Lake Tahoe
This gorgeous image represents Emerald Bay, an inlet of Lake Tahoe:
Lake Tahoe is a beast of a water body. Though it does not sit at the top of most superlative lists we apply to lakes, it’s close enough on many of them to nearly qualify as a sixth Great Lake. In honor of this incredible location, here’s a Top 10 list of important facts and interesting insights about Lake Tahoe.
1. It straddles Nevada and California.
Two-thirds of the shoreline sits on the California side of the border.
2. The name comes from a mispronunciation of an Indigenous word.
The Washoe peoples called the lake Dáʔaw (pronounced “dah-how”), which meant “the lake.” Or perhaps more appropriately, “the lake.” Other bodies in the area received qualifying words in front of the term, such as Á’waku dáʔaw for “trout lake” (today, known as Pyramid Lake), but Lake Tahoe was the center of their lives, so it was simply The Lake. The push to dub the lake after the original name happened during the Civil War era, surprisingly early for this type of honorific. Unfortunately, we corrupted the word a bit, which became Tahoe. Doubly unfortunately, the official name today seemingly means “Lake the lake.”
3. Lake Tahoe is very deep.
With a maximum depth of 1,645 feet, Tahoe is the second-deepest lake in the United States, behind only Crater Lake in Oregon. It’s the 17th-deepest lake in the world, and more than 300 feet deeper than Lake Superior! When average depth comes into play, Tahoe ranks sixth on the world list, meaning it plunges rather quickly for its size.
4. Lake Tahoe holds a massive amount of water.
The lake only has a maximum length of 22 miles and a maximum width of 12 miles. On the scale of the continent’s and world’s largest lakes, these figures do not put Tahoe near the upper echelon. Of course, 22 and 12 miles do not make a tiny lake, either; by area, Tahoe is the 31st-largest lake in the United States. Yet, its volume is eye-popping. Thanks to its average depth, Tahoe ranks behind only the five Great Lakes in terms of water volume in the USA. To put this fact in perspective, Lake Superior covers 31,700 square miles and the smallest Great Lake – Ontario – encircles 7,340 square miles. Number six on the list of biggest American lakes by area is Lake of the Woods, partially in Minnesota, which has an area of 1,679 square miles. Tahoe comes in at a relatively minuscule 191 square miles, yet takes a spot just behind the gargantuan Great Lakes in terms of volume. The lake could cover the entire state of California in 14 inches of water.
5. Lake Tahoe’s deep basin was formed by tectonics.
How did a lake of this size become so deep? The answer is faulting, specifically a type of fault called a graben. When this phenomenon occurs, slabs of Earth recede between two cracks, forming deep basins.
6. Despite its depth, Tahoe is surrounded by towering peaks.
On the other side of the major faults around the lake, a different type of faulting transpired, called normal faulting. In this scenario, rocks are pushed upward. The result is a striking set of mountains around Lake Tahoe. Many of the highest soar over 10,000 feet above sea level, including Freel Peak, which hits 10,891 feet (3,320 meters).
7. Lake Tahoe does sit atop one prestigious list.
At 6,225 feet above sea level, it is the largest alpine lake in the United States.
8. Tahoe’s water is exceptionally clear.
The clarity of the water often astounds visitors, as one can see as far as 65 feet below. Astoundingly, the transparency used to be even better, as visibility levels dropped more than 30% between the 1960s and 1990s. Conservancy efforts have mitigated the degradation of clarity due to pollution, but the status has not returned to levels of 100 feet seen in the past.
9. Tahoe is old.
Though The Lake was molded to its current layout somewhat by the last ice age, which ended approximately 15,000 years ago, Tahoe is one of the oldest major lakes in the world. Plate tectonics largely set the mountains and grabens of the region about 2 million years ago. By contrast, the Great Lakes are infants, with some models placing their ages between 7,000 and 32,000 years. The Great Salt Lake, in nearby Utah, is approximately 11,000 years old.
10. Tahoe is home to a slew of mythological entities.
Allegedly.
A lake of this size and importance is bound to attract human mythologies. To the Washoe, the lake was home to Water Babies, which were mighty spirits that were revered and consulted. A massive bird named Ong that could capture humans called Tahoe home. The ghost of Captain Richard Barter supposedly roams the rocky shores of Fannette Island. And, of course, Tahoe has its version of Nessie, as Tahoe Tessie reportedly prowls the depths.
Ong vs. Tessie could easily rival Mothra vs. Godzilla.
Further Reading and Exploration
Visit Lake Tahoe – Official Website
Lake Tahoe – Encyclopedia Britannica
About Lake Tahoe – EPA
Lake Tahoe Trivia – Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority
Facts About Lake Tahoe – USGS
Morphology and processes in Lake Tahoe – University of Nevada, Reno
WA SHE SHU: “The Washoe People” Past and Present – USDA
