Bass Lake (Marin County, California)
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Bass Lake is a small lake in the southern portion of the
Point Reyes National Seashore Point Reyes National Seashore is a park preserve located on the Point Reyes, Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US United States National Park Service, National Park Service as an ...
, northwest of Bolinas. The lake sits at an elevation of and flows out south to the ocean via a creek. Bass Lake is the largest of the five Coast Trail Lakes, which also include Pelican Lake, Crystal Lake, Ocean Lake and Wildcat Lake.


Geology

Much like the other nearby lakes in the southeast portion of the Point Reyes peninsula, Bass Lake occupies a natural synclinal depression formed behind blocks of rock displaced by landslides within the past 10,000 years. The depressions forming Crystal, Pelican and Bass lakes appear to have been caused by the Double Point Slide, which covers an area of about . The rocks involved in the landslide are
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
,
chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
and
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
, some similar to
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
rocks of the
Monterey Formation The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geology, geological sedimentary formation in California, with outcrops of the formation in parts of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shor ...
and others to
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Central Coast Ranges. The process that caused these slides is ongoing, with several nearby slides caused by the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
and others happening as recently as 1956.


Ecology

The lake is within the Southern Inverness Ridge region of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in an area of coastal scrub and grassland. In this coastal zone there are open stands of coyote brush (''
Baccharis pilularis ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mexi ...
''), often with native grasses such as California oatgrass (''
Danthonia californica ''Danthonia californica'' is a species of grass known by the common name California oatgrass. This plant is native to two separate regions of the Americas, western North America from California to Saskatchewan, and Chile. Description ''Danthonia ...
'') and purple needlegrass (''
Nassella pulchra ''Nassella pulchra'', basionym ''Stipa pulchra'', is a species of grass known by the common names purple needlegrass and purple tussockgrass. It is native to the U.S. state of California, where it occurs throughout the coastal hills, valleys, and ...
''). The other dominant plants in this ecosystem are California sage brush (''
Artemisia californica ''Artemisia californica'', also known as California sagebrush, is a species of western North American shrub in the Asteraceae, sunflower family. In the western United States, California sagebrush is grown in native plant gardens and as a drough ...
''), black sage (''
Salvia mellifera ''Salvia mellifera'' (Californian black sage, also known as seel by the Mahuna) is a small, highly aromatic, evergreen shrub of the genus ''Salvia'' (the sages) native to California, and Baja California, Mexico. It is common in the coastal sage ...
''), sticky monkeyflower ('' Mimulus guttatus''), poison oak (''
Toxicodendron diversilobum ''Toxicodendron diversilobum'' (syn. ''Rhus diversiloba''), commonly named Pacific poison oak or western poison oak, is a woody vine or shrub in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. It is widely distributed in western North America, inhabiting co ...
''), California coffeeberry (''
Frangula californica ''Frangula californica'' (previously classified as ''Rhamnus californica'') is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family native to western North America. It produces edible fruits and seeds.http://honest-food.net/2014/08/13/california ...
'') and tree lupine (''
Lupinus arboreus ''Lupinus arboreus'', the yellow bush lupine (US) or tree lupin (UK), is a species of flowering plant in the legume family (biology), family Fabaceae. Description ''Lupinus arboreus'' is an evergreen shrub growing to tall (hence the alternative ...
''). Around Bass Lake and the neighboring lakes are thick growths of
willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...
(''Salix'' sp.) In the lake margins there is common tule (''
Schoenoplectus acutus ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the p ...
''), California bulrush (''
Schoenoplectus californicus ''Schoeneoplectus californicus'' is a species of sedge known by the common names California bulrush, southern bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' is the species most oft ...
''), cat-tail (''
Typha latifolia ''Typha latifolia'' is a perennial herbaceous wetland plant in the genus ''Typha''. It is known in English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ''Collins Flower Guide''. Harper Collins (sometimes as common b ...
'') and sedges (''
Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of ge ...
'' sp. including ''Carex senta''). The lake has been stocked with warm-water
game fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishing, recreational fishers (typically angling, anglers), and can be freshwater fish, freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be fish as food, eaten aft ...
. Research in 1976 found that the lake supported a range of
phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...
from the genera ''
Anabaena ''Anabaena'' is a genus of filamentous cyanobacteria that exist as plankton. They are known for nitrogen-fixing abilities, and they form symbiotic relationships with certain plants, such as the mosquito fern. They are one of four genera of cyan ...
'', ''
Cryptomonas ''Cryptomonas'' is the name-giving genus of the Cryptomonads established by German biologist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1831. The algae are common in freshwater habitats and brackish water worldwide and often form blooms in greater depths o ...
'', '' Cymbella'', '' Fragilaria'', ''
Oocystis ''Oocystis'' is a planktonic genus of mostly freshwater green algae of the Family (biology), family Oocystaceae. It is the type genus of its family. ''Oocystis'' is mostly found in freshwater habitats and has a cosmopolitan distribution. A few sp ...
'', '' Schroederia'', '' Sphaerocystis'' and ''
Staurastrum ''Staurastrum'' is a large genus of desmids (Desmidiaceae), a group of green algae closely related to the land plants (Embryophyta). Members of this genus are microscopic and found in freshwater habitats around the world. The name ''Staurastrum'' ...
'', as well as the species '' Ceratium hirundinella'', '' Elakatothrix gelatinosa'' and '' Pseudokephrion conicum''. On the slopes above the coastal lakes, the flora is characterized by stands of
Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...
(''Pseudotsuga menziesii''). Bass Lake is inland from the Double Point Area of Special Biological Significance, established in 1974 primarily to protect the large population of
harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...
s (''Phoca vitulina'') that raise pups on the beach between April and June each year.


History

Prior to geological research in the 1960s that revealed the many pre-historic landslides, the area was considered to be sufficiently stable for the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
to construct an underground artillery control facility within the North Point headland directly west of Pelican Lake in 1944. These concrete structures were filled in by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
after it assumed control of the area, but they could be exposed by future landslides. The barracks for this facility were located near Bass Lake.


See also

*
List of lakes in the San Francisco Bay Area This list of lakes in the San Francisco Bay Area groups lakes, ponds, and reservoirs by county. Numbers in parentheses are Geographic Names Information System feature ids. Alameda County, California, Alameda County * Almond Reservoir () * Berr ...
*
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 occup ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Lakes of Marin County, California Lakes of California Wetlands of the San Francisco Bay Area