Mono Lake : It is an alkaline lake at the foot of the Sierra Nevada , in the interior of California . It is a refuge for several species of birds and one of the most productive and extreme ecological systems in North America.
Surrounded by gentle mountains devoid of the lush vegetation of the nearby Yosemite Valley , it is home to biological wonders such as Extremophilic bacteria that feed on substances considered lethal to any other living being, such as arsenic.
A small alkaline and salty lake that serves as a refuge for several species of birds and became famous due to the decrease of its waters in the second half of the 20th century , being fun to supply southern California.
History
If colored like sulfur , the lake could well be a newly discovered reservoir of water on Mars. Mark Twain , one of the most illustrious forgers of North American literature, described in 1872 the apparent natural desolation of the lake and its surroundings which, however, constitute a decisive ecosystem for animals as diverse as birds, plants and rare Extremophilic bacteria (in fact So “extreme” that some have been found to feed on arsenic.
The 1 of January of 1972 , just a century after Mark Twain described it mercilessly bare lake landscape, Clint Eastwood premiered High Plain Drifter (translated Plains Drifter in Spain , and Revenge of the Dead in Latin), a western directed by and starring him, in which the lake and the naked mountains that surround it appeared. Another tribute to a rough landscape and only worthy of representing another planet or perhaps the scenery of a Clint Eastwood western.
There is no more relationship between the Pink Floyd record and the Eastwood movie or the Twain book than, of course, a certain aesthetic reverence for the harshness of Mono Lake. The LP includes a libretto designed by Stom Thorgerson, in one of whose images a swimmer is seen diving head first into a lake, with several towers of calcareous tuff in a psychedelic background.
The Martian -or psychedelic- towers of calcareous tuff that can be seen in Mono Lake would not have been uncovered were it not for the management of the lake by California authorities during the 20th century , which produced a drastic drop in its level. of water , with the consequent damage to the biodiversity of the area.
As if it were an allegory of the relationship between the industrialized and ever-growing society of the 20th century and nature, an often absent dialectic of conservation ethics, Mono Lake was on the verge of disappearing. The reason: Until the 1980s, when the lake reached its most critical point, it was more important to ensure access to cheap water in the Los Angeles conurbation and its catchment area than to preserve the natural balance of a harsh salt lake portrayed without compassion by Mark Twain , the antithesis of the beautiful and “rich” Yosemite National Park.
The dialectic between industrial society and secluded Mono Lake begins in 1941 , when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Electricity began transferring water from the river flows that feed it, some 350 miles (560 kilometers south), due to the growing demand for water in a booming city, driven by Hollywood industry , the industrial demand generated by World War II and agriculture .
Deprived of its sources of fresh water, Mono Lake’s volume was soon halved, while its salinity doubled. Being such a radical and rapid change, the lake’s ecosystem and its natural area of influence began to collapse. In photos taken in 1962 , just 21 years after Los Angeles began the water transfer, the lake had already dropped 25 feet (7.62 meters).
Geography
Its geographical location, between Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada foothills, the mountain range that separates California from Nevada , protects the area from light and environmental pollution from other areas. The visitor checks the local atmospheric cleanliness when, at night, the stars multiply at any point where the gaze is directed.