Cleawox Lake (klē' ə woks), is a body of water dammed by sand dunes along the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

coast of the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The lake is about south of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

along

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

. Sharing the lakeshore are private properties as well as

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area is located on the Oregon Coast, stretching approximately north of the Coos River in North Bend to the Siuslaw River in Florence, and adjoining Honeyman State Park on the west. It is part of Siuslaw Na ...

and

Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park, also known simply as Honeyman State Park, is in Lane County of the U.S. state of Oregon. It lies south of Florence along Highway 101, the coastal highway. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area adjo ...

, which also partly fronts on

Woahink Lake Woahink Lake (hō' hingk) extends further below sea level than any other lake dammed by sand dunes along the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. The lake fills a depression in the Siltcoos River watershed about from the Pacific Ocean south of Flor ...

. ''Cleawox'' is derived from the Siuslaw name for the lake.

Geology

Cleawox Lake is a submerged remnant of the headwaters of a small coastal stream that existed before the most recent

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. The lake formed after melting glaciers caused a rise in sea level that drowned the lower reaches of the stream. Sediments from the sluggish stream formed sand dunes, behind which the lake was dammed. The dunes, estimated to be advancing northward at a year, are encroaching on the lake.

Watershed

Covering only , Cleawox Lake's drainage basin is separate from the nearby Woahink– Siltcoos watershed to the east and south. Water enters Cleawox from small surface streams and by

seepage Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

, and no surface outflow has been identified. Soils are sandy and well-drained and support mainly

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

s and shrubs. Although the lake is saltier than most other coastal lakes in Oregon, it is also more

transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

. About of the lakeshore borders Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, and about borders Honeyman State Park. The rest borders private property, including vacation homes and girl scout

Camp Cleawox Scouting in the U.S. state of Oregon includes the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Girl Scouts (GSUSA) youth organizations, as well as newer organizations like the Baden-Powell Service Association. Early history (1907–1950) In 1916, the Portl ...

Recreation

Park visitors use the lake for swimming, canoeing, and fishing for warm-water species and

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and coastal cutthroat trout. In the state park, picnic tables have been set up in sight of the water. No overnight camping is allowed next to the lake, but nearby areas of the state park have many campsites.

References

External links

* {{authority control Lakes of Oregon Lakes of Lane County, Oregon

Geology

Watershed

Recreation

See also

References

External links