Negit Island is an island in
Mono Lake
Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water a ...
. Negit (along with nearby
Paoha Island
Paoha Island is a volcanic island in Mono Lake, an endorheic lake in the U.S. state of California. The island was formed by a series of eruptions in the 17th century. It is composed of lakebed sediments deposited above volcanic domes. It is one ...
) is a
volcanic cone
Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and ...
less than 2000 years old. It can be considered to be the northernmost of the
Mono Craters. Negit is composed of three dark
dacite
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite ...
lava flows.
Negit is an important nesting ground for migratory birds, including the
California gull
The California gull (''Larus californicus'') is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the herring gull but larger on average than the ring-billed gull, though it may overlap in size greatly with both.
Description
Adults are similar in ap ...
, which can often be seen wheeling in the air above Mono Lake. The fall of the lake level since 1941 created a land bridge to the island. The land bridge permitted predators, such as
coyotes, to raid the bird eggs of the island. However, since 1994, the lake level has been permitted to rise and the land bridge is currently submerged.
![17 27 022 mono lake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/17_27_022_mono_lake.jpg)
Negit Island is accessible by
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inl ...
s (commonly
kayaks). However, the island is off-limits from April 1 through August 1, to protect the nesting gulls.
See also
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Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve
Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve is located near Yosemite National Park within Mono County, in eastern California. It was established in 1981 by the California State Legislature to preserve the natural limestone " tufa tower" formations at M ...
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Mono Basin National Scenic Area
The Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area is a protected area in Eastern California that surrounds Mono Lake and the northern half of the Mono Craters volcanic field. It is administered by the Inyo National Forest as a unit of the National Fore ...
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List of islands of California
This list of islands of California is organized into sections, generally arranged from north to south. The islands within each section are listed in alphabetical order.
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) lists 527 named islands in the ...
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Lake islands of California
Islands of Mono County, California
Islands of Northern California
Inyo National Forest
Landforms of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Uninhabited islands of California