The Tufa

The Tufa

Mono Lake is located at the northern end of the Eastern Sierras, California. The unique formations in the water and land are called tufa and are primarily limestone structues made from deposits of calcium carried by lava flow. Mono is very close to Mammoth and the June Lake loop and worth stopping by to see something very unusual and almost unworldly.

These tufa towers are calcium-carbonate spires formed by the interaction of freshwater springs and from the alkaline in the lake. Some of the tufa on the land are structures from where the lake use to extend. Mono lake is located north of Mammoth Lakes and just north of June Lake and due east of Lee Vining along Highway 120.

This photograph was taken just off the shoreline with a long exposure to bring out some more interest in the tufa towers and clouds. This was taken with a 20mm lens to make the scene look surreal at around 10 secs, f32.

More info on the lake: (taken from google sources)
Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty and 80 times as alkaline as the ocean. Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old—one of the oldest lakes in North America. It has no outlet.

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