But I am getting ahead of myself. The next morning we drove out to the lake, located
a few miles north of town to await a colleague (Patrick Glancy) who would provide
us with a boat. The lake occupies a generally irregular circle/slightly oblong-shaped
volcanic crater, about 1 km width  1.5 l km length (39
o 31
0 04
00 W; 118
o 51
0 40
00 N;
elev. ¼ 1223 m) that explosively erupted back in the Pleistocene (i.e., ~15,000 years
ago), when the entire region was covered by an inland sea (Lake Lahontan). The
region still harbors geothermal activity. Standing on its shoreline, I got my first
glimpse of how the denizens of Fallon viewed its utility: as a final resting place for
their broken down cars and pick-up trucks, some of which were evidently pushed off
the elevated rim of its eastern side. Moreover, the lake’s “aroma” was stifling: whiffs
of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia piquantly mixed with discernable traces of
methylated sulfur compounds and methylated amines that tickled my nasal passages.
The very shoreline was black, owing to the myriads of brine flies that were gorging
themselves on washed up rotting effluvia. This mostly consisted of decaying Ruppia
macrophytes uprooted and floated by big wads of the colonizing cyanobacterium
Anabaena, whose emitted photosynthetic oxygen gas bubbles enmeshed in their
matrix provided the necessary buoyancy (Oremland, 1983a).
An example of the colorful local flora
that once commonly adorned theBig
Soda Lake’s basin. It is now a
Churchill County Park and these
eyesores have been removed.
An example of the colorful local flora that once commonly adorned the Big Soda Lake’s basin. It is
now a Churchill County Park and these eyesores have been removed
An odd phenomenon was to watch the brine flies depart your presence as you
drew to the water’s edge, a cloud arose and settled down a couple of meters away on
either side of you, which in turn displaced another cloud, which continued on but
eventually dampened out about a quarter of the way around the lake’s circumference
for a total distance of nearly 1.0 km. It did give one an underserved feeling of power
and importance (a “Lord of the Flies” syndrome), until you realized the flies were
only interested in detritus feeding and not at all in preying upon humans. Those came
in the form of giant-sized mosquitoes which emerged from the shallow swamp back
area around sunset and would even chase after the tires or windshield wipers of your
field vehicles in search of sustenance if they couldn’t grab hold of and devour you
first before fleeing from their onslaught.
31 Salty, Alkali-Laced Tales (Mostly True) from the Great Basin Desert, California. . .
657
a few miles north of town to await a colleague (Patrick Glancy) who would provide
us with a boat. The lake occupies a generally irregular circle/slightly oblong-shaped
volcanic crater, about 1 km width  1.5 l km length (39
o 31
0 04
00 W; 118
o 51
0 40
00 N;
elev. ¼ 1223 m) that explosively erupted back in the Pleistocene (i.e., ~15,000 years
ago), when the entire region was covered by an inland sea (Lake Lahontan). The
region still harbors geothermal activity. Standing on its shoreline, I got my first
glimpse of how the denizens of Fallon viewed its utility: as a final resting place for
their broken down cars and pick-up trucks, some of which were evidently pushed off
the elevated rim of its eastern side. Moreover, the lake’s “aroma” was stifling: whiffs
of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia piquantly mixed with discernable traces of
methylated sulfur compounds and methylated amines that tickled my nasal passages.
The very shoreline was black, owing to the myriads of brine flies that were gorging
themselves on washed up rotting effluvia. This mostly consisted of decaying Ruppia
macrophytes uprooted and floated by big wads of the colonizing cyanobacterium
Anabaena, whose emitted photosynthetic oxygen gas bubbles enmeshed in their
matrix provided the necessary buoyancy (Oremland, 1983a).
An example of the colorful local flora
that once commonly adorned theBig
Soda Lake’s basin. It is now a
Churchill County Park and these
eyesores have been removed.
An example of the colorful local flora that once commonly adorned the Big Soda Lake’s basin. It is
now a Churchill County Park and these eyesores have been removed
An odd phenomenon was to watch the brine flies depart your presence as you
drew to the water’s edge, a cloud arose and settled down a couple of meters away on
either side of you, which in turn displaced another cloud, which continued on but
eventually dampened out about a quarter of the way around the lake’s circumference
for a total distance of nearly 1.0 km. It did give one an underserved feeling of power
and importance (a “Lord of the Flies” syndrome), until you realized the flies were
only interested in detritus feeding and not at all in preying upon humans. Those came
in the form of giant-sized mosquitoes which emerged from the shallow swamp back
area around sunset and would even chase after the tires or windshield wipers of your
field vehicles in search of sustenance if they couldn’t grab hold of and devour you
first before fleeing from their onslaught.
31 Salty, Alkali-Laced Tales (Mostly True) from the Great Basin Desert, California. . .
657