Carson Sink is a
playa in the northeastern portion of the
Carson Desert in present-day
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, United States of America, that was formerly the terminus of the
Carson River. Today the sink is fed by drainage
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...
s of the
Truckee-Carson Irrigation District. The southeastern fringe of the sink, where the canals enter, is a wetland of the
Central Basin and Range ecoregion.
This is mostly included within the
Fallon National Wildlife Refuge and the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area. This area serves as an important stopover for migrating waterfowl. The Sehoo Formation is south of the Carson Sink.
Carson Sink and Lone Rock working areas
The Carson Sink and Lone Rock working areas are the northwest portion of both the Carson Sink and the US Naval
Fallon Range Training Complex.
[ The Lone Rock working area includes the Bravo-20 range, which has numerous targets for combat aircraft training.][ It is a solitary pinnacle of rock through the playa and it is held sacred by the Northern Paiute.
]
History
The Carson Sink was a deep portion of the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
water body Lake Lahontan, the lakebed of which is now the Lahontan Basin.
The Carson Trail, used during the California Gold Rush
The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...
across the Lahontan Basin, included a section through the Forty Mile Desert to the first drinkable water on the Carson River. The Carson Sink station of the Pony Express was built in March 1860.San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
to Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. While passing over Carson Sink, the two reportedly saw three unknown aircraft fly within 800 yards of their aircraft before speeding out of sight seconds later. Upon landing, the two colonels reported the incident to the Air Defence Command headquarters, who informed them that there were no military or civilian aircraft in the area at the time. The incident was never resolved and is known today as the Carson Sink UFO incident.
Panorama
See also
* West Humboldt Range
References
{{commons cat, Carson Sink
Lahontan Basin
Endorheic basins of the United States
Landforms of Churchill County, Nevada
Valleys of Nevada
Wetlands of Nevada