Lake Corcoran

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lake Corcoran
Primary inflows
Sacramento River, San Joaquin River
Basin countriesUnited States
Surface area30,000–50,000 square kilometers (12,000–19,000 sq mi)

Lake Corcoran (also known as Lake Clyde, after Clyde Wahrhaftig, an American geologist[1]) is an ancient lake that covered the Central Valley of California.

Central Valley map

The lake existed in the valleys of the

Kern Lake and Tulare Lake are remnants of Lake Corcoran.[5]

The lake is the source of the Corcoran Clay,

formations.[7] It also influenced sedimentation off the coast of California.[8]

The lake existed between about 758,000 and 665,000 years ago.

Coast Ranges along the San Andreas Fault. Subsequently, the valley was no longer a bay and alternately drained and filled with water.[7] The factors contributing to the formation of Lake Corcoran are not fully understood[12] but it appears that Great Valley drainage for most of the Miocene epoch was to the south.[13]

The lake originally drained into

Sierra Nevada and in lesser measure for the Basin and Range Province behind it. This contributed to the formation of large pluvial lakes in Nevada.[6]

Six hundred thousand years ago a new outlet formed in the present day

marine oxygen isotope stage 6 caused increased precipitation in and runoff to the Central Valley.[2][16] The overflow rapidly carved an outlet through Carquinez Strait, probably catastrophically,[14][15] and drained the lake.[6][16] The Upper Turbidite Unit of the Monterey submarine fan may have formed soon after this outflow, when sediment from the former lake was carried out of its new outlet and down to Monterey Bay by longshore drift.[17][18]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-520-92845-9
    .
  2. ^
    doi:10.5070/P9331033123
    .
  3. ^ Sarna-Wojcicki 2021, p. 459.
  4. ^ Sarna-Wojcicki 2021, p. 460.
  5. ^ a b Saleeby, Saleeby & Pourhiet 2013, p. 406.
  6. ^
    S2CID 128533773
    .
  7. ^ a b Sarna-Wojcicki et al. 1985, p. 253.
  8. ^ a b c "NEOGENE". www-odp.tamu.edu. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  9. ^ Sarna-Wojcicki et al. 1985, p. 255.
  10. ^ Sarna-Wojcicki 2021, p. 461.
  11. ^ Negrini et al. 2008, p. 106.
  12. ^ Saleeby, Saleeby & Pourhiet 2013, p. 418.
  13. ^ Sarna-Wojcicki 2021, p. 457.
  14. ^ a b Wong, K. (30 September 2006). "Carquinez Breakthrough: Where Bay and Valley Meet". Bay Nature. Bay Nature Institute. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  15. ^
    SF Gate. Hearst Communications
    . Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  16. ^ a b Negrini et al. 2008, p. 107.
  17. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2004.03.001
    .
  18. S2CID 129302795
    .

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Corcoran&oldid=1210991287"