March 25, 2020
Bombay Beach
We go from the highest place in California to the second lowest(the lowest elevation is Badwater in Death Valley). The Salton Sea is south of Palm Springs and is over 200 feet below sea level. This low elevation is caused by the San Andres fault splintering in to smaller faults and creating a sink. If not for the silt deposited by the Colorado River, this sink would be part of the Gulf of California. Over the millennia a number of lakes have formed in this basin, depending on the climate. The current lake was created when a irrigation canal fed by the Colorado River broke, allowing the entire flow of the river to flow into the Salton sink. The sea is currently fed by the Alamo and New rivers that are highly polluted by agriculture runoff and in the case of the New river, industrial pollution in Mexico. These rivers do not maintain the water level in the sea and it is shrinking. In the mid 20th century a number of towns sprung up along the shores of the lake and were sold as vacation sports, but the pollution and receding shoreline. Bombay Beach is one of these towns on the eastern shore of the sea. Rather than being a vacation destination, ti's now home to some eclectic art in the town and along the shore of the receding sea.
Read MoreWe go from the highest place in California to the second lowest(the lowest elevation is Badwater in Death Valley). The Salton Sea is south of Palm Springs and is over 200 feet below sea level. This low elevation is caused by the San Andres fault splintering in to smaller faults and creating a sink. If not for the silt deposited by the Colorado River, this sink would be part of the Gulf of California. Over the millennia a number of lakes have formed in this basin, depending on the climate. The current lake was created when a irrigation canal fed by the Colorado River broke, allowing the entire flow of the river to flow into the Salton sink. The sea is currently fed by the Alamo and New rivers that are highly polluted by agriculture runoff and in the case of the New river, industrial pollution in Mexico. These rivers do not maintain the water level in the sea and it is shrinking. In the mid 20th century a number of towns sprung up along the shores of the lake and were sold as vacation sports, but the pollution and receding shoreline. Bombay Beach is one of these towns on the eastern shore of the sea. Rather than being a vacation destination, ti's now home to some eclectic art in the town and along the shore of the receding sea.
