File:Forest physiography; physiography of the United States and principles of soils in relation to forestry (1911) (14774430694).jpg

Identifier: forestphysiograp01bowm (find matches)
Title: Forest physiography; physiography of the United States and principles of soils in relation to forestry
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Bowman, Isaiah, 1878-1950
Subjects: Physical geography Forests and forestry Soils
Publisher: New York, J. Wiley & sons (etc., etc.)
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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basin of the LowerColorado. Of the two the Great Basin has the more reniarkable de-velopment of those drainage features that are an index of extremearidity. The drainage of the entire Great Basin is of the interior-basinvariety, no part of the water that falls within it reaching the oceanby surface drainage. Everywhere the streams descend from the better-watered mountain ranges to waste-floored forelands, where a large partof their water — sometimes the whole — is lost by evaporation andabsorption. Such excess of water as locally fails to be absorbed bythe porous sands and gravels of the piedmont regions is gathered uponthe floors of depressions between mountain ranges in the form of saltlakes or lakes that are strongly alkaline. Salt Lakes of the Great Basin Chief among the salt lakes of the Great Basin are Great Salt Lake,Lake Humboldt, Carson Lake, and the group of saline lakes that occupythe Sage Plains of central Oregon, Fig. 52. Some of the lakes of the Great GREAT BASIN 211
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n,rf„.„„i„. p, ,.,„ PREStNT DRMNAGE ARF \S OF THE L\HON TAN REOION , . „ ^ Hidro§ra^ihn, bouiidani,s>^—-w ^ LaJiotiUtii Death Fig- 53- — Illustrates the small size and independent character of the drainage systems of the Great Basinregion. (Russell, U. S. Geol. Surv.) 212 FOREST PHYSIOGRAPHY Basin are composed of very dense brine of common salt, sodium sulphate,and other substances. It has been estimated that Great Salt Lake alonecontains 400,000,000 tons of common salt.^ Not all the lakes tributaryto or in the Great Basin are of this character however. ■ Some ofthem consist of pure wholesome water, such as Utah Lake, Bear Lake,and Lake Tahoe on the western edge of the Great Basin and near theforested heights of the Sierra Nevada. Wherever a constant outlet isassured, the lakes consist of sweet water, but an interrupted outflow isalways indicated by an increase of salinity, and the absence of an out-flow results in the concentration of chemical salt to such an ex

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