Silver Lake (Mojave) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Silver Lake
Silver Lake after a flood in March 2005.
Silver Lake Location in California Show map of California Silver Lake Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Mojave Desert San Bernardino County, California
Coordinates	35°20′17″N 116°06′32″W / 35.3380°N 116.1089°W / 35.3380; -116.1089
Type	Endorheic basin
Primary inflows	Mojave River
Primary outflows	Terminal (evaporation)
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	12 km (7.5 mi)
Max. width	5 km (3.1 mi)
Shore length1	30 km (19 mi)
Surface elevation	280 m (920 ft)
Settlements	Baker, California
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Silver Lake is a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, along Interstate 15, 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Barstow.

History

Silver Lake, along with the adjacent Soda Lake, is what remains of Lake Mojave, a large, perennial lake that existed through the Holocene.

Geography

The Mojave River terminates at Soda Lake, but the river has flowed into Silver Lake in historic times (as recently as the very wet winter of 2004–2005). A channel that has been modified by humans exists between the lakes. The lake occasionally has water, but is usually dry.

Silver Lake does not have salt crusts, like Soda Lake does, because the groundwater is deeper. Salt crusts form from the repeated capillary rise of salty groundwater, followed by evaporation.