Superior Lake (California) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Superior Lake |
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 Superior Lake
Location in California
Superior Lake
Location in the United States
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| Location | Mojave Desert San Bernardino County, California |
| Coordinates | 35°14′42″N 117°01′34″W / 35.245°N 117.026°W |
| Type | Endorheic basin |
| Primary outflows | Terminal (evaporation) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 15 km (9.3 mi) |
| Max. width | 6 km (3.7 mi) |
| Shore length1 | 30 km (19 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 914 m (2,999 ft) |
| Sections/sub-basins | Three |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Superior Lake is a large, flat area in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. It's about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Barstow. Even though it's called a "lake," it's usually dry. It's known as a dry lake basin.
What is Superior Lake?
Superior Lake is a dry lake basin. This means it's a low area where water used to collect, forming a lake. But now, the water has either dried up or evaporated. It's like a giant, empty bathtub in the desert.
How Big is This Dry Lake?
The lake area is made up of three connected parts. Together, they stretch about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) long. At its widest point, it measures about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) across.
A Look Back in Time
Long, long ago, during a period called the Holocene, this area was actually a single, large body of water. The Holocene is the current geological period, which started about 11,700 years ago. Over thousands of years, the climate changed, and the lake slowly dried up, leaving behind the dry basin we see today.
