#Map of southern california series

#Map of southern california series

The headgates and canals sustained a buildup of silt, so a series of cuts were made in the bank of the Colorado River to further increase the water flow. Beginning in 1900, an irrigation canal was dug from the Colorado River to the old Alamo River channel to provide water to the Imperial Valley for farming. The current lake was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. Hundreds of archaeological sites have been found in this region, indicating possibly long-term Native American villages and temporary camps. When the river diverted around the valley, the lake dried completely, as it did around 1580. When the Colorado River flowed into the valley, the lake level depended on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. For thousands of years, the river alternately flowed into the valley or diverted around it, creating either a salt lake called Lake Cahuilla or a dry desert basin, respectively. Over millions of years, the Colorado River had flowed into the Imperial Valley and deposited alluvium (soil), creating fertile farmland, building up the terrain, and constantly moving its main course and river delta.

It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough, which stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Salton Sea