly which, by the way, was an important food source for the native persons of the lake, called the Kutzadika’a.
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Sighting the last of the highest tufa towers in the golden light.
Tufa is hard, sharp calcium carbonate (limestone) deposit formed in highly alkaline waters, supersaturated with calcite.
The tufa column ascends starkly vertically, revealing the pattern of its growth within the lake water, like a reef. The tufa became visible when the lake waters receded in the 1940s due to diversions of the streams that fed the lake up to that time.
The little bears are pretty lifelike, don't you think?
Tufa is formed around the periphery of alkaline lakes under moderate temperature conditions in columns that may reach over 30 feet in height.
As sunset neared, photographers came from all around to fill the parking lot , to convene on the shoreline to capture their favorite shot.
A trail around the lake's edge, waiting to be painted by a French impressionist.
At nearly 6,400 feet and a windless evening, high clouds over the Sierras make for stunning sunset colors of the lake and sky.
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