Lake Manix is a
former lake
A former is an object, such as a template, Gauge block, gauge or cutting Die (manufacturing), die, which is used to form something such as a boat's Hull (watercraft), hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curv ...
fed by the
Mojave River
The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, ...
in the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
. It lies within
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the ...
. Located close to Barstow, this lake had the shape of a cloverleaf and covered four basins named Coyote, Cady/Manix, Troy and Afton. It covered a surface area of and reached an altitude of at
highstand
A raised shoreline is an ancient shoreline exposed above current water level. These landforms are formed by a relative change in sea level due to global sea level rise, isostatic rebound, and/or tectonic uplift. These surfaces are usually expos ...
s, although poorly recognizable shorelines have been found at altitudes of . The lake was fed by increased runoff during the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
and overflowed into the
Lake Mojave
Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the C ...
basin and from there to
Lake Manly
Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by act ...
in
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
, or less likely into the
Bristol Lake
Bristol Lake is a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Twentynine Palms.
Bristol Lake is located southeast of Amboy and U.S. Route 66, and is also south of Cadiz. Amboy Crater and the Bullion Mou ...
basin and from there to the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, RÃo Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
.
The lake formed about 500,000 years before present, when the Mojave River left the
Victorville
Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810.
History
In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...
area and started to drain into Manix and
Lake Harper. The lake did not immediately include the Afton basin; its integration occurred only about 190,000 years ago, most likely due to a catastrophic flood. Lake Manix lasted until 25,000–13,800 years ago, when
Afton Canyon formed, either through slow downcutting or a large
outburst flood
In geomorphology, an outburst flood—a type of megaflood—is a high-magnitude, low-frequency catastrophic flood involving the sudden release of a large quantity of water. During the last deglaciation, numerous glacial lake outburst floods were ca ...
.
The lake supported a rich ecosystem, including birds, fish, mammals and plants. A group of archeological finds in the area have been called, controversially, the "Lake Manix Industry".
Name
The name "Lake Manix" was bestowed upon the lake by J. P. Buwalda in 1913; Buwalda also named its fossil-bearing sediments "Manix Beds"
and today the lake sediments are named "
Manix Formation". The name was derived from the Manix
railroad siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighte ...
of the
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
, east of
Barstow.
Geography
![Mojave desert map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Mojave_desert_map.jpg)
Lake Manix was located
east of present-day
Barstow and
Daggett. It had a cloverleaf shape, formed by a central Cady or Manix basin, a northwestern Coyote Basin, a south-southeastern Troy Basin and an eastern-northeastern Afton Basin. The latter basin is heavily dissected in comparison to the others. These basins were at various points separated from each other by sills. In the older history of the lake another basin named Cady Basin existed, before the Mojave River eroded through the Buwalda Ridge and connected it to the Afton Basin. This through-going erosion may have been assisted by the
Manix Fault trace. A bedrock sill at separates the Coyote Basin from the rest of the lake basin. The total surface area of the lake is given by sources as . Earlier highstands may have reached
Yermo, California
Yermo (Spanish for "wilderness") is an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. It is east of Barstow on Interstate 15, just south of the Calico Mountains. Its population was an estimated 1,750 in 20 ...
. Yermo, together with
Dunn and
Newberry Springs
Newberry Springs is an unincorporated community in the western Mojave Desert of Southern California, located at the foot of the Newberry Mountains in San Bernardino County, California, United States.
Newberry Spring is a spring that in the 19t ...
, are present-day towns whose locations would have been close to the shore of, or submerged beneath, Lake Manix.
The upper threshold of the lake reached above sea level;
a shoreline at was later shown to be an error of measurement, although some poorly recognizable higher shorelines at have been found that are attributed to earlier highstands. The stability of the shoreline suggests that the lake either became much larger at that point or started to overflow. These shorelines are marked by
beach bars and
wavecut scarps, and at least one
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
formed behind a beach bar. Other landforms include
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s,
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
s,
mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s and their deposits. Part of the shoreline was buried by deposits transported by the Mojave River; these include large parts of a shoreline. One island potentially existed in the middle of the lake; at a lake surface elevation of , the island would have become two islands separated by a narrow strait. The lake reached a depth of
and was surrounded by
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s which formed around the subbasins of Lake Manix.
The lake was surrounded by mountain chains: in clockwise order, the
Cronese Mountains, the
Cave Mountains
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the Earth#Surface, ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller opening ...
, the
Cady Mountains
The Cady Mountains are a mountain range in the Mojave Desert and within Mojave Trails National Monument, in San Bernardino County, California.
They are located between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40, just east of Newberry Springs. The range lies ...
, the
Newberry Mountains, the
Calico Mountains and the
Alvord Mountains. These mountains are formed by sediments and volcanic rocks with ages ranging from
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
to
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
and contributed sediments to Lake Manix. The whole region was subject to strong tectonically driven deformation from the
Eastern California Shear Zone
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
. A number of
faults in the region show evidence of
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
activity, including the
Calico Fault, the
Camp Rock Fault
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
, the
Dolores Lake Fault Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to:
* Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen MarÃa de los Dolores
* Dolores (given name)
Dolores may also refer to:
Film
* ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt
* ' ...
, the
Pisgah Fault The name Pisgah may refer to:
*Mount Pisgah (Bible)
Places In the United States Communities
*Pisgah, Alabama, a town
*Pisgah, Georgia, an unincorporated community
*Pisgah, Iowa, a city
*Pisgah, Illinois, an unincorporated community
*Pisgah, Kentuc ...
and the
Manix Fault. This last fault probably contributed to the formation of the drainage by shearing rocks along its path.
![Lake Manix - Afton Canyon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Lake_Manix_-_Afton_Canyon.JPG)
Distorted sediments,
soil liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when a cohesionless saturated or partially saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress such as shaking during an earthquake or other sudden change in stress condition, in ...
remnants and
sand blows have been identified in drilling cores from Lake Manix sediments; distorted sediments may be evidence that
seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logÃa'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
activity occurred in the lake during its history. Earthquakes may have occurred on the several
faults close to the lake and across the lake floor. The 1947 Manix earthquake occurred along the Manix fault.
The
Mojave River
The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, ...
entered the lake from the west, probably forming a
river delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition (geology), deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, res ...
. The most recent drainage from the lake was
Afton Canyon, which drained the lake east towards
Soda Lake
A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt complex ...
,
Silver Lake
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
and eventually
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
. This draining cut deep into the sediments of Lake Manix, removing about of material and depositing it below Afton Canyon. The erosion has exposed sediments of Lake Manix, making their climatic records accessible to research.
The
playas Coyote Lake and
Troy Lake presently fill the eponymous basins of Lake Manix. In many places, wind- and water-driven erosion has removed deposits from Lake Manix and obscured shorelines. The present-day
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...
and
Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
cross the former lake bed of Lake Manix.
Hydrology
![Pleistocene Lakes and Rivers of Mojave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Pleistocene_Lakes_and_Rivers_of_Mojave.png)
During the
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 ...
s, a number of lakes filled in the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
and the southwestern
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. These lake fillings were influenced by shifts in storm tracks caused by the
Laurentide Ice Sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...
. Changes in
sea surface temperature
Sea surface temperature (SST), or ocean surface temperature, is the ocean temperature close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies according to the measurement method used, but it is between and below the sea surface. Air mass ...
s increasing
moisture
Moisture is the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts. Small amounts of water may be found, for example, in the air (humidity), in foods, and in some commercial products. Moisture also refers to the amount of water vapo ...
supply or increased supply from tropical regions may also have contributed to lake formation. Similar lakes included
Lake Babicora,
Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperature ...
,
Lake Estancia,
Lake Lahontan
Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon. The area of the former lake is a large portion of the Great Basin that borders the Sacramento Rive ...
,
Lake Manly
Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by act ...
,
Lake Owens,
Lake Panamint,
Lake Russell and
Lake Searles. Some
interglacial
An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...
s also featured the growth of lakes. Under present-day climate, runoff in the region is also influenced by the
El Niño Southern Oscillation
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
, the
Northern Annular Mode
The Arctic oscillation (AO) or Northern Annular Mode/Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode (NAM) is a weather phenomenon at the Arctic pole north of 20 degrees latitude. It is an important mode of climate variability for the Northern Hemisphere. The s ...
and the
Pacific Decadal Oscillation
The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is a robust, recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20°N. O ...
; the Northern Annular Mode may have affected the infilling of Lake Manix as well.
![Mojaverivermap](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Mojaverivermap.png)
The
Mojave River
The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, ...
drained into Lake Manix, with the formation of the lake reflecting increased precipitation in the
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain â ...
. Local
arroyo
Arroyo often refers to:
* Arroyo (creek), an intermittently dry creek
Arroyo may also refer to:
People
* Arroyo (surname)
Places United States
;California
* Arroyo Burro Beach, a public beach park in Santa Barbara County, California
* Arroyo ...
s also drained into the lake. It has been estimated that runoff had to increase by a factor of about ten to form Lake Manix. Lake Manix contained over of water, possibly as much as . Water levels in the lake frequently fluctuated by . It formerly was the Mojave River's
terminal lake, and received about of sediment. The Coyote Basin was not permanently coupled to the main lake body; its relatively large surface area and consequently high evaporation would have stabilized lake levels when it was connected to Lake Manix proper.
Tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine. ...
, a type of
calcium carbonate deposit that develops in waterbodies,
formed within Lake Manix. Based on information gleaned from fossil
ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
s, Lake Manix was a well mixed lake, especially in summer; likely, no
thermocline
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with ...
developed in it. While the lake may have been warm during
oxygen isotope stage 12 and possibly nourished from early summer runoff, after that point it was much colder, with water temperatures not rising above . After oxygen isotope stage 5, the lake became warmer again. The environment of Lake Manix has been compared to shallow lakes in northern California that lie behind the
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...
.
Lake Manix was not the only lake that formed on the Mojave River;
Lake Mojave
Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the C ...
in the
Silver Lake
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
and
Soda Lake
A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt complex ...
basins was also formed by the river. While it was at first believed that the two lakes could not have existed simultaneously, it has been suggested that Lake Mojave could have formed when Lake Manix still existed. Water spilled from Lake Manix to Lake Mojave; possibly, Lake Manix overflowed to that basin through
Baxter Wash from a spillway south of the present-day Afton Canyon at an altitude of . While it is reasonable to assume, however, that earlier highstands were stabilized by overflow, there is no physical evidence in Baxter Wash for an overflow path there. Whatever path overflow might have taken,
Lake Mojave
Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the C ...
was nourished by such overflow.
The Mojave River, together with the
Amargosa River
The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, int ...
, formed
Lake Manly
Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by act ...
in
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
; the disappearance of Lake Manix after the formation of Afton Canyon would have increased water supply to Death Valley as evaporation surfaces were reduced. Another theory assumes that the Troy Lake basin of Lake Manix might have spilled into
Bristol Lake
Bristol Lake is a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Twentynine Palms.
Bristol Lake is located southeast of Amboy and U.S. Route 66, and is also south of Cadiz. Amboy Crater and the Bullion Mou ...
and from there into the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, RÃo Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
; this theory is viewed as questionable seeing as there is no evidence that
Bristol Lake
Bristol Lake is a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Twentynine Palms.
Bristol Lake is located southeast of Amboy and U.S. Route 66, and is also south of Cadiz. Amboy Crater and the Bullion Mou ...
(which Lake Manix waters would have flowed through on the way to the Colorado) contained an overflowing lake, although paleocurrent data obtained from Lake Manix deposits may support it.
![Mojave CoyoteDryLake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Mojave_CoyoteDryLake.jpg)
Water levels in Lake Manix appear to have reached peaks during both cold and warm stages of the
Dansgaard-Oeschger events, with a southward shift of storm activity and increased moisture supply triggering increased precipitation.
The average storm track passes far north of the Mojave River headwaters, meaning that the river is exquisitely sensitive to changes in storm position.
Biology
Bird species whose skeletons have been found in sediments of Lake Manix include the
western grebe
The western grebe (''Aechmophorus occidentalis'') is a species in the grebe family of water birds. Folk names include "dabchick", "swan grebe" and "swan-necked grebe".
Western grebe fossils from the Late Pleistocene of southwest North America ...
and the
white pelican.
Other bird skeletons found there have been attributed to the species ''
Aquila chrysaetos
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...
'' (Golden eagle), ''
Branta canadensis
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is ...
'' (Canada goose), ''
Ciconia maltha
''Ciconia maltha'', also known as the asphalt stork or La Brea stork, is an extinct stork from the Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of United States (California, Oregon, Idaho and Florida), Cuba and Bolivia. It has been found in the La Brea Tar ...
'' (an extinct stork), ''
Erismatura jamaicensis'' (Ruddy duck), the genus ''
Grus'', ''
Nyroca valisineria'', ''
Nannopterum auritum
The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes, and in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alas ...
'' (double-crested cormorant), ''
Phoenicopterus copei
''Phoenicopterus copei'' is an extinct species of flamingo that inhabited North America during the Late Pleistocene. Its fossils have been discovered in Oregon, California, Mexico and Florida. Many of these localities preserve the remains of ju ...
'' and ''
Phoenicopterus minutus
''Phoenicopterus minutus'' is an extinct species of flamingo which inhabited California during the Late Pleistocene. It was originally discovered in San Bernardino County, California in the Lake Manix beds, where it coexisted with a second, larg ...
''. These are typical lake-dwelling birds that have also been found at
Fossil Lake
Fossil Butte National Monument is a United States National Monument managed by the National Park Service, located west of Kemmerer, Wyoming, United States. It centers on an assemblage of Eocene Epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) animal and pl ...
in
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 ...
, and might indicate that the lake was a stopover for
bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...
s.
Mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
genera at Lake Manix included ''
Canis
''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and den ...
'', ''
Felis
''Felis'' is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest ''Felis'' species is the black-footed cat with a he ...
'', ''
Equus'', ''
Camelops
''Camelops''Being occasionally called ''Western Camel'' or ''Yesterday's Camel''. is an extinct genus of camels that lived in North and Central America, ranging from Alaska to Guatemala, from the middle Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene. It ...
'', ''
Tanupolama'', ''
Ovis
''Ovis'' is a genus of mammals, part of the Caprinae subfamily of the ruminant family Bovidae. Its seven highly sociable species are known as sheep or ovines. Domestic sheep are members of the genus, and are thought to be descended from the wil ...
'', ''
Bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
'', ''
Mammuthus
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
'' and ''
Nothrotherium
''Nothrotherium'' is an extinct genus of medium-sized ground sloth from South America (Bolivia, Brazil and the Ware Formation, La Guajira, Colombia).Amson et al., 2016, p.12 It differs from ''Nothrotheriops'' in smaller size and differences in sk ...
''.
This fauna list, called "Camp Cady local fauna" after a
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
post in the area, is not exhaustive. The fossils of the Manix Formation have been studied for over a century.
The
freshwater clam
Freshwater bivalves are one kind of freshwater mollusc, along with freshwater snails. They are bivalves that live in fresh water as opposed to salt water, which is the main habitat type for bivalves.
The majority of species of bivalve molluscs l ...
''
Anodonta californiensis'' existed in Lake Manix, as well as
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
s. ''Anodonta'' especially was probably very common in Lake Manix and other paleolakes, considering the large shell deposits left by it. Fish species whose fossils have been found include the
Mojave tui chub and
stickleback
The sticklebacks are a family of ray-finned fishes, the Gasterosteidae which have a Holarctic distribution in fresh, brackish and marine waters. They were thought to be related to the pipefish and seahorses but are now thought to be more closel ...
. The
Western pond turtle
The Western pond turtle (''Actinemys marmorata''), also known commonly as the Pacific pond turtle is a species of small to medium-sized turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the western coast of the United States and Mexico, r ...
also existed in the lake.
An abundance of
Ostracod
Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...
valves have been found in the Manix beds, including ''
Limnocythere ceriotuberosa'' and other ''
Limnocythere'' species. Subordinates include ''
Candona'' species, ''
Cypridopsis vidua'', ''
Heterocyphris incongruens'', ''
Limnocythere bradburyi'', ''
Limnocythere platyforma'' and ''
Limnocythere robusta
''Limnocythere'' is a genus of ostracod crustaceans in the family Limnocytheridae
Limnocytheridae is a family of ostracods, containing the following genera:
*'' Cytheridella'' Daday, 1905
*'' Gomphocythere'' Sars
Severe acute respiratory s ...
''.
Diatom
A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατÎμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...
s found at Lake Manix include ''
Stephanodiscus'' species. Further evidence of microbial organisms are present in the
Stromatolite
Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). The ...
s developed in the lake.
Lake Manix during the time of its existence featured
reedy marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...
es surrounded by
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
-
sage
Sage or SAGE may refer to:
Plants
* ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb
** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family
** ''Salvia'', a large ...
vegetation and
Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the mountains. The present natural vegetation consists mostly of the
creosote bush
''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...
; starting in 1964, parts of the lake bed were used for
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
-supported
center pivot irrigation
Center-pivot irrigation (sometimes called central pivot irrigation), also called water-wheel and circle irrigation, is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. A circular area ...
-driven agriculture before increasing water-pumping costs after 1980 caused their abandonment.
Climate
Present-day climates at the location of Lake Manix are dry and warm, with the mean temperature at Barstow . Precipitation is scarce, , while
potential evaporation
Potential evaporation (PE) or potential evapotranspiration (PET) is defined as the amount of evaporation that would occur if a sufficient water source were available. If the actual evapotranspiration is considered the net result of atmospheric d ...
exceeds . In the Victorville area, winter is the season where most of the precipitation falls, while east of Barstow two wet seasons occur, one in winter and another in late summer.
History
![Lake Manix - canyon wall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Lake_Manix_-_canyon_wall.JPG)
Originally, the Mojave River flowed southward before tectonic changes forced its course into the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
between 2 and 1.5 million years ago. At that point, the river ended at
Victorville
Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810.
History
In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...
, and after 575,000–475,000 years ago, in
Harper Lake
Harper Lake is a dry lake located in the Mojave Desert near the small community of Lockhart, California, in northwestern San Bernardino County of Southern California. The lake is accessible from Harper Lake Road, which runs north off of State Rou ...
. About 500,000 years ago, it reached the Cady Basin of Lake Manix, based on
tephrochronological dating of the
Bishop Tuff
The Bishop Tuff is a welded tuff that formed 764,800 ± 600 years ago as a rhyolitic pyroclastic flow during the approximately six day eruption that created the Long Valley Caldera. Large outcrops of the tuff are located in Inyo and Mono Countie ...
. At first, the river may have alternated between Harper Lake and Lake Manix. 190,000 years ago, Afton Basin was integrated with the other three basins, as the river cut through the Buwalda Ridge. The presence of deposits with chaotically bedded rocks suggests that the breakthrough took the form of a catastrophic flood that may have been a
mudflow
A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...
. Afton Basin had a bottom at an altitude of before; as it was integrated into Lake Manix, sedimentation progressively filled it. The course change from Harper Lake to Lake Manix was not immediately stable; 25,000 years ago, the Mojave River was again filling both lakes before definitively shifting to Manix by 20,000 years before present.
Conflicting interpretations of the history of Lake Manix exist, particularly for the late
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
. One theory assumes three distinct highstands during the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
; they have been dated 33,500–30,500, 23,500–20,800 and 17,600–16,500 years ago. An alternative timeline assumes three highstands at 40,000–35,000, 33,000–20,000 and 27,000–25,000 radiocarbon years. Clusters of shells in highstand deposits are dated 36,000–33,000 and 26,500–21,500 years before present. Other theories assume eight highstands and unstable lake levels between 45,000 and 25,000 years before present.
Yet another theory assumes four highstands during
oxygen isotope stages 6, 4 and 2. Finally, radiocarbon dating in 2015 yielded highstand ages of 43,000, 39,700, 36,100, 34,100, 31,600, 30,800, 29,400, 27,200 and 25,600 years ago, coinciding with cold and wet periods in
speleothem
A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on ...
records in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, AlÄ á¹£onak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
.
The lake existed at least until 14,230 ± 1,325 years
before present
Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...
. Lake Manix drained when the Afton Canyon formed, possibly around 13,800 years before present; an earlier estimate of 14,000 years ago was later discarded. An alternative date is about 25,000 years before present. This emptying may have been quick, draining Lake Manix within a short time, perhaps as little as ten hours. The draining probably contributed to the "
Lake Mojave
Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the C ...
II" highstand. After the initial catastrophic cutting, a slower incision further deepened the Afton Canyon. Alternative theories assume a much slower formation of the Afton Canyon outlet, based on the presence of several terraces and possible recessional landforms. , the formation speed question was still not settled. The formation of the path to Afton Canyon was probably aided by the
Manix Fault, which had left easily eroded sediments. The Mojave River may have drained into the Coyote Basin even after the formation of Afton Canyon under the influence of
faulting until
headward erosion
Headward erosion is erosion at the origin of a stream channel, which causes the origin to move back away from the direction of the stream flow, lengthening the stream channel.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak It can also refer to ...
cut off that basin from the river flow about 9,000–7,500 years ago. Sediments transported through Afton Canyon during the event and afterwards have buried the landscape beneath Afton Canyon, potentially also contributing sand to the development of the
Kelso Dunes
Kelso Dunes, also known as the Kelso Dune Field, is the largest field of Aeolian processes, aeolian sand deposits in the Mojave Desert. The region is protected by the Mojave National Preserve and is located near the town of Baker, California, B ...
.
At present, almost all runoff of the Mojave River comes from the San Bernardino Mountains, and
ground infiltration and water diversions mean the river ends in the Victorville area; only the biggest floods reach all the way to Soda Lake. Water occasionally also flows into the Cronese Lakes beneath the Afton Canyon.
Archeology
Lake Manix may have been important for early humans in the area. Radiocarbon dating attests to the presence of humans at Lake Manix around 11,500 years before present.
Lithic artifacts have been found at the shorelines of Lake Manix. Some are of late
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
age. Such artifacts include
biface
A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a Prehistory, prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually f ...
s, disks,
flake
Flake or Flakes may refer to:
People
* Floyd H. Flake (born 1945), A.M.E. minister, university administrator, former U.S. representative
* Jeff Flake (born 1962), American politician
* Christian "Flake" Lorenz, German musician and member of ...
s and
hammerstone
In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the wo ...
s, which were grouped as the "Lake Manix Industry". Their supposedly pre-
Clovis origin was questioned for a number of reasons. Dates obtained on the
desert varnish they were embedded in yielded ages of 400–32,000 years before present, indicating that these items have varying origins and cannot be considered part of one grouping.
See also
*
List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupies ...
*
Calico Early Man Site
The Calico Early Man Site is an archaeological site in an ancient Pleistocene lake located near Barstow in San Bernardino County in the central Mojave Desert of Southern California. This site is on and in late middle-Pleistocene fanglomerates ( ...
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
*
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{{authority control
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Endorheic basins of the United States
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Mojave River
Natural history of the Mojave Desert
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Pleistocene
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...
Manix
''Manix'' was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology ''Eagle''. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4, 1982).
The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagne ...