Rogers Dry Lake is an

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

desert salt pan 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 ...

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County comprise ...

. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

as its hard surface provides a natural extension to the paved runways. It was formerly known as Muroc Dry Lake.

Geology

Rogers Dry Lake is located in the

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and the ...

, about drive north of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It covers an area of about at the low point of the valley, forming a rough figure eight. It is the bed of a lake that formed roughly 2.5 million years ago, in 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 ...

. It is long and wide at its greatest dimensions. The bed of the lake is unusually hard, capable of withstanding as much as 250 psi without cracking. This is sufficient to allow even the heaviest aircraft to land safely. During the extremely brief rainy season, standing water may be on the lakebed, pooling near the location of the region's lowest elevation (2,300 ft). The lake is adjacent to the smaller

Rosamond Lake Rosamond Lake is a natural dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert of Kern- and Los Angeles County, California. The shores of the lake are entirely within the borders of Edwards Air Force Base, approximately from Lancaster. The lake is adjacent ...

which through the

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 ...

, together made up one large water-body.

History

The area of the lakebed was first used by the railroads, with a watering station for steam engines located nearby by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

. In 1910, the Corum family settled on the lake bed; they attempted to create a small community called "Muroc" (the name reversed), which failed. In 1933, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

arrived, looking to establish a bombing range in the area. The lakebed's potential use as an airfield was then realized, and in 1937 the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

set up Muroc Air Field for training and testing; the airfield later became

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a replica of a Japanese cruiser was constructed on the lakebed, nicknamed "

Muroc Maru ''Muroc Maru'', officially AAF Temporary Building (Target) T-799, was a replica of a Japanese constructed on the floor of Rogers Dry Lake in southern California during World War II. Used to train bomber pilots and bombardiers in techniques for a ...

". The ship was demolished in 1950.

Edwards Air Force Base

Many of the United States' notable aeronautical achievements have taken place at Rogers Lake, including the testing of experimental military aircraft, the breaking of the sound barrier by

Chuck Yeager Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the ...

, and landings of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

. It is also famous for the world's largest

compass rose A compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their int ...

painted into the lakebed. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1985. Its principal runway is 04/22. In addition to its paved component of it has an extra of lakebed runway, and it is capable of landing all known aircraft. There are seven other official runways on the Rogers lakebed: * 17/35 is 7.5 mi (12.1 km) (primary runway) * 05/23 is 5.2 mi (8.4 km) * 06/24 is 1.4 mi (2.3 km) * 07/25 is 4.0 mi (6.4 km) * 09/27 is 2.0 mi (3.2 km) * 30 is 2.0 mi (3.2 km) (runway 30 rolls out onto the compass rose, so its corresponding, unmarked, runway 12 is never used) * 15/33 is 6.2 mi (10.0 km) * 18/36 is 4.5 mi (7.2 km)

References

External links

Official Edwards Air Force Base website
{{authority control Endorheic lakes of California Edwards Air Force Base Lakes of the Mojave Desert Lakes of Kern County, California Landforms of Kern County, California Salt flats of California Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Historic Landmarks in California National Register of Historic Places in Kern County, California Protected areas of the Mojave Desert Lakes of Southern California Lakes of California

Geology

History

Edwards Air Force Base

See also

References

External links